Prepaid Mobile Phones and Roaming
In the early years, prepaid mobile phones could only be used within the operator's network who the customer purchased the phone from. It was not possible to roam onto other GSM networks when using the phone abroad. This was because the operator had no way to bill calls in real time from another network.
However, most prepaid phones now offer roaming using one of the following methods:
- the prepaid mobile phone user dials a "trigger" number from the foreign location using a USSD message which is not charged for whilst roaming. Upon receipt of the USSD, the customer's operator will then return the call. When the service calls back, the user is being charged for the cost of the service from the credit available in the home network. The service will then prompt the user to enter the dialled number of the party to be called. The disadvantage of this method of roaming is that the user will not be able to dial numbers directly from the handset. The advantage is that it works in almost all locations around the world since USSD is ubiquitous and free.
- the user can direct dial from their handset if the network they are roaming in supports CAMEL (Customised Applications for Mobile networks Enhanced Logic). This allows real time billing by the home operator without having to dial the customer back. The advantage is that it is more natural and works seamlessly. The disadvantage is that not all networks support CAMEL so the list of countries where a prepaid customer can use their phone abroad is smaller than for postpaid mobile phones.
Read more about this topic: Prepaid Mobile Phone
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