GSMA, also known as the entity that produces Mobile World Congress and Mobile Asia Expo each year, seems to be onto something. And by "something," we mean "getting 24 carriers around the globe to agree on a single point." That's no easy feat, mind you, and the latest release from Shanghai asserts that 24 operator groups have agreed to implement new measures in order to better inform jetsetters about data roaming rates when they land. America Movil, AT&T, China Mobile, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom-Orange, Hutchison 3 Group, SoftBank Mobile Corp., Verizon Communications, VimpelCom and Vodafone Group (among others) are all onboard, with the following measures to go into effect by the end of 2012. For one, texts will be sent to remind customers of their data roaming tariffs when they arrive in another country, and there will also be a monthly data roaming spending limit paired with the ability to "temporarily suspend" one's data when usage exceeds said threshold. Of course, alerting users to how they're about to be hosed only seems like part of the issue. Till that's addressed, we'll keep carrying an Xcom Global MiFi or hunting for a local SIM upon arrival.
24 wireless operators agree on data roaming alert mechanisms, do nothing about actual roaming rates originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jun 2012 14:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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