Salesman 'crippled' by internet charges

General manager Campbell Downie says

A kiwi salesman was stunned to receive a $1100 bill from Telecom for just 10 minutes of internet access from his laptop.

Michael Crake racked up the charges after using a computer fitted with a mobile broadband device while at Sydney airport.

He was among disgruntled travellers to contact the Herald on Sunday after reading a report on sky-high fees for people who use smartphones and laptops to surf the net, download data and send emails while overseas.

Such activities incur roaming fees up to 300 times higher than domestic charges, prompting complaints to the Commerce Commission and telecommunications watchdogs.

Other cases include:

* The boss of an Auckland IT company being charged more than $6500 for iPhone use during a six-week business trip.

* A $5000 bill from Vodafone for two weeks of data downloads during a holiday in Crete, mainly reading newspaper articles online.

* An iPhone user being billed $1450 for two weeks of roaming in Britain and $145 for one day in Sydney.

Kiwi telecommunication companies say they are charged high amounts for their customers to use overseas networks and the cost must be passed on to the consumer.

But Crake remains staggered by his bill. He was online for two periods of no more than five minutes each and was charged $1112.34.

"I paid it but sent (Telecom) a letter telling them I was absolutely shocked and dismayed."

Telecom offered to reverse the charges in full, but when Crake cancelled his contract, they tried to sting him for an early termination fee of $650.

Auckland IT firm Positive is also upset. General manager Campbell Downie says the company is being "crippled" by Vodafone charges for iPhone roaming.

Postive's chief executive was charged more than $6500 for 229MB of data use during a business trip to the Middle East, Thailand and Singapore.

Downie discovered the bill would have been about 20 times cheaper had Positive been with Vodafone UK. "In New Zealand, someone is clipping the ticket horrendously."

Positive paid up, but Vodafone agreed to credit the company $4388.

"That says to me that these guys are making a killing."

Vodafone spokesman Paul Brislen says the difference in rates is a question of volume.

Telecom spokeswoman Rebecca Earl says the company doesn't put a huge mark-up on roaming prices and doesn't always cover its costs.

Earl also said Telecom's roaming rate was lower than those charged by some overseas networks. A spokesman for Communications and IT Minister Stephen Joyce said he was concerned with high rates for international roaming.

The Government was contributing to international work on the issue, particularly in the trans-Tasman market.

High price to pay:

* David Hold got a $5000 bill from Vodafone for two weeks' data downloads while he was on holiday. The data used was mainly from reading newspaper articles online.

* Gary Taylor received a $1450 iPhone bill for two weeks of roaming in the UK and a $145 bill after one day in Sydney. He complained to Vodafone and was told the charges were for data uploads, not downloads. When Vodafone couldn't explain why uploads would cost that much, they credited Taylor's account.

* Sait Akkirman advises travellers to purchase a local SIM card and subscribe to prepay data download.

* Brian Steel suggests buying a roaming SIM online, while Martin Howard advises taking advantage of the many hotels and cafes overseas that offer free WiFi.

alice.neville@hos.co.nz