Phone charges all at sea

MOBILE COSTS:PASSENGER on ferries have been advised to switch their phones off at sea if they do not want to incur high roaming charges.

While passengers can access mobile phone networks close to shore they have to go through a satellite service provided by a Norwegian company when out at sea.

The service is not covered by new EU-wide roaming charges designed to cut the often alarming costs of using mobile phones abroad.

In EU-27 countries, calls abroad since July 1st have been fixed at 47 cent a minute and 18 cent to receive a call, but the mobile phone operators based in Ireland charge between the EU regulated charges and €2.19 a minute when making and receiving calls on the Irish Sea.

Comreg said passengers should look out for a text they will receive when using a satellite phone service at sea which will detail prices for using it.

Comreg pointed out that this service is not covered by European roaming rates and the charges are “considerably more”.

“If you do not want to use this service and avoid being liable for the prices charged to receive or make calls or to send texts, you should switch your phone off immediately,” Comreg says.

The satellite service is also not covered by the voluntary €60 cap that mobile phone users can avail of if they want to control the costs of using their mobile phone abroad.

The service on Irish Ferries and Stena Line is provided by Maritime Communications Partner (MCP) one of the biggest operators in Europe. Its communication manager Egon Vik said the mobile companies set the charges and bill the customers.

He said MCP bill the mobile phone operators for the cost of satellites that his company has to book and the cost of installing antenna on ships at sea.

“Our costs are reasonable. We have no way of controlling the prices set by the mobile companies which vary enormously,” he said.