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girlwhowaspluggedout writes:
"The European Commission reports that, fearing high roaming charges, many EU citizens forgo the use of their mobile phones outside their home country. According to a survey done by the Commission (pdf), when travelling to another EU country, 90% of all EU citizens limit their e-mail use, 47% do not use their mobile internet connection, 33% never place calls, 25% do not text, and a staggering 28% simply turn off their mobile phones.
Roaming charges, the Commission suggests, are hurting the fledgling EU app sector. In trying to avoid paying data premiums, travelers limit their use of data-heavy apps, like travel guides, maps, and photo applications. Frequent travelers are even more likely to turn-off their phones, perhaps due to being better informed about the costs of data roaming.
The Commission reports that data roaming use across the EU has increased by 1500% since the introduction of price caps in 2008. It suggests that by eliminating all roaming charges, mobile providers will gain a further 300 million customers. These findings give further support to regulations proposed by the Commission that will create a single mobile phone market throughout the EU, enabling all customers to enjoy domestic rates when travelling within the EU."
(Score: 2) by Darth Turbogeek on Tuesday February 18 2014, @10:24PM
I mean come on, the prices roaming is charged at is just bullshit. How the hell can anyone jsutify it? I'm also betting the true cost of roaming is.... umm.... about fuck all. Probably one of the best examples I can think of that a buisness reams the customer at basically pure profit.
(Score: 1) by lothmordor on Wednesday February 19 2014, @03:52AM
This type of business practise isn't anything new to the telcos, at least in the United States.. html [nytimes.com]
Consider text messages. They cost basically nothing to send, yet the carriers generally charge around 5 to 25 cents per message.
"That's why a message is so limited in length: it must not exceed the length of the message used for internal communication between tower and handset to set up a call. The channel uses space whether or not a text message is inserted."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/business/28digi
(Score: 2, Informative) by TheRaven on Wednesday February 19 2014, @06:22AM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 1) by Darth Turbogeek on Wednesday February 19 2014, @06:46AM
Most (if not all) are costs long sunk or depreciated off the book and the equipment is what you would need to run your netork anyway. It's really not in any way shape or form either a money issue or a sheer grunt issue - or even a technical one. Plus short lived connections? That's what a cell network does, if it cant handle onee roamer then some technial officer needs to go on the unemployment queue
The actual cost per call would be now extremely low. I can accept when mobiles were first A Thing that the costs were there and also considerable per connection but this has long ceased to be the case. Let me put it this way - I roamed from where I usually reside to England and the data cost with Vodapone was incredible. In Finland hte cost was so, so SO much lower. England? I got bitten for 4500, the per MB rate was just astronomical.
Telcos were not able to justify the charges 7 years ago, they certainly cant now, the cost per MB would be at best a few cents.