World Traveller

[Pampergirl50]

My daughter recently travelled to NZ and Australia and had a text message when she arrived advising that she was now on World Traveller and would only be charged £5 per day for UK allowances. She hadn't opted in as such but as she took her contract out after May 2016 this apparently is automatic. Some days she didn't use her phone at all and no charge was applied. But on a few days she sent one text message which resulted in a £5 charge, much more than it would have cost her had she not been included in World Traveller. She has ended up paying £25/£30 for a few text messages. She didn't use any data while she was away only free wi-fi. I thought the whole idea of World Traveller was to keep costs down but she seems to have paid a lot more. Has anyone had a similar experience?

[jeffkinn]

Anyone who uses either World Traveller or Euro Traveller would have the same experience. It is a one off daily charge of £5 and that is initiated by the first transaction. The idea is that you can use your phone as normal.

If you want to send just the odd text you have to opt out.

[donnyguy]

I can see the point you're making here that World Traveller doesn't work for everyone but like the reply above says, you can opt out if it doesn't work for you.

World Traveller is definitely worth it's weight in gold, especially if you're a data user. I used my phone in the UAE and Thailand and when you consider you're paying £3 for 5MB (!!) of data if you don't have World Traveller. It was great to know what the phone bill was going to look like on my return home.

[Pampergirl50]

Thanks for the replies. I suppose this is a lesson learned. It's unfortunate the text she received from Vodafone didn't say anything about opting out and she was deliberately trying to keep costs low by rarely using her phone. Good to know for any future trips.

[jeffkinn]

Personally, if I'm away for say two weeks in Europe I know I'll pay £42 to be able to use my phone as normal. In America that'll be £70. Both costs are tiny compared to the cost of a two week holiday and means no bill shock or hunting for decent free wifi

[jeffkinn]

This is what the welcome text says. I think it's fairly clear and the Vodafone website gives all of the details:

Welcome to THE USA. Because you've chosen Vodafone WorldTraveller, you will only pay £5 a day when you use calls, texts and data from your UK plan. You only pay the £5 charge on the days you use your phone. For terms and info see: http://m.vodafone.co.uk/ga1 or call +441635691700. For emergency services call 112. Enjoy your trip.

[Getafix]

One of the biggest advantages of World Traveller is receiving calls is free.

My several trips to USA and Kenya last year saved me a Fortune in receiving calls. On average of about 100 mins per day of received call time.