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Cellular Phone Forum / Country Specific / UK Group / March 2007Much cheaper GPRS/3G abroad - why?
I've just been to S. Africa and over there "Vodacom" (which is probably Vodafone but in fact a UK Voda SIM says it is roaming when connected to it) offer PAYG data for R2 (about 14p) per megabyte. This is many times cheaper than the cheapest UK PAYG deals I know of. It is so cheap there isn't any point (for most people) in getting ADSL, and is so cheap that VOIP over 3G is viable so no need for a land line either. The bad news is that roaming isn't supported for data, and works only in half a dozen countries for voice. Also it cannot be topped up other than through a purchase of a card in SA, so even if one could get cheap data roaming abroad (e.g. in the UK) one could not top it up. Contract data is down to 1.5p per megabyte, increasing to £1/MB when roaming which is still way cheaper than any other roaming data deal I've seen. Amazing.... > I've just been to S. Africa and over there "Vodacom" (which is > probably Vodafone but in fact a UK Voda SIM says it is roaming when > connected to it) offer PAYG data for R2 (about 14p) per megabyte. They'll charge what they think the market will stand - and in the case of South Africa, many of their potential market are on sod-all money, so they drop costs accordingly... >> I've just been to S. Africa and over there "Vodacom" (which is >> probably Vodafone but in fact a UK Voda SIM says it is roaming >> when connected to it) offer PAYG data for R2 (about 14p) per >> megabyte. > > They'll charge what they think the market will stand Not in a competitive market they won't, and I hope we've got one of those in the UK. > > They'll charge what they think the market will stand > Not in a competitive market they won't, and I hope we've got one of > those in the UK. That'll explain why cars and almost any goods we buy in the UK can be bought elsewhere for less - often by as much as 50% less. Example - Hyundai Accent (picked purely because I drive one) UK price £8,995 $17,654 (£price from the UK website) US price £5,306 $10,415 ($price from the US website) That makes a ~69.5% loading on top of the US price for the UK market. The UK version also gets a smaller engine. >> > They'll charge what they think the market will stand >> Not in a competitive market they won't, and I hope we've got one of [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > >The UK version also gets a smaller engine. I agree with your sentiments here. In the UK we are ripped off all the time. I suppose if people continue to buy at inflated prices then those prices will be sustained. Take, for example, a Norton Anti-virus DOWNLOAD. I was going to renew until I found that they were charging exactly the same in GBP as they were in US$. So that is DOUBLE the pice. It was made impossible to buy in US$ because they obviously could detect the IP. The same goes for Microsoft Vista - a much inflated price for the UK Talk to people from other countries, who have visited the UK, and they will all tell you how expensive the UK is - and don't we know it! Remove 'no_spam_' from email address. > > They'll charge what they think the market will stand > Not in a competitive market they won't, and I hope we've got one of > those in the UK. > That'll explain why cars and almost any goods we buy in the UK can be > bought elsewhere for less - often by as much as 50% less. And that statement is based on what ? What you've read in the media ? > Example - Hyundai Accent (picked purely because I drive one) > UK price £8,995 $17,654 (£price from the UK website) > US price £5,306 $10,415 ($price from the US website) URL ? Which taxes were included ? > That makes a ~69.5% loading on top of the US price for the UK market. > The UK version also gets a smaller engine. And now post two further pieces of information: 1 - the US / UK spec comparison of the car 2 - The average / median wage - US/UK As someone who worked (and therefore unfortunately lived in the US), I await the tumbleweed of your reply. Here's and example of how "cheap" the US is: It was cheaper for me to fly from the US (Seattle) to the UK, have two fillings, then fly back to the US. > I've just been to S. Africa and over there "Vodacom" (which is > probably Vodafone but in fact a UK Voda SIM says it is roaming when [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Amazing.... One of my colleagues father lives out there and the mobile of choice was the 6210 or 6310 connected to a laptop, they use it instead of landline, sold a couple of my old ones to him, I suspect landlines are not too reliable probably because of the distances and also mobiles appear to be cheaper to run!  SignaturePosted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com z123@nospam.com declared for all the world to hear... > I've just been to S. Africa and over there "Vodacom" (which is > probably Vodafone but in fact a UK Voda SIM says it is roaming when [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Amazing.... Wouldn't want to live there though. SignatureRegards Jon |
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