Roaming Voicemail
According to vRoam most travellers do not realise that they are charged three times for voicemail when roaming using their normal Australian SIM i.e. once as a received call whilst abroad, again as an outbound call from the visited country to deposit the voicemail and a third time to retrieve the message. This is called “voicemail tromboning” and results in costs for a voicemail being as much as $15 per minute or more, one of the great hidden costs of roaming, that can account for a large portion of your bill.
The EU has now legislated that from July 1st 2010, travellers cannot be charged for having a voicemail deposited whilst roaming in another EU country. Unfortunately, whilst the EU regulation helps Europeans travelling in Europe, it will not help Australians, who will still pay for voicemail tromboning (everywhere, including Europe) while roaming.
See also:
Australia – Mobile – FMC, FMS, Termination & Roaming
Australia – Mobile Communications – Analysis of the industry in 2010
Australia – Mobile Communications – Revenue Overview and Statistics
Australia – Mobile Communications – Subscriber Statistics
Tagged in: Australia, Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific
