Using a mobile phone abroad can turn into a potential nightmare when you get home and receive your monthly bill. This is the last thing you need after arriving back to your home country once you have finished your holiday.
Why will it cost me so much? You may be asking. Well, there is a concept called
data roaming
which is linked to the amount of data used when travelling abroad. Using the phone’s Internet to post pictures to social media is often the biggest contributor to these hidden charges.
Unless you remember to turn off data roaming before you go then there is no way to avoid these charges unless you prepare beforehand.
What Can I do to Prepare for this?
You first thing you should do is talk to your provider about a data package for going abroad, especially if you plan on using the Internet intensively. Discounted rates are usually provided by your network if you plan in advance, these bundles are considerably cheaper.
Check what happens if you run out of data, most of the time the data runs out but you could be charged standard rates again if you aren’t careful.
Another alternative option is using an international sim card which will offer lower rates when travelling in a variety of countries. A local pay-as-you-go sim card is another alternative especially if you are a frequent visitor to the same country. This will ensure you pay local rates, the only downside to this is your phone number will be different.
Data roaming can charge you for the littlest of things and some smartphone apps are constantly making connections to the Internet all of which will be charged to your bill. The simplest method of all is to switch it off completely, however this isn’t ideal for us to make our social media updates.
What to do When you Arrive
Finding a local Wifi hotspot is simple and cheap. You can access Wifi connections for free in places like cafes and hotels or for a small one-time fee. Use Wifi for uploading your pictures to Facebook or Twitter as these are intensive data tasks and eat data like nobody’s business.
Your data provider must send you messages by law when certain limits have been reached, these are usually 80% and 100%. Data will stop at 100% unless you state otherwise.
After all this talk of money, the most important thing is to enjoy your holiday and time off. Stick to using social media at certain times of the day, otherwise it can get in the way even for an update addict like me. Also be careful about what you post if you leave your house unattended, as this could be notifying potential burglars you are on holiday and your property is empty.
Thank you for reading my post about saving money whilst still using data abroad. Data roaming can be annoying so make sure you double check before flying out, otherwise you could be stung with a big bill when you get back.
