Vodafone Mobile Broadband - Roaming Charge Query

[philjwade]

Purchased the USB Modem with a view to using it to keep in touch with my business while abroad for a couple of weeks. I was lead to believe that the £15.00 top up would give you 30 days in the UK and somewhat less abroad, given that we are still saddled with massive unjustified "roaming" charges, so I was expecting 10 to 15 days. Little did I know that in fact all you get is 24 hours!! Any credit is completely wiped 24 hours after your first use!! Not only that, you have absolutely no credit left to top-up on line, so you are forced to call "customer service" and listen to 15 minutes of drivel before you can talk to a human. So on top of Vodafone scamming you for £15.00 you get saddled with a massive phone bill - in my case it was Euro 23 from Germany!
Customer Services could not give any explanation why my credit had evaporated, and when it happened again the next day I had to resort to buying a local dongle. At least the German version clearly states in the manual that use abroad is limited to 24 hours. They also have a much better way of charging: you get 5 minutes free, 15 minutes for 0.39, 24 hours for 3.49 etc. so you can see exactly what you are paying for.
All of which takes the "mobile" out of this so-called mobile broadband device, if you want to go abroad. Guess I will need a second suitcase for all my locally sourced devices - has to be cheaper than being mugged by Vodafone UK!!

[Retired-James]

Hi Philjwade,

As per any network the international call/data charges are always higher than those charges for UK use due to us having to pay the international network as part of the roaming agreements.

All of the internation charges can be found on our website here.

As it states the charges are;


New pricing from 15 June 2010
We've simplified our prices for using the internet outside of the UK. Here's what you'll pay from 15 June 2010:

• Europe: £1 for each MB up to 5MB, then £5 for every 5MB after that
• Rest of the world: £3 for each MB up to 5MB, then £15 for every 5MB after that

James
eForum Team