Roaming

[OGbanta]

Hi all, i'm a vodafone pay monthly customer and is one of many unlucky customer who purchased my plan before the changes in May 2016, so i'm not entitled to use my inclusive plan while i'm away out of the UK. I'll be travelling abroad within the next few weeks and have been made aware of the Pay Monthly extra daily addon. But i'm just a little paranoyed about using my pay monthly sim abroad as i've been strung last month with a huge bill and i'm not planning on taking the risk this month. So i'm just thinking of using a Pay As you Go Sim while i'm away, I am prepared to get the daily addon on that sim, but my question is if i top up, does the money I top up go towards my tarrif or do I have credit left over?

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi,

Appreciate you want to be cautious. 

This is link explains costs and what you can add / do to lessen those costs. 

Vodafone ~ Abroad.

There is two Payg options. 

Big Value Bundle. 

You top up by the required amount and then Vodafone take this top up credit to pay for the BVB Allowances which last 30 days. They do not roll over so if you don't use all of them then they are lost. 

The other is freebies. 

You top up and some allowances are given but the top up credit is not taken. You can then use this top up credit when your allowances are exhausted. 

Here is a link to explain Big Value Bundles and Freebies.

You'll need to ensure any roaming bars are lifted from the Payg. The shop can do this, via customer service or your online myvodafone. 

The other option is to unlock your phone to all networks and use a local SIM card. 

[Annie_N]

Hi @OGbanta

I think you posted in the wrong Board, as you're a PayM customer, so the PAYG bundles aren't going to help you much. Indeed, they may be of limited use when roaming, depending on destination. Once I've finished this post, I'll try to move your thread to the PayM section

The costs of travelling abroad, as linked to in @BandOfBrothers post, will be your most useful resource. Clearly it depends where you are travelling to, whether EuroTraveller or World Traveller would be helpful to you, but a useful bit of advice, for all destinations, is to keep your mobile data off except when you actually need it, as data costs can mount up alarmingly if you aren't careful.

Edited to add: sorry, only half awake this morning, moving thread back again! But firstly, make sure that using your existing account won't be the best bet. Secondly, as the basic roaming costs within Europe are so low, make sure that that isn't going to be your most economical option. Otherwise, a BVB, plus EuroTraveller for PAYG (at £3 per day), may be a good bet, but it only gives you 100MB per day, and then you're into OOB rates. Outside Europe, World Traveller simply isn't available for PAYG, though Data Traveller may be useful.

[BandOfBrothers]

@Annie_N

I read the post in that the Op is thinking of using a Vodafone  Payg SIM card instead of their pay monthly one hence why it was in the Payg Section. 

[Annie_N]

Yes, sorry, half awake, realised, and moved posts back again!

I added some thoughts to my original post, but it occurs to me to add that it's essential to contact CS before travelling, to make sure that there aren't any roaming bars in place. Also, as well as buying a BVB, you do need to have plenty of balance available to pay the £3 per day charge, and any extra data.

Just to be absolutely clear, the EuroTraveller for PAYG only covers your minutes and texts within Europe, not data, other than the 100MB per day that's included in the deal. For the rest of the world, PayM with World Traveller is usually a much better option than PAYG, provided it is available for the countries you'll be in. Data Traveller comes as standard with PAYG, but you do have to opt in for PayM accounts

If you'll be using the PAYG SIM in the same phone, you'll need to change the APN to the PAYG version. The phone should alert you, but make sure it's all sorted before you go, as these things aren't always easy to resolve once you're away.

[Annie_N]

@OGbanta

The more I think about it, the more puzzled I am that you'd feel that PAYG is the better bet. As your contract pre-dates the changes, you can still opt in to the PayM version of EuroTraveller, but read the details here and here carefully. And for destinations other than Europe, access to World Traveller usually trumps PAYG, unless your usage will be very small. Of course, PAYG does have the great advantage that everything stops when the money runs out, but you don't want to get into that, either!

Your very large bill for last month will presumably have given you the itemised usage to see why your costs got away so badly. So looking at that should help you avoid a repeat.

Data usage is a potential problem. I've already mentioned making sure that mobile data is off, except when needed. It's a bit phone-dependent, but iPhones in particular have a reputation for using data unexpectedly - make sure that data roaming and mobile data are both off, and then the phone simply can't make a data connection while you aren't looking.

