Vodafone Australia launches international roaming offer - Telecompaper
Vodafone has introduced a roaming offer for Australian subscribers. Customers who take up the operator’s offering will receive complimentary AUD 5 roaming on Vodafone’s AUD 100 Red plan, AUD 100 Red Business, AUD 130 Red Business and AUD 130 Red Business Grow plan over 24 months. Vodafone customers with AUD 5 roaming will receive Vodafone Alerts just like when they’re at home, notifying them by SMS when they reach 50 percent, 85 percent and 100 percent of their data allowance and included value. If they exceed their data allowance, Vodafone adds additional data automatically for AUD 10 per GB.
The service launch follows recent research showing that one in every two Australians turn off their phones when they travel abroad for fear of bill shock. The study also found that just one in every six Australians will use their phone overseas on holidays the way they would at home and one in five have experienced bill shock from roaming, according to a study commissioned by Vodafone and conducted by research company Lightspeed GMI.
To avoid excess data charges from roaming, 44 percent of Australians travelling overseas turn their phones off, 22 percent acquire a local SIM card at their destination, and 17 percent leave their smartphone at home. Only 17 percent use their smartphones when overseas.
The report also found that 21 percent of Australians have experienced bill shock from roaming. 39 percent have received an excess roaming bill greater than AUD 250. Around 66 percent of Australians would be worried to use their mobile phone overseas the way they would in Australia in fear of bill shock. Australians estimate it would cost AUD 206 on average to use a smartphone overseas for a week
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