Holidaymakers at risk of high mobile charges abroad

According to a new survey, as many as two-thirds of holidaymakers risk mobile phone charges when they are abroad, simply by leaving their phone switched on.

What many mobile users do not know is that they are not only charged when they make and receive calls, but also for each voicemail that is left and for each message that is retrieved.

Of those polled, 43 per cent said they had been shocked when they received an expensive phone bill after returning from a holiday abroad, according to the uSwitch.com survey of 1310 adults in the UK.

The survey was conducted in July following the introduction of the EU’s new pricing guidelines. It was discovered that only 4.5 per cent of holidaymakers keep their phones switched off until they need to make a call, protecting themselves from unwanted charges.

Sixty-six per cent of holidaymakers, according to the poll, are at risk for unexpected charges while overseas, by either leaving their phones switched on. Some indicated that they left their phones switched on unintentionally; and half of those respondents noted that their phones were switched on most of the time.

The communications expert at uSwitch.com, Steve Weller, said: “As soon as your phone is switched on abroad, the damage is done – it is registered to a local network and starts to incur overseas charges even if you switch it straight back off again.”

Thanks to www.theherald.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.