FROM THE INDUSTRY
3. Vodafone’s pay-as-you-go deal ensures you can only buy data abroad in extortionate 8-day increments (a post-Brexit initiative). I could get a better deal if I committed to a monthly package, but for reasons I still don’t understand it involved sending me another SIM card. As I lay there in silence one Sunday morning wishing I had at least the wireless to listen to, I was struck by a lightbulb moment Archimedes would have been proud of. I walked down to the Tabac to buy a French SIM card. Within minutes I had a phone and data. Eureka indeed. I loaded up the phone with credit and settled back home to see if I could even listen to one of Steve Wright’s last Sunday Love Songs. It worked! I almost felt an ancient Greek hand pat me on the back. Whilst watching the final session of the snooker on Sunday night I ran out of data. I soon found myself in a sort of Gallic, cyclical hellscape; Orange Fr won’t allow you to use their app when you run out of data as you’ve run out of data. They won’t let you call them because you’ve run out of credit.
“Fair usage”, I learned was an agreement between the major network providers in Europe to limit the amount of data available to foreign consumers. Something about hoovering up all the data for the locals, which is fair. The font size of this fairly pivotal intel on any ISP website however is miniscule, almost illegible in fact. Watching a few frames of snooker one snowy evening, I’d consumed my so-called ‘unlimited data’ allowance. I called up Vodafone but was informed I wasn’t even able to buy any more data. EU regulations won’t allow any more, however much you’re willing to spend.
When you’re staying in the French Alps all winter, the very least you expect is decent snow, a hearty tartiflette, cheap wine, a roaring fire and a half-decent broadband connection.
As I have recently discovered, these aren’t all possible.
Just before Christmas, I made my annual pilgrimage to Châtel in Haute Savoie and found a great pad in the centre of town. With views to die for and close to work and nightlife, it was perfect. The last thing I asked the owner of my apartment was whether the place had Internet access.
“Er… non. Not at ze moment.”
I now had no phone. I considered my options.
It was mid-October when I asked the owners to look into it. By the time I arrived on 10th December, Orange Fr still hadn’t made the ‘treacherous’ 20-mile journey up the hill and they seemed in no particular hurry. Through Christmas and New Year, I used my iPhone to tether my Mac via UK Vodafone for all/some of my internet needs. One thing you aren’t told when you are on an “unlimited data” deal with any network in the UK is the small print that actually only allows you 25 GB per month of “fair usage” whilst in Europe.
1. WhatsApp didn’t work unless I was in a WiFi area. Little use when you’re running guests to and from the slopes in a ski resort and need to be in comms throughout the day, even when walking the dog 2000m up the hill. 2. Orange Fr advised their technician might make it to Châtel to connect me on 2nd of January. I could hold on until then but that didn’t solve my immediate need for mobile communication.
May 2024 Volume 46 No.2
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