DOHA: As the annual holiday season approaches, the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has issued tips to Qatari telecom consumers to avoid roaming bill shocks.

The two service providers in Qatar have a diverse range of roaming packages and services to cater to a range of consumer requirements.

CRA advises telecom consumers to make sure they understand the service they want to use before they subscribe to it, to verify if whether their service provider offers a roaming package in the destination country and to read the terms and conditions related to the specific service they want to use and clearly understand the cost of it.

CRA also advises consumers to understand the activation process before they travel and if in doubt to contact their service provider to clarify and to activate the package before they reach their destination, because they may need to use roaming data to activate the package and could be charged ‘out of package’ for that if it’s not activated in advance.

Ooredoo’s pre-paid customers can activate Ooredoo passport, by sending “OP” as SMS to 121, or via Ooredoo mobile app. Ooredoo’s post-paid customers can activate Ooredoo passport, by sending “OP” for weekly or “OPM” for monthly as SMS to 114, or via Ooredoo mobile app.

Vodafone’s Qatar pre-paid and post-paid customers can activate Vodafone passport, by dialing *110*110#, or via Vodafone mobile app. Often bill shock is a result of using a non-partner network carrier in the destination country.

Service providers have mechanisms in place to automatically connect consumers to their preferred network partner (If available). Consumers should verify with their service providers whether to keep network selection manual or automatic.

Consumers, who have high-data usage, should continually monitor their balance to avoid incurring high roaming costs outside of their package. Service providers are obliged to provide consumers with notifications before the package ends or is consumed completely. Consumers should take advantage of such alerts and manage their roaming costs responsibility.

Ooredoo’s pre-paid customers can check their balance for Ooredoo passport, by sending “BAL OP” as SMS to 121, or via Ooredoo mobile app. Ooredoo’s post-paid customers can check their balance for Ooredoo passport, by sending “BAL OP” for weekly and “BAL OPM” for monthly as SMS to 114, or check via Ooredoo mobile app.

Vodafone’s Qatar pre-paid and post-paid customers can check their balance for Vodafone passport, by dialling *129# or via Vodafone mobile app.