Well, a few things it seems as I've been browsing their website this morning. First off, they've launched a very interesting report on m-transactions, mobiles and developing countries. I've written up a short piece about it over at the Mobile Messaging 2.0 blog.
Then I found this press release about good value roaming data charges with their Connect Abroad tarriff. Yes, Ewan, you did see that correctly! It looks like a pretty good deal to me and takes the worry out of how to connect when you're abroad. Yes, it means you have to have an active Vodafone sim card, but if you do much travelling, this has got to be a good thing to get.
"Laptop users will have a reliable and competitively-priced alternative to WiFi starting this summer, when from 2 July Vodafone drops its laptop data roaming prices to EUR12 per day (excl. VAT) for wireless roaming across Vodafone subsidiaries in Europe, Egypt, Australia and New Zealand, and with partners in France, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium"
If I was doing more travelling, I'd definitely be up for this.
Another example of Vodafone trying to milk good PR through new 'offers' with deceptive value... I left Vodafone a few months ago and took up a new N95 on T-Mobile's webnwalk max offer, after Vodafone refused to give me an all-inclusive data tariff. They also offered me a 'Passport' deal for roaming calls, which ended up adding about £100 to my monthly bills when I travelled, when it was supposed to make calling cheaper. They've been touting that tariff as offering great value, while the EU was about to rule that roaming had to come down drastically anyway.
ReplyDeleteSince moving to T-Mobile my bills have plummeted from over £300/month to less than £70/month... and that's with me using my phone / SIM card as a 3G modem, and I'm a high usage texter and caller, too.
The majority of the networks have been absolutely milking customers who want to travel or use data, and therefore preventing the majority from doing either.
T-Mobile have got their act together with data (as have 3 with the X-Series) - but even they still charge extortionate amounts when you're roaming. 3 are also offering great deals if you need to roam in countries where they have operations - you can send and receive calls as if you were at home, and if you're an X-Series customer I believe you can use data services without additional charges, also.
Otherwise, the networks are still guilty of ripping off their customers left, right and centre. Vodafone is as guilty as anyone...
I don't think £12 is a good deal for a paltry 50Mb of data. OK it's a slight improvement on £1.50 per Mb but this package is likely to make people think they can connect and not worry about the charges, and will probably end up earning more money for them than the current setup.
yeah, you're right. I didn't read the small print about the usage limits - I thought it was unlimited.
ReplyDeleteI'm with t-mobile as well for my main phone and three for my second phone too for the precise reason that data is a whole lot cheaper and you don't have to worry about billshock.
I was annoyed by vodafone too, previously not being charged for mobile wap services I was unexpectedly hit with charges. To be fair I spotted it quickly and only had a few quid of unbilled usage, which they credited me a tenner for. Still a bit of notice would have been.
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