Saturday, 15 May 2010 07:12
Written by Joe Basili
When employees travel overseas, expenses for use of wireless services can be very expensive. One reason for these high costs are the fees that are assessed each time a call crosses another country’s network and the related international roaming charges. Roaming fees are usually charged on a per-minute basis. They are determined by the service provider's pricing plan and local regulations. Some operators also charge a separate fee for the establishment of a call.
When a mobile device is turned on or is transferred via a handover to the visited or foreign network, the foreign network sees the device and it notices that it is not registered with its own system. It attempts to identify the device’s home network. If there is no roaming agreement between the two networks, service is denied by the visited network. If there is an agreement, it requests service information using the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number (including whether or not the mobile device should be allowed to roam) about the roaming device.
International roaming charges contrast sharply with the nationwide plans offered in the United States and India that eliminate these fees. The European Commission is seeking to make the European Union (EU) 27 member countries more competitive with regulations that require mobile carriers to lower their roaming fees. On July 1 2009, new EU mobile roaming tariffs reduce retail voice, retail SMS text, and wholesale data charges. It is also forcing operators to put strong anti-bill shock measures in place. Below are some of the new requirements:
• Limits to the price for sending a text message while abroad at €0.11. (Receiving an SMS in another EU country will remain free of charge.)
• A maximum wholesale cap of €1 per megabyte downloaded to reduce the cost of surfing the web and downloads with a mobile phone while abroad.
• Implementing a cut-off mechanism once the bill reaches €50, unless users choose another cut-off limit to protect users from bill shocks. Operators have until March 2010 to implement the cut-off limit.
• Reductions in prices for mobile roaming calls with a maximum tariff of €0.43 for making a call and €0.19 for receiving one.
• Changes that will introduce per-second-billing for calls received and per-second-billing after the first 30 seconds for calls made.
• Ensure that users are informed of the charges that apply for data roaming services.
The Commission is also expected to report to the European Parliament and Council by June 30 2010 on this regulation’s impact on mobility pricing at wholesale and retail levels, and availability of alternatives to roaming such as WiFi services. The review will also determine if further action is necessary or whether to allow the regulation to expire on June 30 2012.
These new rules reduce costs and seek to protect users from bill shocks, but international mobility expenses are still quite high. For example, recently a German was presented with a bill of €46,000 (approximately $63,000 US) for data roaming fees from downloading a TV program in France. This chapter offers tips to address these high costs for international wireless services.
Educate Your International Travelers
Employees should turn off the phone when they are not available. This avoids charges for calls to the handset on the foreign network, and forwarding of the call from the handset back to the domestic voice mail server. Where possible, employees should also avoid downloading attachments using wireless services. It is far more cost effective to wait until a LAN or Wi-Fi connection is available. Also employees’ devices should be disabled so they do not perform automatic updates to software applications or attempt to perform background synchronization. Disabling applications that automatically connect to the network can help to avoid costly downloads that use the foreign cellular network.
Implement a Pool of Loaner Devices
Set a corporate policy that requires employees to use a “loaner” device that has optimized plans for international travel. This can make a big difference in costs for employees that do not regularly travel overseas or those that travel to different countries. These mobile devices can be optimized with reduced calling and data plans for international travel through the selection of mobile providers and service plans. Employees can arrange to have domestic phone calls and e-mail forwarded to the loaned device.
Utilize SIM Cards
Removable country specific Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards hold personal identity information, cell phone number, phone book, text messages and other data. Using a SIM card, it is possible to switch carriers and continue to use the same phone. The phone must be unlocked, however, and SIM cards must be used with carriers that operate on the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) network.
to allow employees to leverage the benefits of a third party aggregator that is able to negotiate large volume discounts for international roaming.
Use a third party that will provide unlocked GSM phones or
Consider Using Technology
Implement Fixed Mobile Convergence for international locations
• FMC technology allows wireless users to seamlessly transfer calls and call features from a cellular network to a WLAN and back using one device, one phone number, and one voice mail
• The user specifies connection type, such as Wi-Fi preferred over cellular, effectively going around the cellular provider
• This reduces roaming charges in locations with Wi-Fi connectivity
• It does not address inbound calling because location information for the device is not available to the home provider to enable call routing
Consider Using Skype
• Obtain a "SkypeIn" phone number and configure it to forward to employee’s foreign cellular (generally prepaid) phone number
• By forwarding the employee's U.S. cell phone number to the Skype number, end-to-end call forwarding from the U.S. cellular number is achieved
• Incoming cellular calls are typically free (with most international markets calling-party-pays), the cost of these calls to the roaming subscriber is equivalent to the cost of an international mobile-terminating call from the VoIP provider (typically around 25 cents per minute)
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