Travellers unaware of full cost of roaming

Most New Zealand visitors to Australia take a mobile phone with them, but a survey has found few realise how roaming charges are worked out. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

Many New Zealanders using their phones in Australia are unsure of how much they are paying for the service.

Over the past few months, the Ministry of Economic Development (MED) has been surveying travellers returning from Australia.

Initial results show many travellers are unsure of what they are paying for and how much it costs to use their mobile when overseas.

Although the vast majority of respondents travelled with their phone, more than 20 per cent were unsure how much they would be charged to receive a call and 53 per cent did not know if they would be charged to receive a pxt (picture text).

More than 40 per cent of respondents weren't sure how many minutes they would be charged for a call lasting 1m 15s.

Through its business.govt.nz website, the MED is now seeking answers from small- and medium-sized businesses who use mobile phones and laptop computers with data connections in Australia.

The MED is trying to establish whether roaming services and cost is a factor in choosing a mobile provider, how aware consumers are of roaming prices, how people used their phone when overseas and if they are using alternatives to calling on their mobiles.

The results will feed into an investigation by Communications and IT Minister Steven Joyce with his Australian counterpart, Senator Steven Conroy, into roaming.

An Australian report by KPMG estimated average markups charged by telcos for calls made while roaming - using your phone in another country - were 300 per cent higher than the margin on local mobile calls.

Consumers can expect to pay between 10 to 2000 times the local mobile data price to check their emails while in Australia.

An initial report on the transtasman market by government agencies in New Zealand and Australia has found that we are getting reasonable features and services when we roam between the two countries, but prices were relatively high and it was hard for consumers to figure out what was behind the high prices.

The issue of consumer information is under investigation by the Telecommunications Carriers Forum, an industry group representing the major telco players. It is preparing an industry standard to inform consumers about roaming costs.

ON THE WEB

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