Roaming is basically the ability for people to use their cell phones outside of the network provided by their service carriers. Customers can also use their phones and laptops with a foreign network, which is called international roaming.
There are two main types of roaming for messaging. One is called SMS roaming which is simply about sending and receiving text messages while roaming abroad.
Data roaming can be a multitude of things. It could be exchanging multimedia messages, e-mail, using your device for Internet, and mobile broadband. The way that they measure the usage of these things is generally by kilobytes and megabytes which is the volume of data transmitted.
The SMS and data roaming work much like voice call roaming. When you start up your laptop or mobile phone, it will automatically try to reach a GSM or 3G network.
The fees that are associated with roaming can add up pretty quickly. For sending and receiving text messages when a customer sends a text message the price paid will reflect several things. First it will reflect the wholesale charge for using the visited network. A wholesale charge is the fee that the visited network charges the home network for usage. The other fees are costs of handling and routing the roaming text back to the home network, costs for sending, data clearing fees, house fees, signaling fees between networks, and other costs can be included as well.
Before going on a trip abroad:
Determine whether you need data service (email/web/etc) and whether you need texting (incl. text/image/video).
Call AMTGI or call your wireless service provider BEFORE you leave so that you can
- Determine if your wireless service provider has coverage in that location (international roaming agreement with a local provider.)
- Then upgrade your service based on your current average data and texting usage. (Then when you return you can downgrade back to your normal service.)
- If you don't need data service, turn those features off so you don't accidentally incur roaming charges.
