Are you experiencing a super high charge from your telco company back in your home country, especially international roaming? If you are, don’t worry, because I had that experience too.

Every telco company in every country could be different, hopefully mine can be your reference. I’m from Malaysia and I need to keep my local number active because it is closely bonded with my bank accounts, credit cards and miscellaneous monthly payments.

First of all, I hold two different phones here in Ireland. One is for my Malaysian number and another one is for my Irish number. What I did was, I always turn off the phone with my Malaysian number unless I really need it. My intention was to prevent additional international roaming charges.

BUT (this is a big big BUT)!!!

I was still charged with international roaming, around €20 every month, on top of my original bill! So, how am I charged so much even though my phone was turned off most of the time?

Here’s the trick! There’s a service provided by most telco companies, that is called International Voicemail Roaming. Sadly, telco companies in Malaysia turned that on automatically for every customer. Each missed call that I received, I was charged with €1.00.

So, even if it’s just a random missed call, I would be charged regardless. I wouldn’t have thought about the reason behind of the charges because they’re all charged under the same category: International Roaming.

My suggestion to you is, turn off Voicemail services when you’re in Ireland. This can prevent you from paying unnecessary charges. Plus, if it is important enough, that person would be able to reach you via your Irish number or email anyway.

Hope this help!

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