Is it time to subscribe to a printer service from HP?

Ever since my dad brought home an...

What’s the best way of buying a phone today?

How did you buy your latest phone?...

MWC: What device highlights did you miss?

So, early last week I predicted that...

This post brought to you via Vodafone data

IMG 20110310 00085

Thank you Vodafone. Thank you for the £2/day-for-25mb deal. It’s good enough to make posts like this possible. The photo I’ve attached here (snapped on-the-go from the taxi window) is 1.6mb. Sending this to the web would normally cost me £2-3 once you take into account the surrounding data overhead.

Thanks to Vodafone’s opt-in European data policy, I can use my BlackBerry without having to panic. I’m just billed a simple £2 each day. Manageable. Reasonable. I’m content.

If you travel often to Europe and you’re a Vodafone customer, phone up and check you’ve got this option added. You need to opt-in otherwise you’ll pay the quid-a-meg rates.

The big arse of course — there is an arse — is that once you go over 25mb per day, you start racking up the quid-a-meg rates.

This is because some bright spark at Vodafone thought it was a good idea to almost get it right. It’s like the company has a built-in screw-it-up register to guarantee no matter how smart and how exciting the original concept, some committee, somewhere, votes to hamstring it.

I’ve already opted-in, right? By doing this, I’ve told you I’m live to your stupid standard data rates. I’ve told you I care. I’ve made it clear I will pay — but not the crazy rates. Ergo, why not change the price to £2 for 25mb blocks? So if I use an arbitrary 42mb in a day, you’ll charge me £4.

Sounds like a good idea? No? Yeah. I know. Those executives and those committees don’t like it. They don’t like the ‘revenue limitation’. You can practically guarantee that at one of these price plan setting meetings, a chap called Colin with a company supplied Nokia 3310 has actually voiced the words, “25mb for £2! That should be enough for anybody going abroad!”

Keep ramming the Vodafone fist up the proverbial enterprise arse to extract silly roaming rates. Those guys have factored the roaming-arse-extraction into their 5-year budget forecasts.

But for everyone else? Why not do a bit of delighting? £2 for 25mb blocks? Go on.

8 COMMENTS

  1. Spot on. I switched to voda just over xmas (as did son) and this was a HUGE benefit on a recent trip. Being away 8 days we actually went for the monthly option (immediately canceled). That is a great deal — but there is that “danger” of going over (albeit capped at something like £40).

    Completely agree with your suggestion, though at same time recognize that it’s better than the other networks and a big step forwards – the first time I’ve dared use data before.

    Of course something went wrong – http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Using-the-network/Data-Traveller-no-quot-nearing-end-of-allowance-quot-texts/td-p/675919 – though eventually they came through and refunded the charge (and the DT monthly fee as a goodwill gesture) – but this does demonstrate one of the weaknesses in the system

  2. Ajit, I think it’s ‘Eurotraveller’ or something like that. If you phone them up, they’ll know what you’re talking about.

  3. My friend in Barcelona calls it his Joderfone. Google translate and the verb joder, will clarify how he really feels.

    If it’s any consolation, at least Vodafone is better than AT&T. I get $19.97/MB international for data, or 20MB for $24.99/month, if I sign up ahead of time. If I pay them $5.99/month they’ll give me calls in and out for $0.99/min. Now there’s a company that loves it’s customers.

    Needless to say, while at MWC in Spain, my carrier un-unlockable iPhone 4 stayed in flight mode. I bought a EUR 14 PAYG from Movistar and rocked that at the Fira!

  4. I continue to be astonished the operators don’t take the revenue that’s
    available, rather than forcing you to keep your handset in flight mode!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Recently Published

Is it time to subscribe to a printer service from HP?

Ever since my dad brought home an HP LaserJet printer (version 3, if memory serves), I have been printing with an HP. Over the...

What’s the best way of buying a phone today?

How did you buy your latest phone? I'm asking because I'm thinking about what I should be doing. When I was living in Oman, I...

MWC: What device highlights did you miss?

So, early last week I predicted that next to nothing from Mobile World Congress would break through into the mainstream media. I was right,...

How Wireless Will Pave the Path to Neobank Profitability

I'm delighted to bring you an opinion piece from Rafa Plantier at Gigs.com. I think it's particularly relevant given the recent eSIM news from...

An end of an era: Vodafone UK turns off 3G services

I thought it was worthwhile highlighting this one from the Vodafone UK team. For so long - for what feels like years, seeing the...

Mobile World Congress: Did the mainstream media notice?

I resolved this year to make sure I wrote something - anything - about Mobile World Congress, the huge mobile industry trade show taking...