Brief snippets …
A uSwitch press release masquerading as news in The Telegraph has the following extremely bizarre information :
Half of holidaymakers will return home from trips abroad to a mobile phone bill of £150 because they do not understand roaming costs.
…
Furthermore, seven in ten consumers leave their phone switched on all the time, despite never intending to use it, leave themselves open to high overseas charges.
This is because the minute a mobile is switched on abroad, it will register onto a local network, meaning customers will be charged international rates to receive calls or even having a voicemail message.
I had to read that last paragraph there a few times for the stupidity of the statement to fully sink in.
How are you supposed to receive a call if the phone isn’t turned on?
Do they think that there is some secret technique where you can cheat at roaming by only turning the phone on when you are going to use it, quickly making a call and then turning it off again in the vain hope that no one notices where you are?
As for the second paragraph something must be done now as being left open to high call charges is just too shocking to contemplate. I am surprised vulnerable people and some special interest group of shroud wavers were not mentioned just to cover all angles there.
Having said that, it can’t really be true as no anonymous experts were involved in the entire article.
Ok, enough sarcasm.
In this case, the recycled press release wasn’t quite long enough to justify an article so the dumb journo inserted their own helpful filler to pad it out and then didn’t even bother to read the crap they just filed to see if it actually made the slightest sense.
The mind boggles sometimes at the tripe passed off as news in our supposed quality press.
As for the tits who get a surprise bill when they arrive home – more fool them.
“oooh I thought the dial tone sounded weird”
He did that!
People do turn in to whiny bitches when they realise they’ve been stupid. It’s because they have been taught that nothing is their fault anymore.
Those of us that still accept responsibility for our actions don’t get stung by stuff like that
Bucko – Im not so sure they actually realise they have been stupid – more like they get a feeling that its all wrong and someone should have done something to stop it happening in the first place which seems to be a taught subject these days.
Accepting responsibility seems to have stopped being taught somewhere in the early 90’s and it’s fairly clear where that has led this wonderful land.
On the subject of roaming charges I don’t see the prices as being anything like excessive when you consider the service you are getting. It fucks me off more with the UK style charging for everything that isn’t a basic service as I mentioned in reply with the difference between roaming sms prices and UK prices.
I took my mobile to Portugal recently. I used it to text (10p each) and I used it to download some emails. Before it let me connect to t’web it told me what the charges were and asked if I was sure.
It even sent me a text advising of the call charges the minute it connected to the foreign service when I turned it on.
I don’t thing O2 pay and go is a particularly unique service so I agree, any bell end who comes home to a massive bill is a bit dim.
I have a mate who phones up and gasses for ages like an old hag, I just cant get rid. He phoned me when I was away and I said, Oh, how did you know I was in Portugal. He made excuses and buggered off straight away 🙂
Bucko – I am with Orange and get exactly the same sms information when I go abroad as well. I guess some people are either just too stupid for their own good or just like to be whiny bitches when they find out just how stupid they actualy are.
One thing that does piss me off with roaming is how I can send text messages when I am in Estonia for 9p but then have to pay 17p to sms my mates in Estonia when I am back in the UK.
As for your mate – you woudl think the foreign ringing tone would give them a clue – I get work calls when I am away and people always say in some surprised manner “oooh I thought the dial tone sounded weird”
and one day I will learn how to use the reply button on your site 🙂
Is the reply option or the captcha not easy to use then?