Internet access is extremely useful when traveling, especially to assist in your choice of activities while on the go, but the cost is exorbitantly high … so let’s discuss simple ways to dramatically reduce your data cost, when roaming internationally.

PROBLEM: Int’l Data can be Shockingly Expensive ($1,000 per week)

Using Mobile Internet services while traveling internationally can be a large, unexpected expense–exceeding the cost of your trip–unless you plan ahead. Most international travelers report receiving a shockingly high bill (“Bill Shock”), due to the unexpectedly high charges for using mobile data when traveling. How expensive? Easily in three or even four figures for a week of travel! Why? Because Operators are currently charging very high rates for the privilege of using data internationally (Mobile Operators are probably assuming that most of those travelers are business travelers, who will corporately accept this as a cost of doing business, with few of these business travelers ever being aware of the size of their mobile bill. This pricing model is so lucrative that, at present, there is little incentive to lower costs to encourage greater use–lowering prices reduces profit, as the increased traffic does not make up for the lost revenue from lowered price.). To protect consumers, many regulatory bodies are moving to limit the maximum roaming charge to $50, unless the subscriber authorizes further charges (led by the European Union).

Q: What can you do for $40,000?
A: Download a movie when traveling internationally!

To allow you to affordably maintain in contact with friends and colleagues, take advantage of location-based services, and more, you may wish to consider the options for using data when traveling internationally. To avoid breaking your budget, let’s plan ahead and avoid unpleasant surprises.

If your needs are modest, and limited to making and receiving a few calls and text messages, then the least costly solution for international travel is using a GSM phone and purchasing PrePaid service locally. I’ve written a basic article that goes into the process and options in more detail. However, many people seek more than making phone calls when traveling, and desire to take advantage of many Internet-based resources (just as they do during a typical day).

SOLUTION: Your Options to Reduce the Cost of Data

To maintain Internet connectivity during your travel, the least expensive way to go is Wi-Fi, which allows you to make free calls and messages from your phone, as well as all the regular benefits of Internet connectivity (such as searching for nearby locations to dine/visit). You can access Wi-Fi from your smartphone, and connect regularly at free Wi-Fi locations (hotels, cafes), but a more reliable solution is to purchase a brief subscription to use Wi-Fi for your trip, allowing you access to a large network of Wi-Fi access points.

Inexpensive Data plans (in order of increasing cost):

1. Free Wi-Fi (FREE, but can be hard to find in many markets)
   To find a hotspot that is nearby, or free, try JiWire or another global Wi-Fi finder, available as an app for your Android or iPhone smartphone, or online.
2. Wi-Fi purchase for hour/day, where available for a fee
   ($5 for an Hour or more for a Day Pass)
3. Wi-Fi Subscription for your trip (from mobile Operator that serves where you will be visiting, such as Orange, or from Boingo at $8/month for global smartphone use, or $59/month for up to four mobile devices, providing unlimited data use at over 500,000 hotspot locations)
4. PrePaid data plan from local mobile Operator that serves where you will be visiting—either a single country or multiple countries—from $3/day for your smartphone, or $12/day for a high-capacity plan (with USB dongle) for your laptop. Prices are lowest for use within a single country. For your smartphone, the 3 (UK) “All in One 15” plan offers unlimited data, 300 minutes of talk and 3,000 texts for £15. For a laptop, the Vodafone (UK) 3G Internet dongle plan with 2 GB is £15. If you are traveling among multiple countries, try using a mobile operator that serves all of the countries that you will be visiting. Vodafone and Telefonica have excellent European coverage with a single, prepaid plan. For example, the Vodafone Data Traveller plan provides 25 MB per day for £2 (or 25 MB per day for a month for £10) across 38 countries in their Europe Zone. For a laptop, you can use 100 MB per day for £8 in their Europe Zone. Basically, you purchase pre-paid service in the country/countries you are visiting, at the lowest, local rates. Read my article for details.
5. Bring a Hot Spot with you for $15/day, from XCom Global (as recommended by Tom Samiljan in ”When in Roam.” and recommended in a recent review by PC Magazine). This is a great option for someone that plans to use a lot of data from laptop, smartphone, tablet or a combination of devices. A smaller USB stick for your laptop is also available. Even lower-cost solutions can be had when roaming into the U.S., from start-up services offering up to 500 MB of “free” data use from FreedomPop and NetZero Wireless, with modest charges for  increased monthly usage ($10 per GB). With these services, you carry a device that creates a personal Wi-Fi network (“MiFi”) that you and others can use (while the device connect to the Internet via a wide-area wireless network). The downside of the U.S. services (based on WiMAX) is that you can not use their service in as many locations as a mature, cellular network, that offers nearly ubiquitous service.
6. PrePaid, Global Roaming data plan from your current mobile Operator ($2/MB, starting at $25 a month for 50MB in selected countries, otherwise default rate of up to $20/MB. You can revise these plans instantly if, for example, you wish to increase the amount of data you are purchasing at discount.  Warning: Charging based on usage can be hard to track and can result in unexpectedly high charges! This feature, alone, can reduce your roaming costs 90%, and will avoid a three- or four-figure roaming bill. With judicious use of Wi-Fi (see options 1, 2 and 3), you can trim down your data roaming charges into something reasonable.
7. Active International Travel discount feature, to reduce the cost of Data/SMS/Voice for your postpaid mobile data plan from your current Operator. By planning ahead, you can activate a feature (for a small charge) that will significantly reduce your cost of data when roaming. When you return from your travels, remove this feature to eliminate the monthly charge.
8. Current data plan, from your current Operator ($20/MB, Warning: This default option can result in bills over $1,000).

