Fear and Roaming: Part Two

You may remember in our last blogpost we told the tale of Matt Buie, a Canadian who got served with a $22,000 roaming data bill after his young son streamed video on holiday. We’ve followed Buie’s story with keen interest since then, as it was clear from the start that he was never going to give in – but at the same time his provider had little reason to seek compromise.

Since we first shared the story, there have been a few developments. The first was that Buie’s provider offered to cut the charge down to $2,200, but Buie refused. This turned out to be a shrewd move as the next offer cut the bill to a more palatable $200 in an attempt to stave off the bad publicity.

More interesting than the simple settling of the bill though is that Buie has since offered advice to future victims of these roaming data charges. Mistreated cell phone customers can now read Buie’s step-by-step guide on how to deal with your provider in the event of an excessive roaming data bill.

While Buie’s guide is certainly a handy reference for other suffering customers though, it also illuminates that the root of these charges is not technological complexity, but a lack of customer advocacy. None of the steps in Buie’s guides are about technological issues, after all – they instead focus on how difficult it is for an individual to deal with a large corporation.

Right from the moment the story broke, Buie has always admitted he made a mistake letting his son use his phone while on holiday – he’s only disputed that it was a mistake worth $22,000. He’s also pointed out that if the provider really had his own interests at heart then it wouldn’t have let the issue escalate so much. He’s completely right on both counts.

At Truphone, we believe network operators must do much more to protect their customers and that it’s only by treating each other with respect that we can aspire to have worthwhile communication at all. That’s why we’re redoubling our commitment to customer services and are currently rolling out updates that simplify our billing systems and provide free, global access to customer services

We like to think we’d fit in well with the final step in Buie’s guide – find a better provider.

Fear and Roaming

We’re all familiar with the concept of a dating programme. Two members of the public blindly pitch questions to each other in an attempt to prove they are suitable to share a holiday and the rest of us watch the fallout. Sometimes they hit it off, but more often than not it’s days of on-camera awkwardness neither will want to repeat.

The relationship many of us have with roaming data is like this; we feel forced to tolerate awkward situations far from home and with partners we barely know. A lot of the time it can be hard to ask questions too, let alone get clear answers.

Not checking your roaming charges or falling blindly for a data package without asking questions can be disastrous for both your wallet and wellbeing. There are many nightmare stories out there about roaming data charges and one which caught our attention recently was the tale of Matt Buie, a Canadian who was stuck with a $22,000 roaming data bill whilst on holiday.

Buie admits he made a mistake in letting his son stream so much video, but it doesn’t change the fact that his operator only shut down the account once the charges were well beyond excessive.

Data allowance is fast becoming the most essential feature of a mobile package. New research from BT reveals that 93 per cent of Brits have "mobile-phobia' when they are roaming, demonstrating that most of us feel the relationship is still more terrifying than pleasant. That’s a major problem and one we don’t believe customers should have to tolerate.

We believe the relationship you have with your phone provider should be a healthy one, where you can deal with each other openly and fairly. We don’t believe in hidden fees or profiting from our failure to protect customers.

We believe keeping in touch should be an enjoyable experience, wherever you are – and not something you’re scared to even consider.

Lost and Found: iOS6 Maps vs Google Maps

For many, yesterday was an ordinary Thursday. For others it was the day that iOS6 landed on their iPhones.

Here at Truphone, if that wasn't exciting enough, we were over the moon about getting access to Apple's new iOS6 Maps and our first question was how does it compare to our dear old friend Google Maps. After all, many's a time we've landed in an unknown country, looked around lost and turned to Google and our Tru SIMs to help us out of a tricky fix.

So, to pit them against each other we concocted a pretty (un)scientific experiment to evaluate the experience, ease of use and accuracy of both maps apps on a Tru SIM using two people who were unfamiliar with London, the apps or walking longish distances.

We dropped them at two well known London stations (Kings Cross and Euston) with a drink and the instruction to get back to the office (beside Tower Bridge) as quickly as possible. These are the findings...

Apple iOS6 Maps on an iPhone 4 from Kings Cross

On first inspection the one thing which struck Rob was that it looks slick and familiar from an 'Apple' point of view. The in-map functionality was quite intuitive. However, entering the destination and setting a route was not quite so obvious as the buttons imply different functionality.

