Vodafone Make EuroTraveller Open To Pay As You Go Customers
Janet Denzel
Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece are covered, the red-hued operator says, and UK visitors who take their mobiles to these locales will find their phones able to latch onto Vodafone's own 4G network in those countries.
4G has only recently established itself in the UK, and is still a technological luxury compared to the slower 3G, at least in terms of most networks' price plans. As such, operators are only just opening up the possibility of getting roaming 4G when you take your mobile abroad. Rival network EE already offers 4G in France and Spain, and has promised to add the USA and other European countries by the summer.
The power to roam on 4G comes at a cost, however. Vodafone says that Pay monthly customers will have the offer of opting into Vodafone's EuroTraveller scheme, which lets you use your UK data allowance abroad for 2 per day.
That's not too much cash to splash for the privilege of downloading maps abroad (to say nothing of posting gloating beach pics to Facebook), but Vodafone notes that the 2 per day deal only runs up until the 31 August, at which point it could become more expensive. If you don't go for the EuroTraveller option, you'll end up paying Vodafone's pricey Europe Zone rates, which you can see below.
"To offer 4G speeds in major travel destinations will really be a key step towards freeing users to make the most of superfast smartphones whilst away from home," Uswitch analyst Ernest Doku told CNET, "But the key issue preventing many from doing so is still one of cost. The fear of racking up huge bills is still very real, but we are finding customers becoming more savvy without having to lock their mobiles in the hotel safe."
"The combination of 4G speeds while abroad with a service that leverages use of domestic minutes, texts and data is one which we hope to see other providers getting behind," Doku said, "And hopefully we can see the end of both billshock and bad coverage whilst on holiday in the near future."
1. Vodafone Wi-Fi Calling ('Wi-Fi Calling') is an integrated service that allows you to make and receive voice calls over a wireless internet connection such as your home broadband, office broadband or public Wi-Fi. This should help you to make voice calls in areas with low network coverage or no mobile signal.
2. By using Wi-Fi Calling you agree to accept these Terms. If you don't agree with these terms please don't use the service. Please see our Frequently asked questions for further details on how to enable Wi-Fi Calling on your device.
3. Your mobile phone will either have in-built settings to enable voice calls over Wi-Fi or you'll receive a notification from its manufacturer about a software update. This will update the Settings on your mobile phone to include a Wi-Fi Calling option.
4. If you're a Pay Monthly or a Pay as you go customer and eligible for the service, we'll contact you (business customers will not be contacted). You'll need to connect your phone to a Wi-Fi network and turn on Wi-Fi Calling in your phones settings. Once connected, your phone will automatically connect to a Wi-Fi network and allow Wi-Fi Calling. You'll see 'Vodafone Wi-Fi' or an icon on your mobile phone screen. You should then be able to make voice calls over Wi-Fi.
5. Emergency services: Please note that if you make a 999 call when using Wi-Fi Calling, your phone will attempt to make that call using a normal mobile network. If there's no mobile network available, the call will be routed over Wi-Fi and the emergency services won't be able to identify your location automatically.
6. This is available to our Pay Monthly and Pay as you go customers and business customers on Red Bundles, Red Value Bundles and Red+, and business customers on Business Premier. You must have an eligible mobile phone and good access to a wireless internet connection.
8. Any voice calls made with Wi-Fi Calling will use your usual UK bundle allowances. If you exceed your UK allowances, you'll be charged at your standard UK call rates for making calls over Wi-Fi. If you are a Pay Monthly or Pay as you go customer, find out more about our standard call charges. If you're a Pay Monthly business customer, find out more about your call charges
9. Voice calls over Wi-Fi use a wireless internet connection, so in addition to the standard call charges above, you'll also use data of the wireless network you're connected to. This means you remain liable for any data charges incurred for this usage.
11. The use of Wi-Fi Calling whilst roaming is prohibited and is not supported. However, in certain circumstances it may be possible to enable Wi-Fi Calling whilst abroad and where used additional charges will apply.
12. If you're a Pay Monthly or Pay as you go consumer customer and make calls over Wi-Fi to a mobile or landline number within the country you're roaming in, your call will be charged at our standard international rates (business customers should check their standard international rates) and will be treated as a call from the UK to an international number. A pre-call announcement will play prior to connecting your call to remind you of this charge.
