Monday, May 7, 2012

South Africa - The shocking bills from data roaming generated by smartphones and tablets

The Daily News report problems with roaming bills for South Africans.

It gives the example of Allan Bartram, CEO of a Kempton Park-based business and a regular foreign traveller. Ten days after his return from abroad his bill, normally in the region of ZAR 1,200 a month, was ZAR 10,500. He complains:

While overseas I had downloaded data I usually download at home – financial and forex info, weather and news – and I left the apps on.

It’s not a problem at home, because the downloads are free, but overseas it’s a bill killer, as I’ve discovered on talking to friends and colleagues.

Surely they [the operator] could send an inexpensive SMS to those people who have gone overseas with these smartphones and quickly start racking up an inconsistently high bill, in the way that we get a call from our banks when they pick up unusual spending behaviour on our accounts?

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