Be aware of high mobile bills from up in the sky
Published: 02:01 PM,Jan 06,2025 | EDITED : 06:01 PM,Jan 06,2025
When you're up in the sky in the air, you would depend on satellites to establish the same communications. Image for illustration only.
A few days ago I received a call from my dad about Uncle Badru, who has recently returned from a thrilling vacation experience with his family. Uncle Badru, a retired professional who has been traveling frequently, ensures that he takes along his smart devices (mobile phone, tablet, etc.) that are also filled with Netflix movies and series downloaded for offline viewing.
His recent trip, however, was a nightmare. Specifically due to a high mobile phone bill that he received after returning from the trip. Obviously, the bill was higher than usual. Upon investigating the matter a little further, we learned that the reason for his high bills was due to inflight roaming charges that many people and travellers are not aware of.
What happened exactly, how it works and how one can avoid this issue is the focus of my article today.
Uncle Badru received a high mobile phone bill due to inflight roaming. Luckily, he had a maximum amount limit set on his phone via the telecom operator (else it would have been a disaster). Inflight roaming is a service that allows travellers (passengers) to use their mobile phone and/or SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) enabled tablets for calls, texts messages (SMS) and even access/surf the information superhighway (the internet) while on the flights up in the sky.
Modern flights are equipped with devices (cell base stations) that use satellites to establish connections and offer regular communication services to their passengers. You may be familiar with international roaming service, in which you depend on cellular towers (when you travel outside your main country) to establish a connection on land. When you're up in the sky in the air, you would depend on satellites to establish the same communications.
This is known as inflight roaming, where a number of modern flights these days offer it as a service to their travellers. The problem, however, is that not many people and specifically passengers, know about.
So how does it work? When you embark on a flight that has an inflight roaming service, your smart device (both mobile phone and SIM-enabled tablet) would automatically connect to the inflight roaming (if your smart device is not set on airplane mode). You would be able to make and receive calls, send SMS text messages and also connect to the internet (for movies, social media, games and the like) while you're up in the sky, as if you're on the ground/land.
The communication/connectivity would be via the aircraft's on-board base station to the satellites orbiting the earth, which would then relay signals between the aircraft and the ground stations, ultimately integrating with the telecom network on the ground to establish the end-to-end communication. Why is it expensive? Simply because operating those satellites costs high and these costs are passed to you, as a customer/consumer. Also, there are few providers that offer this service today — more demand, less supply and as a result, a high price, which you end up barring as a customer.
It is important to note that inflight roaming is not the same as an airline's Wi-Fi. Airline Wi-Fi has been there for ages and in order for one to connect to the service, he/she would need to turn on Wi-Fi on their smart devices, connect and yet only be able to utilise the service once they opt in by paying using their credit card (or mode of payment accepted by the airline).
They are usually cheaper and prices are also predictable (known by the travellers and passengers beforehand). With inflight roaming, you and your family may incur heavy bills for connecting automatically without being aware. If there is no limit set on your connection, then expect a bomb when you receive the bill.
Uncle Badru is not alone and his recent painful experience with the high mobile phone bill is common to many travellers as well. I trust millions of people in Oman travel every year and the potential of attaining similar experience is high. Hence, we should all take this as a lesson by understanding what and how inflight roaming works in order to avoid the same result. Many phones (without airplane mode turned on) connect to these networks automatically without the user's consent. Next time before you embark on a flight for a journey, make sure you check your smart device settings and ensure Airplane mode is turned on. Stay safe and continue flying.
His recent trip, however, was a nightmare. Specifically due to a high mobile phone bill that he received after returning from the trip. Obviously, the bill was higher than usual. Upon investigating the matter a little further, we learned that the reason for his high bills was due to inflight roaming charges that many people and travellers are not aware of.
What happened exactly, how it works and how one can avoid this issue is the focus of my article today.
Uncle Badru received a high mobile phone bill due to inflight roaming. Luckily, he had a maximum amount limit set on his phone via the telecom operator (else it would have been a disaster). Inflight roaming is a service that allows travellers (passengers) to use their mobile phone and/or SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) enabled tablets for calls, texts messages (SMS) and even access/surf the information superhighway (the internet) while on the flights up in the sky.
Modern flights are equipped with devices (cell base stations) that use satellites to establish connections and offer regular communication services to their passengers. You may be familiar with international roaming service, in which you depend on cellular towers (when you travel outside your main country) to establish a connection on land. When you're up in the sky in the air, you would depend on satellites to establish the same communications.
This is known as inflight roaming, where a number of modern flights these days offer it as a service to their travellers. The problem, however, is that not many people and specifically passengers, know about.
So how does it work? When you embark on a flight that has an inflight roaming service, your smart device (both mobile phone and SIM-enabled tablet) would automatically connect to the inflight roaming (if your smart device is not set on airplane mode). You would be able to make and receive calls, send SMS text messages and also connect to the internet (for movies, social media, games and the like) while you're up in the sky, as if you're on the ground/land.
The communication/connectivity would be via the aircraft's on-board base station to the satellites orbiting the earth, which would then relay signals between the aircraft and the ground stations, ultimately integrating with the telecom network on the ground to establish the end-to-end communication. Why is it expensive? Simply because operating those satellites costs high and these costs are passed to you, as a customer/consumer. Also, there are few providers that offer this service today — more demand, less supply and as a result, a high price, which you end up barring as a customer.
It is important to note that inflight roaming is not the same as an airline's Wi-Fi. Airline Wi-Fi has been there for ages and in order for one to connect to the service, he/she would need to turn on Wi-Fi on their smart devices, connect and yet only be able to utilise the service once they opt in by paying using their credit card (or mode of payment accepted by the airline).
They are usually cheaper and prices are also predictable (known by the travellers and passengers beforehand). With inflight roaming, you and your family may incur heavy bills for connecting automatically without being aware. If there is no limit set on your connection, then expect a bomb when you receive the bill.
Uncle Badru is not alone and his recent painful experience with the high mobile phone bill is common to many travellers as well. I trust millions of people in Oman travel every year and the potential of attaining similar experience is high. Hence, we should all take this as a lesson by understanding what and how inflight roaming works in order to avoid the same result. Many phones (without airplane mode turned on) connect to these networks automatically without the user's consent. Next time before you embark on a flight for a journey, make sure you check your smart device settings and ensure Airplane mode is turned on. Stay safe and continue flying.