Deactivate voicemail box
In future, work mobile phone users will be able to make calls in other EU countries without roaming charges. But be careful when travelling to Switzerland, the UK and all other non-EU countries: Incoming calls also incur roaming charges there. So just don’t pick up the phone? That’s not enough: if the voicemail box "picks up", the call is deemed to have been accepted and will be charged. The call is then roamed from abroad back to the voicemail box in Austria at a charge. So instead of one roaming call, you have two on your bill - and all because the voicemail box was not deactivated.
Work mobile phone users will have it easy in future: from May, the voicemail box will be deactivated by default and can be switched on and off in the operator’s administration app (e.g. Drei Kundenzone or Mein A1).
Update only in Wi-Fi
Normally you always switch off your mobile data when abroad. But then you are expecting that important e-mail and there is no Wi-Fi available. Before you activate your mobile data now, you should make sure that installed apps and the operating system are only allowed to update via Wi-Fi – otherwise switching it on may trigger a flood of updates and your mobile data will be used up before the important e-mail is downloaded. On many Apple devices, for example, this can be done via Settings – General – Background update. For Android devices, the function can be accessed via the Play Store settings. It is also best to switch on data-saving mode: this prevents apps from downloading new content via the mobile network. You can then simply initiate the download of one important e-mail manually.
Be careful with data connections
Did you know that? On a ferry in the Mediterranean, you are not in the EU, but in international waters. The list price for 1 gigabit of mobile data here is up to 17,000 (in words: seventeen thousand) euros. To be on the safe side, you should also avoid using mobile data on aeroplanes or in border regions. Thanks to the EU Roaming Regulation, data connections outside the EU are automatically capped after 60 euros have been used. You must explicitly ask the operator to reactivate the connection. But here too, mobile data is usually used up before you have had a chance to work with it and it causes unnecessary additional costs.
Work mobile phone users do not have to worry about this problem either: The ZID has blocked data usage on ferries for the new SIM cards by default.
Roaming checklist
The work mobile phone team of the ZID recommends the following to ensure safe calling and surfing in roaming destinations:
- Deactivate data roaming, personal hotspot and voicemail box
- Restrict apps and (system) updates to Wi-Fi
- Activate data saving mode
- E-mail account: Set synchronisation to manual or select data synchronisation
- For longer stays abroad, use a dual SIM device (can hold 2 SIM cards) with a local prepaid SIM card
The new work mobile phone service
At the end of April, the university is changing its work mobile phone operator. The new tariffs are cheaper, simpler and faster. Data and roaming packages are a thing of the past, as are penalties for exceeding the package limit.
Anyone who already has a work mobile phone will be automatically assigned to one of the new tariffs by the ZID and can look forward to lower costs after switching operators. The easiest way for employees who do not yet have a work mobile phone and can wait a little is to order the new work mobile phone services via the Servicedesk from May, after the change of operator.
No new orders will be possible in April due to the necessary changeover work.
You can find detailed information on the new work mobile phone contract at the University of Vienna on the work mobile phone service pages.