Well the financial year end is nearing and so are the Indian Lok Sabha Elections. Business is slow this quarter as everyone looks towards the elections and the new financial year to bring respite from the slowdown. While all this happens I thought it was a good time to take a break..
Its been 2 years now that Ive been working non stop and blogging almost every single day. So today im flying off to Dubai for a 10 day holiday trip and also to check out the Internet City out there. Well I would still blog from Dubai but for those who would like to get in touch with me on phone Im less likely to respond as Im stuck with Vodafone and its obscene call charges (More on it below). Catching me on mail would be more cost effective. Email me at rajiv(at)watblog.com.
Obscene Roaming Charges
I called vodafone to know about my roaming charges when Im in Dubai and ‘I was shocked’ would be an understatement. The following are the roaming charges that were told to me by vodafone.
1) Rental of Rs.149 to activate international roaming
2) Rs. 115 per minute for an incoming call from India!!!
3) Rs.185 per minute for an outgoing call to India!!!
4) Rs.15 per sms
Wow! My Jaw dropped when I heard these charges. I thought I was still in the last few years of the 20th century where mobiles were a luxury and call rates were in the hundreds.
This is where I feel Mobile number portability (MNP) would come in. I mean im a 7 year old customer of Orange which became Hutch and now Vodafone. My average billing per month is Rs.3000 atleast. And If MNP was implemented right now Im sure I could have bargained given my value as a customer to vodafone. Just like one can get discounts at hotels which is also a services business. The problem with telecom is my phone number binds me to a telecom player and because of that there is no concept of consumer is king! Right now the operator is king (and also very greedy) and he is filling his treasure with my hard earned money!
Wow! Thats one Xpensive dog alrite..
Seems Airtel’s No Different.. see this (http://www.airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect/Airtel.in/airtel.in/home/foryou/mobile/postpaid/roaming/international/pg_fy_mb_postp_roaming_ir)
Hope TRAI is reading this..
Good Luck with ur Future Bills..
Dear Rajiv,
Why dont you buy a Matrix SIM Card? You can get Free Incoming calls/very low rates. Rentals are as low as Rs. 50 a day. I use it regularly.
Call Matrix Dealer 02267242400 or 09833529360 Irshad – he will help you.
@Jaydeep: Its not about the simcard buddy. That way i can take a local sim in Dubai. But who will tell people to call me on that no? I mean my vodafone no is what everyone knows. And even call forwarding on roaming will cost me a bomb!
Rajiv,
The blame should also be attributed to the weird, monopolistic pricing policy of Etisalat / Du , the telecom operators in UAE. Both are state owned and are probabably in the Top-10 list of most expensive service providers in the world.
Now, if you are expecting anything related to “Internet” in Internet City, then you aren’t fully aware of the “Hype mantra” of Dubai. There is nothing more than a bunch of sales offices of Large IT companies. You also have ex-second-hand-car-salesguys-from-UK posing as Dotcom Entreupreners with a site that only him and his family frequent!
You’ll also see 400 sft Indian companies with CEOs in oversized blazers, promising you that they’ll “zimbly” introduce you to the Shiek
.. Watch out!!!
@Joe: Haha.. Hey joe thanks for the advice.. Part of the my things to do is also to fly a plane
The visiting internet city is 20th on the list.. so I guess ill push it further down after ur suggestion! 
Rajiv – It’s an obscenity. I just spent a week in Indonesia on Vodafone roaming, and had a rude shock mid-way thru my trip when I got a call telling me I had exceeding my credit limit by 7K – although all I ever did was use my phone for data and email.
But the real clincher with Vodafone is not the atrocious charges, but the sheer vehemence of their Credit Control department. I finally ended up with a bill of Rp 37K, mostly for data roaming, and had my outgoing calls cut twice in the last week because I had delayed in topping up my credit limit. In both cases, I was given 2 hours notice before my line was terminated.
My wife used Airtel on the same trip and although her charges came up to 20K+ she did not have to put up with the service disruptions that Vodafone is so trigger happy with.
Give me MNP now!
That is shockingly expensive. A good lawyer can prove extortion with those rates.
@charanjit – I am SO NOT using my data connection on my phone in dubai! 37k bill would give me a heart attack!
Hey Rajiv, Better go for satellite Phone.. I think it is cheaper than Vodaphone.. Lol…
I didnt know call charges could be SO high!!! :p
Hey Rajiv,
I know Matrix Cards have a different number, but then you get the number atleast 5 days in advance to your travel to any foreign country. This way you can SMS in India, the “important” contacts of your new number.
I loved the service of this dealer, and I am still using it.
Just stumbled over your blog and read this interesting article, all I would say is just leave a auto response with your phone switched off!!
Happy Journey to you
Dude, we are on same lines.. I was shocked coz I am traveling to Dubai too.. the call charges freaked me out.. However I would have a local number in Dubai as I would be there for a month..
I would rather look for an important incomming number & give them a call back from UAE.. cheaper eh!?
Now that we met a lot of times in Bangalore, Mumbai.. we should meet in Dubai too
I remember paying 48K during last X-mas for roaming in Dubai for a week for a Airtel connection. So lets stop this Vodafone Vs Airtel game. Its actually Etisalat and Du thats charging a bomb.
Your roaming connection will not have number display and you’ll end up listening to sales pitches from Insurance DSAs ( what out..its March) – Roaming with your Indian sin is a crime.
All the internet based calling facilities are banned in UAE. Swallow it with a pinch of salt..Skype is banned there
. Yahoo voice chat servers are banned.
So, the best solution – The moment you land up.. look for the Du /Etisalat stall, get yourself a local number by paying 65 dirhams. Thanks to recession, you get credits worth AED 65 .
My sympathies. Have faced this quite a lot of times. One way of avoiding this, which I tried out was carry an addl instrument with a local sim, look at missed calls & returned the really needed ones. Know it is not the solution but works a bit.:)
Vodafone is holpless, no proper billing system, value for us is only to earn good money form your pocket.
Same here, I am in dubai and picked the call of my mom from india and for a call of 1 mnt 20 sec i was charged 200 rs
kaha jakar royuu mein 
I have the same experience like gourav in dubai