Quote:
Originally Posted by coolkarim
Hi
I was wondering why is GPRS data so expensive to use.
at home (UK) on my BB it is 2 pounds per MB
I went to Morocco on holiday and it was 17 pounds per MB
why why why???!!!
the network cannot handle the volume? so its a deterrent to using it?
or just money making by the providers (a monopoly I guess)
cheers
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I'm not entirely sure
why, but I think the European Commission's current investigation into roaming charges (which I believe includes data roaming) gives a clue that they, at least, think that it might be to do with oligopolistic behaviour by the carriers.
Data pricing seems to be changing (slowly) on the home front in the UK. T-Mo gives me unlimited web access, subject to fair use, for £7.50 per month on top of my BlackBerry fee. This was one reason I chose them. If I recall correctly from a few months back, O2 was similar in pricing although it was capped at 75MB. However, Orange, for example had no flat rate plans so the potential for a huge bill would be ever present.
Roaming data charges are exhorbitant on most carriers. On a recent trip to the Netherlands I paid quite a bit for sole access to e-mail (I specifically didn't use the web) over a three day period. There is some light on the horizon though: for £20 IIRC, O2 offers unlimited roaming e-mail, although it seems this bolt-on is not particularly well advertised.
High prices mean that I will seriously think about turning data off before upcoming trips to Venice and Spain...