Data use on Christmas Getaways to Cost Brits a Fortune
The cost of roaming in the top Christmas travel destinations for UK holidaymakers could be more than 600 times higher than alternative ways of accessing the web while abroad.
There are ways of accessing the web and everything that entails – email, social networks, music, video and so on – that won't cost the earth when abroad
A UK traveller heading for some winter sunshine in the Canary Islands, Balearics and mainland Spain on a 10-day break could spend as much as £713 on Three's mobile network. The same applies to those heading to popular skiing destinations in the EU such as France, Austria and Switzerland.
This means that watching HD video on the web will cost £3.57 per minute, while downloading an app for their smartphone will cost £2.80. Streaming music through Spotify for half an hour would set travellers back £10.50.
Tomas Mendoza, co-founder of Tep Wireless, said: "While holidaymakers may very well be looking for other ways of reducing costs on their winter trips, many simply accept the problem of sky-high roaming charges as a fact of life. Many will make sure they don't use their smartphone to its full extent, using it just for calls and texts, while ignoring their email and social network feeds for fear of incurring a massive bill when they get home."
Orange customers in Florida, the seventh most popular Christmas destination, could be charged £21.80 for downloading a music track from iTunes. And a 20-minute video call on Skype would cost a staggering £136.25.
Tomas added: "While most will take their smartphones, few will bother to take laptops and tablets unless they can guarantee Wi-Fi access – which in itself can be expensive. But what if there isn't enough snow, or too much snow, to get out on the slopes? What happens if the summer sunshine doesn't appear? Without the web to keep them entertained, travellers could be in for a very boring holiday.
"There are ways of accessing the web and everything that entails – email, social networks, music, video and so on – that won't cost the earth when abroad. Watching a two-minute YouTube video in the EU will cost British travellers more than £1 with most of the UK network operators, while with Tep Wireless the cost is just 10p," he said.
For more information, visit www.tepwireless.com
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