Keeping mobile roaming headaches at bay

The rise of the smartphone and our increasing reliance on laptops and tablets, not to mention cloud-based software applications that need an internet connection to work, means many of us find ourselves hostages to high wifi and roaming charges.

In the EU, the European Commission has announced plans to extend the price cap on roaming costs to include data for the first time, with a lower cap on calls received and texts. In spite of this charges are likely to remain high.

Geneva-based Carole Vivien has worked in IT sales for around 15 years, for some of the biggest companies in the telecoms sector, including BT and AT&T. She now works for US firm Hunt Big Sales, and travels regularly around the world on business.

Personal wifi devices are not new - various network operators offer them for domestic use - nevertheless this is aimed at those travelling overseas, allowing you to connect up to five devices in any of the countries supported by the company for the same flat rate. They as well provide prepaid smartphones.

"My mother, she's 50, she doesn't know where the sim card is in the phone. Going to another country, finding a sim card, unlocking the phone, it's something she'll never do."

According to technology commissioned by the company, the average smartphone data consumption is 10MB a day. Over the course of a 10-day business trip in Europe this could cost around £210.

The internet from their phones

When business travellers work on the internet from their phones, that can go up to as much as 40 to 60MB a day, costing between £80 and £120 a day, or between £800 and £1,200 for a 10-day trip.

"Roaming has traditionally provided network operators with an possibility to gain additional earnings above and beyond regular access fees.

"The ability to stay connected even during roaming across international networks is a key requirement, particularly within the enterprise sector, and operators have traditionally levied a significant surcharge for this privilege, particularly in the case of data services."

This isn't the only innovation out there that could help you cut your costs. ABroadband.com offer 3G access for 59 cents per megabyte in over 50 countries - though you have to factor in the additional cost of buying either a dongle or a sim card.

And some of the big operators are as well trying to find solutions for their business clients. BT is due to launch Onevoice Anywhere - a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone service that lets business clients make calls over wifi connected devices.

There are as well apps that claim to help you save money. Onavo is available for iPhone, and will compress the data being received by your phone. Less data means smaller charges - nevertheless your data will have to travel through their servers.

Old handset

Taking an old handset, or dongle or even Mifi and buying a local sim is a opportunity - nevertheless may only be practicable for longer trips, says Tom Otley of Business Traveller magazine.

Mr Otley says roaming charges are coming down - nevertheless are likely to remain expensive, and advises taking advantage of wifi when you have it, and making the most of free internet phone services like Skype.

"They're coming from an unbelievable high - if you've ever used your data phone abroad you'll know it's breathtaking the cost of the data.