ANCOM is on a monitoring mission at the country borders these days, in order to verify whether text messages (SMS) announce mobile telephone users on entering the roaming mode. The ANCOM specialists encountered situations when such messages were delayed, therefore the Authority warns the users of the roaming service who live in border areas that, may they be on the Romanian territory, their handset or device connected to mobile data services could automatically access the mobile telephony networks in the neighbouring countries, thus using mobile communications services at roaming tariffs, which are usually much higher than those for using the handsets on the Romanian operators’ networks.
The users are not always warned by SMS when their telephone is connecting to a foreign operator’s network, such a message often registering a delay. Moreover, only the EU member states have the obligation to inform their customers by sending an SMS whenever they enter roaming services. Therefore, the users must pay greater attention to the network on which the mobile telephone is connected, especially in the areas at the border with Serbia, Moldova and Ukraine.
The Authority warns the users who live or travel in border areas that their mobile device may accidentally access roaming services, if the ”automatic” network selection option is activated and the terminal is not covered by the home network (”no network coverage”). In such cases, the user pays both the initiated calls, at roaming tariffs, and the received calls.
In order to prevent such situations, ANCOM recommends the mobile telephony users to select the manual network selection mode, so that their handset should no longer automatically connect to the networks in the neighbouring countries. Furthermore, the users can choose that the roaming service should be activated upon request. The users of prepaid cards should pay the utmost attention, as their roaming service is active by default. When none of these measures is feasible, the users in border areas should check the network prior to using the handset.
ANCOM posted on its website information on the use of the telephone while roaming, for the persons who spend their vacations abroad. Thus, the users will avoid having unpleasant surprises when they receive their mobile telephone bills.
The providers have several commercial offers for this service, at different prices, often putting forward special offers for the vacation periods. It is advisable that the users find out directly from their provider about the costs incurred when activating this type of service, so as to be able to choose the tariff plan which suits them best.
The Authority recommends the users to contact their provider or to verify its websit, before leaving the country, in order to learn about the applicable roaming tariffs, the network from the visited country which offers the best tariffs, the modalities of selecting the favourite network and of configuring certain services (i.e. voice mail, call forwarding etc.) when roaming. It is best that the necessary information be requested and received before crossing the border because, when entering the roaming mode, the short number of the customer relations centre may not be operational or special tariffs may be charged when initiating calls to it.
If the user is travelling in an EU country, the provider has the obligation to send him/her a text message announcing that he/she is using the roaming data service, as well as basic country-specific information regarding the applicable tariffs whenever he/she enters a Member State other than Romania, except when the user has communicated the provider that he/she does not wish to receive such information.
Most countries charge only the roaming text messages (SMS) sent, not the roaming SMS received. As multimedia messages (MMS) are concerned, both sent and received roaming MMS are charged.
More details are available on ANCOM’s website, www.ancom.org.ro.