Jetting off abroad? Avoid mobile bill shock this Bank Holiday with our top tips:
1) Turn data roaming off when you don’t need it
Make sure you know how to turn data roaming on and off on your phone (data roaming allows you to access the internet and some apps from abroad). For an Apple iPhone, this will be under Settings -> Mobile or Settings -> Cellular, for Samsung Models this will be under Apps -> Settings -> Mobile Networks, for HTC and Nokia models follow Settings -> Mobile networks and for Blackberry’s go to Options -> Mobile Network -> Data services. *Instructions may vary slightly on different models, if you need any assistance, you can contact our support team.
2) Turn off your voicemail
You may pay to receive and retrieve your voicemails while abroad. The easiest way to save money is to simply switch your voicemail off. To switch off Vodafone voicemail dial ‘1210’ from your phone, for O2 dial ‘1760’ and for those on the EE network you can text ‘VM OFF’ to ‘150’ or access the voicemail main menu by pressing * on your device when you are listening to your messages – and press 2 to temporarily switch off voicemail messages and set up a new greeting. For more on voicemail click here.
3) Use free Wi-Fi where available
Check with the Airport, your hotel and the restaurants you visit for free Wi-Fi.
4) Avoid using data-heavy services
It will help to keep your costs down if you don’t use data-heavy services like streaming films, video or music while you’re away. You should also try to limit your internet use to Facebook updates, some Googling, and invest in a local map.
5) Roaming near an international border
Mobile signals can travel over many miles, so when you’re close to an international border it’s possible to pick up a signal from another country. For example, if you’re in Northern Ireland and close to the border, you could pick up the signal from the Republic of Ireland. That would mean you’d be roaming onto another network (and paying charges according to your roaming tariff). So remember to check the name of the network shown on your phone before you make a call if you’re near the border of another country. Also remember to turn off data roaming if you don’t want to roam onto another network.
6) Do not call premium or non-geographic numbers
Premium numbers in the UK are normally numbers starting with a special code such as 0900. Non-geographic numbers don’t have an area code and, in the UK, they start with numbers from 04 to 09. These numbers they can be very expensive, so beware.
7) Data saving for you as a consumer
Data saving apps are optimised for travelling, and help reduce the impact of consuming data aboard. Apps include Onavo Extend (for iOS & Android) and Opera Max (for Android only). Both apps are free, and help to compress, and understand where you are using your data. A neat little app for going away, or for those with a low GB plan at home – the apps stretch your GBs further and let you see where you need to cut back. However, you cannot use the Onavo technology for media streaming apps such as YouTube or Skype – which is a rather big pitfall as streaming activities tend to eat your data alive. But unlike Onavo, Opera Max can compress mobile video as well as your standard data, and can actually take a 10MB video down to around 3MB. Which is pretty impressive to say the least. Opera Max is currently available for Android users in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, All European Union countries, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Norway, Turkey, Latin America/South America and CIS countries.
8) Data saving for your business
“Due to the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, ever more data hungry applications and 4G, mobile data usage in the enterprise is rapidly increasing. As many websites and apps are not optimised for mobile internet, smartphones and tablets use far more data than they actually need to. Data consumption has roughly doubled every year and is trending towards 100% of carrier revenue. The trend for increased international travel is accelerating this rise in costs”. – Wandera, the creator of the World’s first Mobile Data Gateway – known as the Secure Mobile Gateway.
We partner with Wandera to bring you their Secure Mobile Gateway, the solution that joins the flow of mobile data and sits between your employee devices and the internet. By doing so, you can potentially reduce usage by 30% across the board through compression, eliminate bill shock and reduce your data roaming bills by up to 60% through real time data caps, restrict data hungry apps and other undesirable content, and improve performance with advanced acceleration techniques to optimise data performance on your mobile.
Contact Callmaster Mobile today for more information on the Secure Mobile Gateway, your network’s current World & European rates and any current deals to keep costs down.