13. Unless we tell you otherwise, Vodafone EuroTraveller, Vodafone WorldTraveller and other international add-ons or international bundles won't apply if you only make calls over Wi-Fi whilst travelling abroad. However, if you use data on your phone, or call or text UK standard mobiles not using Wi-Fi whilst travelling abroad, then any international bundle on your account will be triggered in the usual way.
15. We may suspend, end or change Wi-Fi Calling for any reason, including where repair or maintenance work is needed. We can withdraw Wi-Fi Calling, but will provide at least 30 days' notice if we do so.
16. We'll provide this service using reasonable skill and care but our ability to provide Wi-Fi Calling is dependent upon the Wi-Fi network, as well as the general availability of the public telecommunications network. You acknowledge that there are factors outside of our control which will limit our ability to provide this service to you.
19. We reserve the right to block communications over Wi-Fi networks, for example, in order to prevent fraud where required by court order.General terms20. You must tell us immediately of any breach of security or unauthorised use of your mobile phone. We won't be liable for your losses caused by any unauthorised use of your account. Also, we won't be responsible for any loss or damage that we or you couldn't reasonably expect at the time you first began to use Wi-Fi Calling which is out of our control.
21. If you are a Pay Monthly or Pay as you go customer, use of Wi-Fi Calling is subject to these terms, our Airtime Conditions and Price Plan Charges Guide. If you are a business customer, use of Wi-Fi Calling is subject to these terms, our General Terms and your applicable Price Plan Guide. We may vary or amend these terms, but if it's to your disadvantage we'll notify you. For more details about Wi-Fi Calling visit vodafone.co.uk/WiFiCalling.
The summer of 2012 has delivered the worst weather for Europe that I have ever seen, and this trip was affected accordingly. We managed to get around it but only by being flexible on flight dates and on how long we stayed in different places.
Greece is always a bit of a planning challenge because while most of the airports have Customs (due to the many holiday flights) most do not have Avgas, and many have very limited opening hours. Also some, notably those with military usage, have long PPR or PNR-Customs requirements, particularly for aircraft on non-SX (non-Greek) or non-EU registrations. In most cases, there is no evidence that it was done deliberately to exclude GA as has been the way at so many European airports. It seems to be the result of planning for only the commuter or holiday airline flights, without much regard for GA activities.
Until only a few months ago, the Greek AIP has existed only in printed form which meant that virtually nobody used it and it was way out of date anyway, so important information such as opening hours is permanently Notamed. Contacting the airport directly is however very advisable. I did not use the Greek AIP at all on this or any previous trip to Greece. It is accessible online here.
I have some general notes on the frequently difficult business of locating airport contact details here and this site is a good start for airport phone, fax and email details but with Greece this site (local copy) is a good start if you just want to try a phone call.
The ferry between Alexandroupoli and Samothraki is run by SAOS Ferries whose timetable for September 2012 is here. On most days it is not possible to arrive at LGAL and catch the ferry to Samothraki on the same day, or vice versa.
There is no avgas in north-east Greece and Alexandroupoli (LGAL) is the only place from which one can get a ferry to Samothraki. Flying to LGAL from Brac LDSB is nearly 600nm which burns about 50% of the fuel carried. This was OK provided that the Turkish (LTFD) fly-in was not cancelled or didn't have a problem with the avgas bowser. It would leave enough to even go to Sitia LGST on Crete (which does have avgas but has very limited opening hours) and more easily Samos LGSM (which has avgas, and reasonable opening hours) but to maximise our options in case of a problem with Turkey I planned a stop at Skopje LWSK in Macedonia which has everything including avgas.
Only the Turkey stop was time-critical, being fixed for 14-16 September. This also meant that it would be discarded if the weather did not play ball, or if there were any permission issues. Turkey is notorious for being absolutely strictly PPR for N-reg aircraft and a special authorisation code has to be put on the flight plan, or read out to ATC on the way there. The code changes if there is a change in the airport one is flying there from or the one which one is returning to. Obviously one could get around the latter one using a diversion. The Istanbul Aeroclub which organised the fly-in very efficiently sorted out the permissions but it was still not possible to do a last-minute change of plan.
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