Anyone who has used their mobile (cellular) phone abroad may have already experienced just how high mobile bills can get. But when it comes to using a mobile data package abroad, many people don't realise just how severe and scary data roaming charges can be. When Iayn Dobsyn, an IT worker, was on holidays in Portugal, he decided to download a Prison Break TV show and some music using his Manchester-based Yes Telecom mobile broadband card. He didn’t think anything serious about his usage, well that was until he got an enormous £31,500 (~US$62,500) bill! Even a large RIAA settlement bill would be laughed at when compared next to this.
While the IT worker knew he downloaded a lot of data abroad, he thought this had to be a mistake, but when he got legal help to try fighting the data charges, Yes Telecom confirmed that the bill was accurate and that they would be seeking payment. Eventually after some negotiations between the provider and his solicitor, the provider agreed to drop the bill to £229 (~US$453), which is based on a lower tariff. To give a comparison, his usual broadband bill averages £150 a month. His solicitor mentioned that it is normally wise for a provider to contact the customer if their usage gets unusually high, something which obviously didn't happen in this case.
To give an idea of how expensive data roaming is, it is first worth looking at how much ISPs charge for excess usage, which many people already find quite excessive. For example, Time Warner Cable in the US is working on charging $1 per Gigabyte excess usage. While mobile broadband providers usually have a similar fair usage policy for a flat-rate data package, but with a smaller allowance when accessing the internet on their home network, they usually charge by the Megabyte when roaming. For example, O2 and Vodafone in Ireland charge a hefty €5+ per MB when roaming in most European countries. So, if a Vodafone customer roams on Optimus in Portugal and downloads a typical size 4MB song, this would cost €30, based on the €7.50/MB roaming charge.
So one thing is clear, it is totally unwise to download even a song abroad with a mobile broadband package, never mind a TV show! Then again, to reach a bill this high, this person must have either downloaded a high definition TV show or a substantial amount of music. A much cheaper sensible option when travelling abroad is to buy access to a public Wi-Fi access point (if available). While Wi-Fi access typically costs €5 to €10 per hour, at least the person knows exactly how much their usage will cost and the price is usually based on time and not by the amount of data sent and received.
