By 
We have all heard a story about a mobile data billing blowout while roaming overseas. Telecom has come up with a simple solution to this problem.
Telecom customers can now use Data Smart Caps for roaming. Across all five zones customers can set a specific threshold of spend on data. The spend amounts are from a selection of 5 choices. All retail customers will be set a default threshold of $150.
After customers reach their threshold they will notice their current data activity has stopped. An instant SMS alert will arrive in the message inbox notifying them they have reached their Smart Caps threshold with the following message:
You've hit your $150 roaming smart cap and chargeable data has been stopped. Go to http://m.telecom.co.nz/rsc to manage.
Customers will be able to select the link in the SMS and go to the self service portal which is free to browse at any time where they can increase their threshold. Here is a screenshot of the management tool:
Open the same link on your phone and set how much roaming data you use before it stops, or if you have an Android 2.2 or higher, visit the Android Market and type in XT Telecom to install the free roaming app.
If you are travelling to Australia, USA, Canada, Hong Kong or UK you can use 10 MB for $10, or 100 Mb for $100.For more details and rates for other countries please visit www.telecomroaming.co.nz
08:30, 16.04.2012
Having just come back from Malaysia I have to staying in touch while overseas does not have to cost you an arm and a leg…..I was quoted $3 per minute by the telco’s in NZ for using my phone overseas but elected to purchase a local NZ Skype number instead. Free wifi is everywhere in Malaysia and the cost of calls from Malaysia to any landline or mobile in NZ was around 1 cent per minute. The call quality was easily as good as using a mobile in NZ.
People could call me using my Skype number for the cost of dialing a local NZ number and voicemail was a standard feature.
Setup was extremely simple – it just worked.
All up my communication costs (including purchasing a Skype number) was $40 for 10 days …..
Cheers
Andrew