Cheaper North American roaming

[Stu]

Several months ago, there was a hint that some providers had come up with a route to offer cheaper US roaming by negotiating there own MVNO agreements with Cingular. Yackie talked about it; United Mobile hinted at it.

Has anyone heard anything else?

[Bossman]

Maxroam even talked about it. However, that all it is...TALK!

Heck! You can even get yackie to respond to technical issues with their sims any longer.

Originally Posted by Stu

Several months ago, there was a hint that some providers had come up with a route to offer cheaper US roaming by negotiating there own MVNO agreements with Cingular. Yackie talked about it; United Mobile hinted at it.

Has anyone heard anything else?

[RTuesday]

Even GT-Sim promised to reduce US roaming costs "in a few months" when they first launched.

Maybe there is something regulatory (or protectionist) that each company finds out when they try to actually sign an agreement. For example, a requirement that a MVNO is a US registered corporation. Or the insurance is too high.

[snaimon]

Originally Posted by RTuesday

Even GT-Sim promised to reduce US roaming costs "in a few months" when they first launched.

Maybe there is something regulatory (or protectionist) that each company finds out when they try to actually sign an agreement. For example, a requirement that a MVNO is a US registered corporation. Or the insurance is too high.

I would be very surprised if the MVNOs can negotiate on their own.

With whom do the EU carries negotiate?

(only 2 US GSM carriers hold all the cards)

Is there any incentive for those firms to grant anyone favorable rates while they roam in the US?

(Highly doubt it. Don't you think they want to milk every last red cent possible from roamers? Or drive them to their usually high prepaid rates?)

And why would ATT or T-MO US want to grant or ask for lower roaming rates in EU? A colleague @ work is traveling to DE on Sunday for a week of work. Cingy will gladly charge him $1.29 per minute to roam there, and only $.99 per minute if he signs up as a frequent traveler. What a bargain!

I think they can "get away with highway robbery" because US folks don't travel abroad as much -- distances, and because EU travelers have 0 leverage with US lawmakers.

As I have written elsewhere, the US is a government OF THE CORPORATIONS, BY THE CORPORATIONS and FOR THE CORPORATIONS.... Just as "honest" Abe said long ago. We have the best Congress and President money can buy! Who could ask for more?

Stan

[bylo]

Originally Posted by snaimon

only 2 US GSM carriers hold all the cards

That's twice the competition that's available up here!

Roaming is a huge profit source for Rogers for that reason. The feds will soon auction off more spectrum and it's expected that will result in a new GSM carrier but it will take at least a couple of years.

(It's rumoured that Telus, which is based in the west, will begin to offer GSM, at least on the west coast, in time for the 2010 Vancouver Olypmics in order to bleed off some of that juicy roaming revenue that would otherwise flow directly to Uncle Teddy.)

[andy]

I doubt that arrangement would be made directly with Cingular or T-mobile, but perhaps with an existing mvno. Perhaps this has already happened, and is in testing at the moment. Meanwhile some providers, e.g. Maxroam, have free call forwarding to some destinations, such as a separate US SIM card