WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.640 You know what really boils my peanuts? I can't take a trip anywhere without being charged 00:00:04.640 --> 00:00:07.640 where the sun don't shine with roaming fees. 00:00:07.640 --> 00:00:12.120 Even though calling home or sending a text is an incredibly trivial matter 00:00:12.120 --> 00:00:16.480 from a technical perspective. I mean, I could hop on Facebook Messenger right now 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:22.680 and have a voice conversation with my homeboy in Italy for absolutely no additional charge, zero. 00:00:22.680 --> 00:00:25.800 But if I flew to Rome and tried to use my data connection, 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:29.480 I'd get a bill that might make my mortgage payment look like chump change. 00:00:29.560 --> 00:00:32.760 Seriously, a few years ago, a guy traveling to Mexico on business 00:00:32.760 --> 00:00:37.760 got a bill of over $275,000 just for streaming a hockey game. 00:00:38.760 --> 00:00:43.640 What possible reason could your carrier have for charging so much? 00:00:43.640 --> 00:00:49.340 Okay, so get this. Even though the bill you get might have the name of your home wireless carrier on it, 00:00:49.340 --> 00:00:55.020 the responsibility for this kind of price gouging ultimately lies with whatever foreign carrier 00:00:55.020 --> 00:00:58.240 owns the network that you were using. And it used to be the case 00:00:58.280 --> 00:01:03.360 that the logistics of providing roaming service were a little more difficult for mobile carriers. 00:01:03.360 --> 00:01:07.960 During the earlier part of the 2000s, it was difficult for them to track just how many minutes 00:01:07.960 --> 00:01:13.920 or how much data was being used as communication between networks wasn't very good. 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:18.320 So these logistical issues made it a lot more tempting for mobile carriers 00:01:18.320 --> 00:01:22.160 to try and recoup any losses by jacking up prices. 00:01:22.160 --> 00:01:26.320 But these days, improvements in technology have made it such that it's really easy 00:01:26.320 --> 00:01:29.720 for mobile networks in Australia to talk to one in the US, for example, 00:01:29.720 --> 00:01:35.040 when someone travels between the two countries. So why are we still paying so much? 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:39.800 Part of the issue is the way deals are done between providers from different countries. 00:01:39.800 --> 00:01:43.080 You see, if you use a major carrier in your home country, 00:01:43.080 --> 00:01:46.180 they probably have dozens or even hundreds of contracts 00:01:46.180 --> 00:01:50.080 in place with foreign providers. These are all negotiated individually. 00:01:50.080 --> 00:01:54.640 And although it doesn't cost very much more to connect a call across the world 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:58.600 than it does in the same city, foreign carriers have no incentive 00:01:58.600 --> 00:02:04.000 to charge reasonable prices to folks who are roaming. And the home carrier doesn't want to make it super cheap 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:08.760 to roam on their own networks as a foreign carrier could then swoop in and undercut them, 00:02:08.760 --> 00:02:13.240 potentially siphoning off for local customers. For example, if a US carrier was able to offer 00:02:13.240 --> 00:02:19.360 extremely cheap roaming across the border in Canada, a Canadian user might just buy a US cell service 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:24.120 and permanently roam in Canada on a Canadian company's cell towers. 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:30.320 Making matters worse, many countries only have a very small handful of major carriers servicing them. 00:02:30.320 --> 00:02:33.880 Think about how the US mobile market is essentially a four-way dance 00:02:33.880 --> 00:02:38.120 between Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile. This means that when a carrier 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:43.880 picks an out-of-country roaming partner, they may only have one or two choices, 00:02:43.880 --> 00:02:47.740 making it difficult to negotiate a good deal for the home country's customers. 00:02:47.740 --> 00:02:52.000 And unlike at home, where you can pick between at least two or three providers, 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:56.160 you're just gonna automatically connect to whoever the foreign partner network is 00:02:56.160 --> 00:03:01.100 when your plane lands abroad. So there's no consumer choice when you're roaming overseas. 00:03:01.100 --> 00:03:05.640 The result is that your home carrier gets charged a huge amount for access 00:03:05.640 --> 00:03:11.920 to the foreign network, even though the actual cost that the foreign carrier has to bear isn't very high. 00:03:11.920 --> 00:03:15.680 And of course, that gets passed on to us, 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:19.400 the hapless consumers. And because carriers view international roaming 00:03:19.400 --> 00:03:23.400 as a luxury that's more often used by business customers 00:03:23.480 --> 00:03:29.920 who will just have their company foot the bill, it's hard to see them cutting us a break anytime soon. 00:03:29.920 --> 00:03:34.960 Now, of course, there are certain ways around this. If you have access to Wi-Fi where you're going, 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:38.440 you could just make voice over IP calls over like WhatsApp 00:03:38.440 --> 00:03:44.120 or the aforementioned Facebook Messenger, or you could offer buying a local or traveler SIM card 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:48.040 or even a cheap pay-as-you-go phone. Alternatively, many major carriers 00:03:48.040 --> 00:03:52.560 offer temporary travel packages that will give you limited access overseas 00:03:52.600 --> 00:03:57.340 at much more reasonable rates. And in all cases, you're trading in the convenience 00:03:57.340 --> 00:04:00.680 of having your phone simply work as soon as you get through customs 00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:05.040 for not having to pay a frickin' kidney just to check Twitter. 00:04:05.040 --> 00:04:09.240 Ah! Okay, calm down now. Thanks for watching, guys. Like the video, subscribe to our channel 00:04:09.240 --> 00:04:13.400 and hit us up in the comments for any suggestions that you might have for future videos.