Free Calls & Texts from your (Wi-Fi or Cellular) Data connection

You can also make voice calls, text and IM from your low-cost data connection. From your smartphone (or laptop), you can use Skype (or other VoIP clients) to make free or nearly free international calls (Skype lets you call other Skype members Free, but charges you a very low fee for International calls) and texts. So that you are ready to go anywhere you find Wi-Fi: before you travel, install the Skype “App” (client) on your smartphone, and fund it with a few dollars.

If you are a T-Mobile customer, they have a great Wi-Fi solution that lets you make you make calls over Wi-Fi, using your existing mobile number, with calls to the U.S. using your plan minutes (no extra charge for international Long Distance). This option is fully described in my article, “Free Mobile Calls over Wi-Fi.”

Mobile Internet is useful when you travel, like having an expert!

When you travel, you are less likely to know how to get around, which are the best activities, and where is the best food. So it can be incredibly helpful to have a guide handy to tell you where you are, with recommendations for activities and meals. These services cleverly use your mobile phone’s location to map out the area, and attractions. These location-based services are useful at home, but can save you a lot of time (e.g., travel directions, including public transportation) and ensure that you get what you want out of your travel. You can use your smartphone to access all of these services when you need them … but these service require a mobile internet connection which can be very costly!

Read Part 1: Purchase service locally, at Lowest Rates

For a step by step review of the basics of reducing your mobile phone service, when traveling, please read my article “Reducing your Mobile Phone Bill when traveling.”

As Mobile Operators extend their networks to include Wi-Fi, they are initially (1) Building in-market Wi-Fi for “Data Offload”, and then they will establish (2) Roaming, to get more benefit where they have not (yet) built it.

Wi-Fi Data Offload   –>  Wi-Fi Roaming
In market                       Out of market

Most Operators are rushing to Build, and then the focus will then be to Roam.

Seamless Cellular + Wi-Fi will become the norm. You may be already enjoying this, if you are served by one of the leading Operators that have been delivering this, in advance of industry standards. In the U.S., if you have an iPhone from AT&T, you have been enjoying the automatic use of over 20,000 Wi-Fi hotspots for years without ever thinking about it. In Japan, KDDI delivered a similar solution in 2011 with their metro Wi-Fi networks complimenting their cellular service. KDDI’s “au Wi-Fi SPOT Service” gives Subscribers “Instant On, No-Touch Access” with over 100,000 hotspots planned throughout Japan.

Now that the industry has collaborated to create a standard to make Wi-Fi a seamless extension of your cellular service, it will be rapidly adopted by many Operators. The initial standards are ready, and products are already being delivered (from handsets to Wi-Fi networks to inter-carrier roaming services to Mobile networks). Cisco already has delivered compliant products to Operators (see “Cisco Next-Generation Hotspot Technology Delivers Seamless Mobile Experiences“), including a successful Trial with PCCW in 2011 (see “PCCW mobile Becomes World’s First Operator to Successfully Complete Commercial Next Generation Wi-Fi Hotspot Trial“).

Multiple organizations have collaborated to deliver Cellular roaming onto Wi-Fi: Where the device connects to the Wi-Fi network, the technical standards are produced by the Wi-Fi Alliance, and they refer to these features as “Hotspot 2.0″, while the business networking solutions are produced by the Wireless Broadband Alliance, and and they refer to these features as “Next Generation Hotspot.” To coordinate this solution with the mobile networks, the WBA is working with the GSM Association to incorporate the standards into their reference documents.

Wi-Fi Grows Up, an looks like Cellular

Here’s how Wi-Fi is growing up to deliver the same, seamless use that you enjoy on cellular networks: (for more, see Sue Rudd’s recent report, “WiFi Hotspots will be Small Cells in Mobile Broadband Networks by 2015” and a summary can be downloaded here)

This will give Subscribers all the benefits of Wi-Fi plus the ease of use of Cellular.

