They should also be aware of the charges for these services, the Communications and Multimedia Consumer Forum of Malaysia (CFM) said.
“This is very important as consumers are responsible for all charges incurred while overseas as these services involve not only their service provider in Malaysia but also the roaming partner in the country they are visiting,” CFM said in a statement today.
According to Astro Awani CFM added that consumers might want to explore other alternatives to stay connected with their family and friends while overseas.
One of the tips on international roaming shared by CFM is that if people just want to receive calls and SMS while overseas, they can choose to turn off data roaming completely.
Consumers should also deactivate the ‘Automatic Connection to Networks’ setting and ensure they are always connected to the service provider’s roaming partner to enjoy preferential rates.
“Should you wish to stay connected on Wifi only, you can choose to switch your mobile phone to ‘Airplane’ or ‘Flight’ mode and make use of public WiFi hotspots available,” CFM said.
It said a cheaper option might be to get a local Saudi SIM card and choose the best package that suits the intended usage for the duration of the stay.
“It’s always useful to bring a spare cheap feature phone just in case you can use it with a local SIM card to receive or make important calls and switch your smartphone to WiFi only,” it said.
It also urged users to back up all contacts and important data in case they lost their phone.
Astro Awani quoted CFM chairman Megat Ishak Maamunor Rashid as saying CFM had received 248 complaints over both international voice and data roaming charges in the first seven months of 2016.