Data Roaming Predators

Life has presented me with a unique opportunity to visit some remote islands on Southern Pacific. As I’m based in Europe, Southern Pacific is probably as far as I could go. New Zealand is probably the farthest, but not the most difficult to get to - usually within the range of two long haul flights.

Having just finished US East Coast business activities - the very successful NYcontrolled show followed by the DALI America Summit and a workshop with an important partner in NJ, I faced the dilemma of what to do over the next week ahead of yet another show - this time in Hong Kong. Of course I could simply get back to Poland and fly to China next weekend. Or hang around in the USA. Or… Or take a week long holidays on a multi-hop trip over the Pacific Ocean. 

With the internet at hand planning such a trip these days is peanuts. The itaSofware Matrix is your friend. Ultimately I opted to stay a couple of days in Tahiti (French Polynesia) and the second half of the week in Fiji. Luckily, once a week - on Wednesdays - there even is a flight between the two. 

After booking flights and accommodation, the next thing to check was the internet access. I have a global mobile plan from Truphone and often use the Revolut eSIM for data. Unfortunately it appeared neither covered French Polynesia. I mean, after consulting the Truphone support, they were happy to have me covered with an Asia-Pacific add-on for 3GB of data for around 4000 USD. Plus tax. 

I remember the times several years ago when people were reporting horror stories of being charged insane money for using mobile data to feed Google Maps when driving across Europe. The headline was they paid more for the data than for the fuel on that trip. This is long forgotten now as the EU forced the operators to implement union-wide flat rates. But French Polynesia is only half-Europe. At least no flat mobile data there. 

4000 USD is about twice as much as the combined cost of flight tickets from Newark via San Francisco to Papeete to Nadi to Hong Kong. And 3GB today would be swallowed in a day or two. So the situation is worse than the pre-regulation European horror stories. 

Luckily there are eSIM providers who cover French Polynesia. I ultimately bought the Vini Travel Card 40 Go for about 80 USD (plan to watch the Austin F1 GP and despite this being a vacation week, there will be some office work too). 

Fiji seems to be even easier - covered by the Revolut eSIM with all its convenience. What is weird though is the Vini eSIM for French Polynesia seems to be using Truphone infrastructure. If that is the case, Truphone’s pricing practices are clearly predatory. Counting on business subscribers who believe the Global plan is truly global and never checking their bills.