(22-Oct-10) If you think travelling abroad for business is expensive, try phoning home.
Subscribers to Canada's major mobile carriers typically pay about $2 per minute in roaming charges when travelling overseas — sometimes more, depending on the country and the carrier — and around $1.50 in the U.S. Plus data costs $25 to $50 a megabyte.
If you're accustomed to using your phone freely in your local area and paying nothing beyond monthly fees, that can lead to sticker shock when you head out of town. There have been many stories of unwary travelers who return home to roaming bills totalling hundreds, and even thousands, of dollars.
And for a small business on a tight budget sending employees abroad with company phones — especially if those employees don't understand roaming costs — the results could be scary.