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Cum să ții sub control costurile pentru internet în roaming
06.08.2015
The Romanian National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) draws again the Romanian mobile internet users’ attention on the fact that they can choose a special tariff plan when travelling abroad on holiday or they can set a ceiling from their provider’s commercial offer. If a user does not choose any of these options, the implicit EUR 50 ceiling will be applied to his/her roaming data traffic, beyond which the internet access service is blocked by default. This limitation will not be applied where a user opted - upon the contract conclusion or at any point thereafter – for the removal of the implicit ceiling.
The latest statistical data published by ANCOM here indicate that in the third quarter of 2014 (July-August-September), the Romanian users of roaming data services in the EU/EEA countries consumed more than 71 million MB, whereas the users travelling in the countries outside the EU/EEA consumed over 3 million MB.
According to the data available on www.veritel.ro, a Romanian mobile internet user on the standard tariff plan who travels outside the EU (e.g. in the neighbouring countries or to “traditional” tourist destinations such as Turkey, Montenegro, Moldova or Serbia) may be in the situation to pay EUR 5-13/MB for data transfer. Comparatively, when travelling across the European Union, where maximum ceiling regulations are in place, the Romanian users pay at most EUR 0.20/MB (without VAT), if they use the standard tariff plan (Eurotariff). For example, a user accessing the e-mail, social networks and online news from the mobile telephone, for approximately 2 hours may consume almost 15MB and consequently pay from EUR 3 to EUR 195 for roaming data, depending on the country they are in.
Irrespective of the chosen ceiling, the users will be warned by SMS, e-mail or pop-up windows when the registered consumption reaches 80% of the ceiling, as well as when the ceiling value has been reached. The message warning on the consumption of the traffic amount within the chosen ceiling will also include information on the procedure to be pursued in order to keep benefiting from roaming data.
The rules regarding the setting of roaming data ceilings are applied both within the EU and outside the Union (to the extent that the operator of the network outside the EU allows the roaming service provider to monitor the service usage by its customers).
However, the users that do not wish their roaming data to be capped must address a specific request to their operators. The ceiling may be re-activated anytime, by sending a request therefor to the respective provider, who has the obligation to enforce it within one working day from the date of receiving the request. Where the users wish to avoid the accidental consumption of roaming data or do not want to use the roaming data services, they must make the necessary settings on their handset/tablet.
The operators may launch special tariff plans or lower tariffs, such as holiday offers. In order to compare all the telephony and internet offers currently in the market, including the ones for roaming data services, ANCOM makes available to the users the tariff comparison tool, at the address www.veritel.ro.
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