[OGbanta]

Thank you all, i'm travelling within europe well turkey, i think voda classes turkey as in europe. I think i'll end up getting a new contract with vodafone a new 1 month pay monthly sim only. maybe my best option, is there anyway i can still set a cap on any usage charges? and if i buy purchase a 10gb plan, that plan can i use the whole 10gb abroad?

[Annie_N]

Good morning @OGbanta

I got stuck last night looking for some of the info I needed to reply, but this morning I've located it!

Firstly, yes, Turkey is within the inclusive roaming zone, but it is in Eurpe Zone 2, so it would be covered by your existing ability to opt in the EuroTraveller, however if you exceed your data allowance, the OOB rate is 45.9p a MB, about ten times the rate for Europe Zone 1 - ouch!

But what is your UK data allowance with your present bundle? EuroTraveller and £3 per day sounds increasingly like a good deal, as I've been looking at the alternatives mentioned below. I had it in mind that there was some cap on the amount of data you could use in a day under EuroTraveller but it doesn't apparently get a mention there or in the Ts&Cs - indeed para 7 suggests that it may be your home OOB rate rather than the 45.9p a MB.

@AnnS, @63johnw - as you'll realise, I'm a bit out of my depth here! Do you know if there's any sort of daily limit while using UK data allowances on EuroTraveller. Also, it looks as though it may be the home OOB rate rather than the scary Europe Zone 2 rate which would apply if you use the whole of your UK allowance - do you know which rate applies if you have an inclusive roaming allowance and choose to go over it?

I've had a look at the SIM only info, and none of the 1-month deals include any roaming allowances; also a new one would not be eligible for EuroTraveller, so you would be into the hideous Europe Zone 2 OOB rate immediately.

However, if you travel abroad regularly, you might want to consider changing your present bundle to one that includes the inclusive roaming deal. This page gives a bit more info, including the details on how to apply:

I know that there has been discussion on the Forum about what is involved, but I've failed to locate it. I do remember that the main requirement is that the bundle should be more expensive than your present one, but you'd have to call the sales team on the number given for more details.

However, you should be aware that you won't get anything like 10GB of inclusive roaming data - as far as I can see, the largest amount is 4GB. You can cap your account to stop once your roaming allowance is used, or you are into OOB charges.

I truly think you have to limit your data usage while you're away, or you could be looking at big money in OOB charges. There will almost certainly be hotel wifi, which can be a bit pricey, but not to that extent! I have no idea about the availability of wifi in coffee shops in Turkey, but that might be a possibility; if not, there will be internet cafes, which are still prevalent in countries where fewer people have domestic broadband.

Or, as @BandOfBrothers suggests, getting a local PAYG SIM with lots of data might be an option. However, this site suggests that trying to do so in Turkey could be fraught with difficulties, such as registering your own phone with the government if you want to use it with a Turkish SIM for any length of time - but that might be worth the trouble in your circumstances.

It's perhaps indicative that Vodafone Turkey's website contains some visitor info in English, but it seems to be devoted to getting your home phone roaming on their networks. If they had some products that they felt would be suitable for visitors, they would surely mention them!

[Getafix]

On Euro Traveller (pre May tariffs) the UK OOB rate would apply.

With the new Inclusive tariff it would be the Euro Roaming rates.

And with new Inclusive Tariff the data for Europe is lower than the UK Bundle.

[Annie_N]

Many thanks for the confirmation, @Getafix, that's rather how I read it.

But the thing that's worrying me is that Turkey, although it's in the inclusive roaming area, is actually in Europe Zone 2, so entering Turkey into the charges page produces these figures for OOB usage:

I confess I was pretty startled when I saw 45.9p, as I'd been expecting to see 4.6p a MB.

@OGbanta seems to be looking at the possibility of running through alarming amounts of data. I think that, if it were me, I'd feel inclined to stay with an older bundle, which qualifies for EuroTraveller, then, if I used up all my UK allowance, as I understand it I'd be paying £6.50 per 250MB, which works out at 2.6p per MB across a complete 250MB, more for the final part-used one. Though there are the 1GB and 2GB Data Extras, which I think could also be used?

Though I honestly think, if it were me, I'd be making a serious effort to keep my data usage well down!