Virgin Mobile has just got in touch with a good chunk of its mobile user base to let them know that from the end of this month, international calls — that is calls from Australia to other countries — are about to become incredibly expensive.
In a mailout to customers sent this week, Virgin advised that international call rates would skyrocket on Big Cap, Big Plans and Fair Go plans to almost four times the normal rate.
International regions will still be divided up into zones, but those the cost of those zones are about to go up, from between 45c-$1.80 per minute, up to a whopping $2.00-$25.00 per minute.
Here’s the old pricing:
The four regions range in price from 45 cents per minute (with a 40 cent call connection fee) through to $1.80 per minute (with a 40 cent call connection fee). Remember these prices are for calls made from Australia to other countries.
Here are the new rates:
The call rates now start at $2.00 per minute and skyrocket to a ridiculous $25 per minute with extra connection fees on top of that.
In addition to the changes, two new country zones have been introduced: Zone 5 and Zone 6.
Group 5 now plays host to Albania, Algeria Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Djibouti, Macedonia, Gabon, Gambia, Greenland, Guinea Republic, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Kiribati, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Monaco, Morocco, Myanmar, Sao Tome, Senegal, Serbia & Montenegro, Sierra Leone, SloveniaSomalia, Sudan, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Western Samoa, Zaire and Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, Group 6 — the most expensive at $25 per minute — includes countries like Antarctica, Ascension Is, Cook Islands, Cuba, Diego Garcia, East Timor, Falkland Islands, Korea North, Maldives, Nauru, Niue Island, Norfolk Islands, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, St Helena and Tokelau.
All of these countries that Virgin Mobile is now charging through the nose for used to be cast between zones three and four, meaning that in some instances calls will soon be 10 times the price of what they used to be, for no good reason.
Needless to say, customers are furious as the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Head over there to see the full outrage.
Are these call rates going to impact you?
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