Roam further - is it mandatory?

[donnyguy]

Beginning next month, will Roam-further (what is now known as World Traveller) become a mandatory product or will customers be able to still opt out of it and pay standard rates if required?

The reason I ask is my parents travel and it drove me nuts last year when they were in the UAE (which was at the time a World Traveller destination) as they'd incur the £5 per day charge for sending a text and no matter how many conversations I'd have with them around "you may as well use your phone all day as if you were here in the UK as you're charged on the first activity of the day", they didn't. 

So looking at their bills, I'd see a £5 charge for a text or for a 30 second call. 

The Roam-further is brilliant for people like me who will get their monies worth but is there an option for other customers to pay the standard prices rather than the flat daily charge?

[Annie_N]

Alas, apparently it's a mandatory part of Pay Monthly contracts. I did enquire about this, as it could obviously be expensive for the occasional/light user. For World Traveller there is an opt-out procedure, and I asked why this was not specified for Roam Further - but it was not specified because it wouldn't exist.

To go off at a slight tangent, I'm not entirely clear why I, as a light user on PAYG, should be so delighted by the changes to European Roaming that will come in next month. It will increase the cost of calling home from 4p per minute to 30p per minute, and the cost of using data from 4p per MB to £2 for 50MB then 10p per MB. Unless I buy a Big Value Bundle when I travel, I reckon the cost of using my phone within Europe will rise from max 50p per day to min £3 per day. Clearly excellent news :smileymad:

[donnyguy]

I kinda expected this to be the answer. Vodafone (and the other networks) need to find a way to increase revenue now they've lost the revenue from European roaming. I can kinda see why forcing all pay monthly users onto the Roam-further makes sense. There'll be people like my parents who will be paying £5 per day for a couple of calls or texts. 

As for PAYG, I'm guessing there won't be that many people out there who don't buy a bundle as 30p per minute for a call is pretty expensive in my eyes, whether at home or overseas. I do expect the standard / out of bundle charges to increase further as this is another way to increase revenue. 

I still think overall, for the majority of users, both pre and post-paid, the changes will be a benefit 

[jeffkinn]

It would be better if there were an option to opt of of this service, but it's perfectly possible to avoid any charges by turning off mobile data and not making any calls or sending any texts. I know this won't suit everyone and people will forget or not know how to do it, but we all have to be responsbile for your own phones eventually.

There are plenty of apps that will allows messages and voice/video calls over Wi Fi if you need to contact someone and don't want to pay the daily charge.

[Annie_N]

A £5 daily charge on days when one uses the network in a roam-further destination is small beer in relation to the over-all costs of a long-haul trip, though still a bit galling if all you have got out of it is one SMS or a 30-second call.

Something I've noticed recently is that a couple of hotel chains have added a "no VOIP" exclusion to their wifi Ts&Cs - I do skip-read through them, just to make sure I'm not agreeing to donate a kidney :smileywink: I've no idea whether their system enforces it, or whether one is one one's honour not to cheat, but I've been within Europe, and small amounts of roaming usage have been so cheap in the last couple of years that I haven't considered testing it out.

I presume that the chains are trying to recoup the investment they have made in in-room telephony, which must be severely under-used in these days of near-universal smart devices.

[ruswilks]

Hi there, is it also mandatory for exisitng customers/contracts?

It's just been applied to my account today, while I'm actually in Japan for work for a couple of weeks. I visit a lot for work (oftern for 2-4 weeks at a time), and while I'm there typically send a couple of texts a day to check up on home etc but switch data off and make no calls. If this is mandatory service, I'm going to be hit with £150 a month while in Japan to send a text or two home compared to the current £35p a message. Even assuming 5 texts a day (it's rarely if ever even that many), it's £1.75 a day so £52.50 for a 30 day trip. 

If mandatory I'd consider it grounds to request Vodafone release me from my contract without charge (given I'm in my 11th week in Japan in the last 12 months it would have cost me a fortune). Is there an official line on it being mandatory?

[Annie_N]

@ruswilks Well, I've not seen or heard anything about it not being applicable to existing contracts. But the change from World Traveller to Vodafone Global Roaming isn't one that they are obliged to make, as is the case with roaming within the EU. 

I'd think that the part of the PayM Ts&Cs on page 2, about wanting to leave because of changes, might apply. But it refers to Vodafone letting you know in advance that it affects you adversely - have you had any such notification?

If it's just a limited number of texts or a single call per day, and no other likely usage, an option I have wondered about in a general sort of way is using a PAYG SIM in another phone - the PAYG cost is 49p per text. You'd have to get the SIM set up before going abroad, and make sure there aren't any roaming bars in place, so there would be a bit of messing about. But it might be less than messing about trying to get out of a contract that otherwise suits you?

[ruswilks]

Despite Live Chat telling me repeatedly it will not apply to my account. Twitter help team and now telling me it is mandatory and there's no opt out. I only got the text today saying it is now applied, so I guess I will find out when I check my online account if the £5 charge is added (today I sent one whole text message, which shows how much worse off I am!! And I only sent that as Live Chat said it wouldn't apply and any charge I received would be refunded)

The PAYG option isn't convenient when in and out of Japan semi-regularly (I'd effectively need to have two phones and numbers running), and even then, 49p per text is still a cost up from the existing 35p per text roaming charge in place until now.

Any thoughts how to proceed? Live Help told me it wouldn't even be applied to my account and were confused why I was asking, and Twitter help are just advising it's mandatory for all customers and I have to pay the £5 charge each day, and that they are feeding back "to make it clearer that Roam-Further can't be opted out of" (which obviously doesn't hlp me at all unless they let me out of my contract for that reason).

[Annie_N]

Until Vodafone has worked out which songsheet they are supposed to be singing from, can you avoid the £5 charge for at least some days by using Skype or WhatsApp or a similar app for some of your texts? I assume you have wifi access for some of the time?

[Gemma]

@ruswilks - I’m sorry to hear the different information you’re getting.

Roam-further is a mandatory service, while you’re in one of our 60 Roam-further destinations.

I’d advise to turn off you data roaming (in your settings menu), on the days you don’t want to incur the £5 daily charge.

There isn’t a charge to receive calls or texts, so this won’t trigger the £5.

I understand some days you may only want to send a few texts. If possible as @Annie_N as suggested, you could use Wi-Fi to send the text via WhatsApp - email or another internet app.