The ending of the calendar year is a busy time for many people. Families are finalising their year end holidays, while businessmen double down on their plans for the upcoming year. Most of the time, these activities involve traveling overseas, but few actually prepare how they will stay connected while abroad.
The “bill shock” days
The best and most convenient way is to leave your SIM card active with international roaming enabled so you can receive calls and SMS even when you’re on the move. However, with the amount of stories being passed on about “bill shocks” from people using their phones abroad, there are many who leave their phones turned off for the duration of their trip for fear of incurring high roaming charges.
These people do have a valid concern, of course. Calls and SMS charges while roaming can be very hefty, and is very much a hassle. If you don’t research on what’s the preferred network partner to roam on, you’ll be in for quite a shock when you return home. For those who are less savvy about navigating a smartphone, this is definitely a frustrating experience.
The new way to roam
But things are about to get a whole lot easier thanks to U Mobile. The telco recently revamped their international roaming rates with one goal in mind: providing simplified and flat rates based on the zones you are traveling to.
U Mobile’s latest roaming rates are broken down into four zones, with simple flat rates for all calls and SMS made and received while you are traveling – be it to a local number within the country you are in, or back to Malaysia. On top of that, SMS received are free wherever you are. These rates apply regardless of which network operator you are connected to when abroad.
As the table shows, call and SMS rates are divided into four zones, with pay-per-use rates four other countries that do not fall within these four zones. Zone 1 is our neighbours Singapore, where Malaysians roaming there will enjoy the best call rates around: it’s just RM1.50 to make a call to any number (local to back to Malaysia), and RM1.50 to receive a call. SMS rates are a flat RM0.50 to send, and absolutely free to receive.
The new roaming structure is great especially for those who frequently travel to Singapore for work purposes. With many businesses still using a land line to make calls, having an active mobile number while roaming is very important for business travelers – even if it’s for something as close as going to Singapore from Johor Bahru. The ability to make and receive calls while on the move is extremely important for these folks, and knowing that they will not be charged a bomb for doing so is very convenient indeed.
Meanwhile, other countries in the new roaming structure are divided into 3 Zones. Zone 2 countries consists of Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. Zone 3 consists of China, Myanmar, Brunei, and Vietnam. For these two zones, it costs just RM3.00 a minute to make a call back to Malaysia, and RM3.00 a minute to receive a call. SMS rates are a flat RM1.00 to send, and free to receive.
Zone 4 adds over 40 countries to the list such as Japan, Greece, United Kingdom, and many more with only one affordable rate to make and receive calls for just RM 5.00 per minute. SMS rates are flat RM 1.00 to send and absolutely free to receive.
With U Mobile’s new call and SMS roaming rates, the simple and straightforward “round number” approach makes it easier for customers to remember. This is far less complicated compared to the roaming charges on other telcos, where the rates are different for calls made and calls received.
Simple rates, even simpler to set up
To make things even better, this simple roaming price is applicable for all networks in the country you roam in – no more bill shocks. Most importantly, U Mobile’s roaming rates apply to any network operator you roam on, so you don’t have to manually pair to a specific roaming partner.
In addition to that, you can easily set up and activate international roaming via a variety of ways, including SMS, the MyUMobile app, as well as the U Mobile online self care portal.
U Mobile customers not only enjoy the convenience and hassle-free experience of not having to remember which roaming partner to connect to, the roaming charges are quite competitive as well. Loved ones back home are always a call or SMS away, no matter where you are.
Roam like never before
With the new roaming charges in place, U Mobile certainly offers a robust international roaming package for its customers. They are not only affordable, these roaming plans are also transparent and painless to set up. Read more about U Mobile’s new roaming rates here.
Disclosure: This article was sponsored by U Mobile.