While playing with the app, Rob accidentally switched it to 'Car Mode' and it started taking him in different directions whereas a pedestrian can use alleys, wrong way down one way streets, etc... Once the error was realised, it was pretty easy to reset and then he was back on his way - albeit a few minutes down.

Maps told him how long it would take and a big blue line telling him the route and as he started his journey, Maps gave him clear instructions using a sat nav style sign post directions.

The one thing which was annoying and confusing is that it didn't update the overall journey time remaining and how far was left on the journey. Also disappointing was that the 3d feature didn't appear, at the time we were unsure whether this is because it's not available - or that it just wasn't available for London yet - or that is wasn't available on the iPhone we had.

One big positive is that it was fast. Faster the Google Maps. Which is a big plus when you're trying to get out of a tricky situation with as little stress as possible.

Overall, the experience was not that great on an iPhone 4. It has similar features to Google Maps, is quite fast but we weren't blown away by the functionality - possibly because of the Google Maps familiarity. We've since learnt that public transport doesn't work yet, but that wasn't the challenge so we won't hold that against it for now.

In terms of time, it took about 52 minutes to walk from Kings Cross to Tower Bridge (which is just over par) and a couple of wrong turns were made.

Google Maps on a Sony Xperia Ray (Android) from Euston

Mark, not overly familiar with using Google Maps on his phone, it took a while to load and locate. Putting in the address was simple and the route calculation was pretty fast. It told the total distance and time, but again it didn't say how long was remaining as he progressed through the streets. A disappointment was that when you start, you had to know which direction to start walking before it picked up where you were going. Once picked up, it was easy but a minute or two was lost to get onto the map in the first place.

The detail was great, easy to switch between map, Street View and getting an overall picture of the route. Even on an small screen and older phone, the experience was excellent.

On the map it gave a clear instruction when to turn, rather than just popping up on the screen so it was very easy to not get lost.

The overriding feature is that it was intuitive. It didn't try to be clever - and it didn't get him lost at any point.

Overall, the experience was positive. It was comfortable to use and didn't get him lost.

In terms of time, it took an hour to get from Euston to Tower Bridge - which is also a little over par given that Euston is a little further away.

On inspection (as a knowledgable Londoner) I'd argue that there are more direct routes from the destinations and I was a little surprised that the two didn't meet on their journeys. We've also since played with iOS6 Maps on an iPhone 4S and the experience is much better.

Which app won?

While our initial reaction was that Google was the winner on the experiment itself, it's clear that device technology does play a pretty fundamental role in how good the Maps are overall. We also haven't tested the driving experience on Apple - but that's next on the list.

Having a play with both map Apps in the post experiment excitement, they both have features which simply blow you away. The level of detail and additional functionality points to a very interesting future for both.

We're calling it a victory for Google Maps for now. But Apple iOS6 Maps looks very promising and exciting.

What does this mean?

Given the ultimate goal of the experiment was to understand how useful these apps would be in an unknown city, the result is that they would be very, very useful indeed!

We'd love to hear your experiences of map apps, or even suggestions for other experiments we could run around the world!

Don't let roaming charges cast a cloud over your Olympics

The Olympic Torch has now arrived in London... as have an additional few million people from across the globe.

While the eyes of the world will focus on the Olympic Stadium over the next few hours, days and weeks, the millions of people coming to the UK are likely to be having at least one eye on their roaming charges.

For the first time in Olympic history, mobile phones are going to be used as key tools to keep up to date with events, to watch, to tweet, to upload photos and this means data, data and more data. In fact, in just the Olympic Park, BT expects to see peak traffic hitting 1.7GB of data across it's Wifi network every second.

With London becoming a mass of Wifi and mobile network signals, ensuring that everybody is on the most cost effective network is not going to be easy.

Thankfully, the EU regulations came just in time, but for those who arrived from non-EU countries this could be a very expensive few weeks.

Our advice is, if you haven't already agreed special rates with your operator, either seek a second SIM or ensure you're using one of London's many Wifi spots.

A monthly boost for our Tru SIM users

We are always looking for ways to offer more savings, in a simpler way, to you.

So we are happy to let all of our pre-pay SIM card customers know that as of today we have eliminated the monthly membership fee for good.

This was the fee payable to access local rates in all Tru countries, and its removal means that all customers can now access local rates for calls, texts and data, in all Tru countries (US, UK, Australia), without having to do or pay a thing!