Q: Will I pay more to use Wi-Fi?
A: No. You will not pay more to use Wi-Fi within your own country/market. Currently, Operators are not charging subscribers for use of Wi-Fi, as it is not a separate subscription or feature, but a benefit available to all data users. Operators see this is a competitive advantage, to draw users to their networks, since Subscribers have increasing desired that Operators provide this service. Subscribers have been manually connecting to Wi-Fi, and relish the automated use of Wi-Fi (ADD reference to Movidia study).

Q: Can I use Wi-Fi to reduce the cost of International Roaming?
A: Yes. Initially, Wi-Fi is being deployed as an extension of the cellular coverage in your market (“Data Offload”). Subsequently, Operators will make roaming deals to enable you to similarly use Wi-Fi when you travel internationally, which should make using data far less costly.

Wi-Fi is our Primary wireless connection to the Internet [Cisco VNI

Although cellular is the ubiquitous network that we can (nearly) always count on, Wi-Fi is the preferred network that we use to carry our network through the Fixed Internet. Although Wi-Fi had humble beginnings (see reminiscing about the early move by Steve Jobs to introduce Wi-Fi into Apple laptops) to replace Ethernet cables, it has become our default network.

Of the different ways that we can connect to the Internet, Wi-Fi will carry an increasing percentage of mobile data: 50% more than Cellular in 2015 [per Juniper forecast]. Femtocells, in contrast, are not expected to play a large role. In fact, Wi-Fi will be the primary way for us to connect to the Internet, exceeding wired (Ethernet) connections (Cisco estimates that Wi-Fi is the leading connection in 2015, according to their annual VNI study).

In 2015, Wi-Fi will still carry more data  traffic than Cellular [Nitin Bhas, Juniper Research

Wi-Fi will grow as a compliment to cellular Mobile networks, as Wi-Fi matures and acquires the best attributes of cellular: automatic, seamless, and secure (see “Wi-Fi, as easy to use as 3G mobile data“). Mobile Network Operators now recognize and embrace Wi-Fi for its benefits: Cost, Capacity, Coverage, Customer Experience. Mobile Operators particularly value Wi-Fi for its low Cost and high Capacity, as Mobile networks are simply unable to keep up with the demand (Capacity), and Operators are challenged to maintain the profitability as Revenue (for a unit of data) is falling faster than Cost (as Sue Rudd, of Strategy Analytics, has expertly deduced and illustrated), which reduces and eventually threatens profitability. Wi-Fi will help Operators to reduce their cost, and maintain the profitability of Mobile Internet for cellular operators

Retail revenues shrinking in EU

Retail revenues declining in U.S.

Q: What to do to boost revenues?
A: Make mobile data services mainstream (“Crossing the Chasm”). Also, enhance the value of existing services, to bring in new customers.

Taking data services mainstream

Mobile broadband data is being used by a fraction of the subscriber base, with a lot of growth available. Subscribers are overwhelmingly buying smartphones, but many do not subscribe to a mobile data plan. AT&T notes that “56 percent of all smartphone subscribers are on tiered data plans” [4Q2011 Earnings summary]. Adoption of mobile broadband is less than 50% of the subscriber base in developed countries. Growth rates for adoption of mobile data are moderate (20% more data subscribers in Europe, YoY growth), undoubtedly owing to the poor economy. Mobile data is on the verge of becoming a mainstream service, and Operators urgently need to make it easy for new users to get on board.

As an example of making data a mainstream service, T-Mobile (US) is doing a great job of making data services affordable. To encourage new users to “Try it, you’ll like it,” they build a little data into every plan. Also, they allow subscribers to use it at affordable rates without committing to a contract–removing hurdles to the use of mobile data, and making it easy for new users to add this service without breaking the piggy bank. Further, you are not penalized if you use more than you planned: “T-Mobile is the only nation-wide network with overage-free mobile broadband plans.” And you can use all of your services FREE over Wi-Fi (“Wi-Fi Calling”), so that if you have Wi-Fi, you have service, anywhere on the planet. Voice, text, video, e-mail … all free over Wi-Fi.

Enhancing the value of existing services

Orange is enhancing their existing voice service with an offering that should bring in new subs: HD Voice. Since Orange is leading the pack with HD Voice, and the service delivers enhanced voice when both parties have an HD-compatible phone, then once someone experiences this service, they will want all of their friends and family to have the service, too … causing them to flock to Orange. If HD Voice were to be made available on the iPhone 5, say, it could create a surge of influential customers that (a) quickly enjoy the service with a large percentage of others, and then (b) evangelize the benefits of the service to others.

