I did some price comparisons and found that unless I'm in different countries every month or I have a hard requirement on using the same number globally, it's much, much cheaper to just get a disposable local SIM card every time I travel.
https://www.knowroaming.com/order/data-packages/160-global-u...
[1] http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/European_Union#A...
My provider lists ~190 roaming countries, not counting satellite/planes/ships, on their roaming rates page: https://elisa.fi/puheliittymat/kaytto-ulkomailla/
Yes, generally you have to activate intl roaming ~a week before you travel, by talking to a customer support agent on the phone, and it's limited to specific regions at a time. It's also ridiculously expensive.
They also have country specific plans which are cheaper for some specific destinations. I’ve not tried those but I’ve gone through about 25GB of data over 2 years of the global plans in probably 10+ countries.
Obligatory referral link which gives you 100MB free data. Though worth searching sometimes travel sites have a promo code that’s good for 500MB or more free: http://roam.my/LATHIAT
Also saves you trying to find one at the airport (strangely not always possible) and also gives you coverage when at transit airports (flying from Australia to varios destinations I almost always have a few hours transit somewhere in the middle)
If you’re in a country with easily accessible cheaper data for long enough (eg the UK has really cheap travel sims) you could always switch for that trip.
Does that include Canada? That is about HALF the advertised rates where I am. The real rates, after all the fees, are inevitably higher. Please send a few storks my way.
For comparison:
I used to get a Spotify subscription, unlimited calling and SMS, and 1.5 GB of data for $30 in New Zealand. I now currently get 12 GB and unlimited calling+SMS for $40 in Australia.
The device could be optimized to send the data only when connected to a low-cost network, or send just general data at very low frequency when on high-cost network, just to know the device is alive.
Also getting a cheap plan on data but expensive on calls should be also possible.
If you want cheap international telephony, there's a whole industry for travel SIMs, but they're often still pretty expensive to use in some countries.
The researchers' real mistake was using a contract SIM. Should have used a prepaid one.
But easier for Amazon or big car company to broker such an agreement. I think the question is how would Joe Public get something like this.
On #1 comment below says this is done by radio RDS
On #2 however there has to be a way to update the maps in the car as roads (new roads, closures, lane changes, speed limits, etc.) change. My assumption was that car makers hardly expect people to manually update these maps. And likewise could probably not live with the liability of years old data in the maps. But looks like I may be incorrect here http://updateportal.skoda-auto.com
BMW at least have actual SIM cards in the cars so original point stands.
Well, since a year or two EU-wide free roaming is a thing.
See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_locator_beacon
There are lots of types that work in different ways however. E.g. For marine use we use VHF radios with digital functionality. There's a big red 'distress' button that will transmit your vessel information and position to the coastguard. That's all done via radio, no satellites. (You then back it up with a very analogue mayday call)