Orange defends roaming rates

Orange claims that it is doing all it can to try and ensure that unsuspecting users aren't charged vastly more than they expect when they surf the Net while they are away from the UK.

On Tuesday, ZDNet UK raised the case of Joanne Lancaster, an Orange customer who used data roaming for the first time in France last December while on holiday. Lancaster came home to find herself faced with a bill for £473 rather than the "£50 to £70" that Lancaster expected to be charged.

Lancaster said that she had only used the roaming service once, to check out some film trailers using Orange World. "I had expected it to be more expensive to use my mobile while I was in France," said Lancaster. "I didn't expect to get charged £300 just for checking out a few film clips."

In response, Orange said it "has always provided its customers with clear pricing plans to help them make an informed choice on whether they wish to use their Orange phone to call or download", but in Lancaster's case, this was not the key issue.

Lancaster has been a regular mobile user for some time. She argues that she had no reason to expect that while spending three minutes talking to someone in the UK while she was in France would cost £2.10, while checking out three minute's of film clips would cost £30 on the same phone.

In December, Orange launched a new service to help business users understand more about the costs of mobile roaming while abroad. It says it is now addressing the issue of awareness among consumers.

"We are currently looking at a number of ways to ensure our customers are aware of roaming costs," said Stuart Jackson, head of UK media relations for Orange. "We recently announced the introduction of a new consumer-focused Orange World roamers home page which has been designed to bring greater visibility of the charges associated with using data abroad."

"As well as giving details of roaming costs, it will also offer links to sites that require only minimal data usage to view, delivering better value for Orange customers."

Jackson said that the new home page will be "the first Orange World page that consumer customers see if they are using the mobile portal when abroad".

The modified home page will be available "in the spring", Jackson said.

Previously, there was no distinct warning or information about the cost of data roaming in other countries immediately accessible on Orange's Web site. This means that users would have to hunt for it, and if they were abroad the search itself could come at a high price.