 Wireless in the EnterpriseThis newsletter is sponsored by INSNetwork World's Wireless in the Enterprise Newsletter, 06/11/07Cost vs. convenience for international travelersBy Joanie WexlerIt is a challenge to contain out-of-country mobile communications costs while not utterly inconveniencing users beyond the point of productivity. Some users traveling through multiple countries do have the time to run around acquiring bags of different phones or subscriber identity modules (SIM) that will work in each locale. Some don’t. But beware that it’s darn pricey to just take a GSM phone outside the country and use it “as is.” Let’s say a user arrives in a European country, cold, with a GSM-enabled phone programmed for use on a U.S. carrier’s network. The phone lights right up and associates with an in-country local GSM provider’s network. If the user simply makes and receives phone calls per usual, without a pre-existing global roaming plan with the home carrier or a local plan and SIM, your company will find itself in invoice sticker shock.
David Heit, director of enterprise product management at Research In Motion, which recently announced its BlackBerry 8830 global dual-radio “world phone,” advises: “If there is no predetermined roaming rate [between your service provider and the overseas providers you use], you’ll pay rack rates” in foreign countries. Rack rates are undiscounted, list prices for per-minute local, long-distance, and roaming charges. The roaming-charge portion of a voice call alone can be more than $2 per minute, says Michael Rozender, principal of Rozender Consultants International in Oakville, Ontario. And if there are long-distance charges involved, the total price per minute could be more than $5. Note, too, that long-distance charges apply not just when the user makes an out-of-country call, but also when someone calls that user’s U.S. cell number and the call gets forwarded across the Atlantic or Pacific to the user’s temporary location. And, in some countries, you pay both to send and receive calls. There are options for circumventing some of these charges, which the next newsletter will examine.
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| Contact the author: Joanie Wexler is an independent networking technology writer/editor in California's Silicon Valley who has spent most of her career analyzing trends and news in the computer networking industry. She welcomes your comments on the articles published in this newsletter, as well as your ideas for future article topics. Reach her at joanie@jwexler.com. This newsletter is sponsored by INSARCHIVEArchive of the Wireless in the Enterprise Newsletter. BONUS FEATUREIT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICESTo subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007 |
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