Similarly, other Operators are working to add Presence info to your Address Book and communications apps. Imagine how much more efficient you would be in communicating on your mobile device if you knew whether your friend was Available or Busy, or whether they preferred that you contact them via IM/Text/Voice/Video. Several, leading Operators are delivering RCS (Rich Communication Suite) services to the market, and plan to succeed in making your communications easier and more fun. The benefits could be similar to the example of HD Voice, above: bringing in more subscribers to your enhanced offerings of classic, mobile services.

Although wireline subscribers loved Calling Name,
mobile subscribers never received the feature … until recently.

Mobile Operators are now delivering the most valuable wireline telephone feature, ever: Calling Name. Most mobile subscribers want this feature [Forrester]. Recently, T-Mobile has been offering it, and others are quickly adding it as an option. Fortunately, it is not necessary to get a new phone–just ask for it! Conveniently, your service provider may include it, for free trial use, in your new phone. After a couple of weeks of trying the service for free, you are presented with the option of keeping the service.

How is Calling Name an improvement?
Today, when someone calls you, your mobile phone receives the calling number (303 555 1212), and so you are burdened with determining who this number belongs to, and whether you want to answer the call … while the phone is ringing. A name will be displayed only if you have this number stored in your phone’s Address Book. Calling Name informs you of the caller, and also lets your phone display any additional information (e.g., “Mom”) that you may have form this number in your Address Book.

Calling number (current operation)

Calling number and Name displayed

* Subscriber revenues from Calling Name were greater than any other feature, due to the broad appeal to the Called person to choose when they wish to take an incoming call. We all wish to use our limited time wisely, it seems, so Calling Name appealed to everyone, independent of household income. At its peak (in the late 1990s), most homes in the U.S. subscribed to this service, at around $6/month (at $72/year/household x 100M Households, we’re talking $7,000,000,000 per year in the U.S. market, alone). Call Waiting, Three-way calling, Voice Mail … they all paled to Calling Name.

Having helped to deliver these innovative features to wireline subscribers (I worked for AT&T Bell Laboratories, when AT&T was a monopoly), it’s exciting to see the benefits of Calling Name (a.k.a. Caller ID) becoming available to a new generation of mobile subscribers!

T-Mobile "Name ID" delivers the Caller's Name (not just the number)

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Improve Audio: replace the stock Jawbone ear bud with a custom ear gel from AverySound. This does not cost a lot, but greatly improves the sound delivered to your ear, physically blocking other noises from disturbing your conversation. Here’s a demo on the process and benefits.

Better sound for you and your caller!

Original Ear piece                                             Upgraded Ear Gel   

Jawbone ERA with stock earpiece

Jawbone ERA with custom ear gel

SInce Voice is still a cash cow for Mobile Operators, it is a great idea to enhance it, to assert the improved quality that you get from a Mobile Operator (vs. an Over The Top service provider, such as Skype). Now that mobile networks carry more Data than Voice traffic, it’s easy to allocate a bit more bandwidth to improved voice. The service uses a new codec, Wideband AMR (an improvement on the current AMR standard used in GSM).

Where can I get it?

As with most new mobile features/services, you will need for your Operator to offer it, and you need a compatible handset (probably a new now, in this case).

Operator Support: At last count, HD Voice is provided by 39 mobile nets, in 31 countries. Orange has been leading the deployment (including pushing the standards development), delivering HD Voice in many of its European and Middle East properties.

Handset Support: Only a few handsets currently support HD Voice, so you’ll have to look carefully. It has been rumored to be a feature of the new iPhone 5 (but, then, what new capability has not been rumored to be in the new, iPhone 5?).

Caller needs it, too: Both Caller and Called must have this feature, for it to work at HD voice quality (see Engadget demo). Makes sense, however, as it is an end-to-end service. Like a Skype video call, both parties need it for it to work, end-to-end.

Tariff: Orange does not charge anything more for this feature, interestingly. It simply establishes Orange voice as a superior service, and encourages callers to use Orange to call their family & friends with HD-capable phones. Nice move.

Soon, you will be able to enjoy HD Voice as more handsets and networks support this important, new feature.

Trend towards Improved Communication

Since mobile phones have become the primary phone that people use–replacing fixed/wireline/VoIP phones–they are incorporating the best features of wireline service:

Done: Caller ID, Call Waiting, Voice Mail, Three-way calling, etc.
Deploying: Calling Name (see related posts)
Coming: High-quality Voice

To develop the Business Case for Mobile Operator use of Wi-Fi, we are expanding this paper to include the perspectives of leading Mobile Operators, as a task within the WBA.

Other Operators are planning to offer this. Look for it! Thus far, Sprint, MetroPCS and T-Mobile offer this feature.

As mobile service becomes the replacement for wireline service, it is picking up all of the best features of wireline. Next up, High-Quality Voice!