It looks like it’s not just snakes and spiders and scorpions that you should watch out for when you’re Down Under. It turns out that there’s another hidden stinger in Oz. Australia is one of the priciest countries in the ‘developed world’ when it comes to untold mobile data and voice roaming charges, a recently commissioned report has suggested.
Bill Shock
This new investigation comes hot on the heels of a full set of recommendations from something exciting called ‘The Australian Communication and Media Authority’ (whatever that is), which found that more and more people visiting Australia on business or holiday are suffering from what’s understandably known as ‘bill shock’ when they return home to find that their phone services are far more expensive than they first thought they’d be.
Top Ten
The roaming charges study found that Australia was number eight in the list of most expensive countries in the world for downloading a single megabyte of data in one session. And eighth is pretty high when you consider that there are nearly two hundred nations on Earth). The home of surfing, BBQs and unreasonably weak lager was only surpassed by Canada, Poland, the United States of America, Israel, Mexico, Chile and Japan. When it comes to handling five megabytes on separate days in different sessions, Australia comes in seventh, with only the United States, Chile and Japan and a couple of others again slightly more damaging to your pocket.
Prices are up Down Under
The report, which looked at over 60 operators across the world, conclusively discovered that mobile roaming charges are very high across the board, especially when you compare them to the domestic rates of each individual nation. Which is obviously bad news for consumers. The survey also found out that data roaming charges are so exponentially high Down Under and across the globe that there’s a ‘very strong case for the implementation of measures that seek to empower or protect customers’. Similar initiatives have been brought into play in the European Union already. Which is great news for your bank balance…
What to do
As we’ve advised in most of our other guide to roaming abroad, knowledge is power. Avoid ‘bill shock’ by putting in a quick call to your network provider to find out what their rates abroad are.
If you’d like more information of how to save money on roaming costs, please have a look a few of our previous posts on world charges for some handy tips…
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