Vodafone UK Abolishes Roaming Charges for Summer and cuts long distance cost for good

inquisitor · 04-08-2009, 11:44

When it comes to long calls you are right - 75p won't offset the absent incoming charges. However the average duration of mobile calls ranges between 40-90s, so those 75p with Passport would cover the roaming costs for an average call.
Within the EU those 75p will even increase the income from incoming calls, given the fact average calls don't exceed 2 minutes.

So my point is, that Passport's business model relies on a charge for incoming calls. Maybe Vodafone just has this summer promotion to decoy customers and when they are in the trap, they'll start charging those 75p again.

Stu · 04-08-2009, 13:40

With the EU rates on incoming, you're right that the 75p model for incoming won't work. Most calls will be cheaper without passport. This model has increased their business, but they really don't want the folks who frequent this forum as customers. Moreover, the UK has more ex pats than any nationality other than India. The number of Brits moving elsewhere and staying on Vodafone will be high.

What I see them doing is either requiring a percentage of the calls to be made in the UK or some other proxy to insure that they get some domestic business for this promo. They couldn't do this this summer because many people took these free SIMs as they were about to jump on a plane some place. My best friend sent me two that someone Voda employee was just handing out at a street corner.

They have a hit on their hands and I think they will tweak it, not abolish it. I'm just afraid that the non-UK members of this forum will get tweaked out of business.

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	(#1)
inquisitor (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Professionist Posts: 1,399 Join Date: 15 Nov 2006 Country:	04-08-2009, 11:44 When it comes to long calls you are right - 75p won't offset the absent incoming charges. However the average duration of mobile calls ranges between 40-90s, so those 75p with Passport would cover the roaming costs for an average call. Within the EU those 75p will even increase the income from incoming calls, given the fact average calls don't exceed 2 minutes. So my point is, that Passport's business model relies on a charge for incoming calls. Maybe Vodafone just has this summer promotion to decoy customers and when they are in the trap, they'll start charging those 75p again. terminals: Samsung: Galaxy S5 DuoS (G900FD); BLU: Win HD LTE; Nokia: 1200; Asus: Fonepad 7 ME372CG; Huawei data: E3372, Vodafone R201, K3765, E1762; postpaid: O2 on Business XL; prepaid: DE: Aldi Talk, Lidl; UK: 3; BG: MTel, vivacom; RU: MTS; RS: MTS; UAE: du Tourist SIM; INT'L: toggle mobile VoIP: sipgate.de (German DID); sipgate.co.uk (British DID); ukddi.com (British DID); sipcall.ch (Swiss DID); megafon.bg (Bulgarian DID); InterVoip.com Last edited by inquisitor; 04-08-2009 at 11:50..

	(#2)
Stu (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Guru Posts: 1,091 Join Date: 11 Feb 2004 Location: Detroit (formerly Dubai) Country:	04-08-2009, 13:40 With the EU rates on incoming, you're right that the 75p model for incoming won't work. Most calls will be cheaper without passport. This model has increased their business, but they really don't want the folks who frequent this forum as customers. Moreover, the UK has more ex pats than any nationality other than India. The number of Brits moving elsewhere and staying on Vodafone will be high. What I see them doing is either requiring a percentage of the calls to be made in the UK or some other proxy to insure that they get some domestic business for this promo. They couldn't do this this summer because many people took these free SIMs as they were about to jump on a plane some place. My best friend sent me two that someone Voda employee was just handing out at a street corner. They have a hit on their hands and I think they will tweak it, not abolish it. I'm just afraid that the non-UK members of this forum will get tweaked out of business.