TravelSMART
Mobile phones are convenient for keeping
in touch while you travel abroad, but international calls cost
more than local ones. Know what questions to ask about
international roaming to get the best deal from your service
provider and avoid returning to an unexpectedly high phone
bill.
What you need to know?
What is International roaming?
International roaming is the network service that lets you use
your phone abroad. The prices are different from what you pay
locally and are not included in most standard 'bundle'
packages.
Before your trip:
You need to make sure you will be able
to use phone. Therefore we recommend you to ask your network
provider the following:
- Whether your phone is enabled for international roaming -
this can be set up, but can take up to three weeks and must be
arranged before leaving
- What are the charges (the tariff) for international
roaming services at your destination
- Whether your handset will work in the country you are
visiting - not all phones work in all countries, especially outside
Europe
Getting the best deal for you
Most mobile service providers have fixed-fee monthly packages
that offer reduced rates for international roaming. If you are a
frequent traveller or travel for long periods of time, these deals
can work out much cheaper
Prepaid- Keep your phone's credit topped
up
If you're using your network provider's pre-paid mobile
international roaming service, make sure you know how to top up
your calling credit.
10 SMART rules when using your mobile abroad:
1. Make sure that
you check with your mobile operator to find out what your
international calling options are and exactly what the calling fee
is. Most of the operators have a webpage that provide you with this
information or a contact number you could call
2. Learn to use
your mobile phone before your trip so you can disable your
smartphone or tablet from performing automatic app refreshes or
automatic software updates when abroad to prevent large data
downloads
3. When you need to
download data put your phone back to its default data-capable
mode
4. Turning off your
voicemail before you go away prevent the call to go to your to your
voicemail. Otherwise you will be paying for the messages left on
your voicemail it at the same rate as if you'd actually answered
the call
5. Contact the crew
at the reception of the ship if you have any questions about the
service
6. Download your
music on your mobile before your travel as it can be costly to do
it while roaming into an international network
7. As a parent,
have an overview of the services your children are using on
the mobile phones and tablets and the costs related to these
8. Set up your
email client to download the header of new emails only. Once you
receive the headers of new emails, you can then manually select
which emails should be downloaded in full to prevent large
downloads
9. Read SMS from
your mobile operator. Normally you will get price information to
use the mobile service wherever you are
10. Set the call
timer on your mobile. This will allow you to track your
conversation length. A price example using Telenor:
a 5 minutes call costs around 35 NOK