Travellers are willing to pay more for mobile roaming; 53 percent say that roaming costs can be a little higher than tariffs in their home country, according to a survey conducted by Travelling Connect and Telecompaper among more than 700 frequent travellers.
Although over half of travellers are willing to pay a little more for roaming,
most still thought that the current data roaming fees are too high. Only 13 percent think data roaming fees within their region are reasonable, and this drops to 6 percent outside their region. Among European travellers, the difference is greater (18% within EU versus 6% outside).
Price is the main reason why almost half switch data roaming off when abroad. Over seven out of ten have experienced 'bill shock' at least once, and the average amount of the excessive bill was over EUR 200.
The survey also found differences in how travellers use their mobile phones when abroad. Four out of ten Asian travellers buy a local prepaid card, compared to one third of all travellers. Almost one in seven have an international SIM card to communicate. However, the most popular method to communicate when abroad is sticking with your own SIM card and paying the additional costs.
Nevertheless, only 15 percent are very confident about estimating the costs of their data roaming when travelling. Travellers from the Middle East more often were very confident (23%).
