During the coming week, I’m travelling in Belgium and The Netherlands.

First stop is speaking at the European Communication Summit in Brussels followed by a client meeting in The Hague.

Just checking on a few things as part of my trip preparation, I looked at Vodafone’s data access costs in Belgium and The Netherlands.

Get this:

They’re going to charge me £10 per megabyte for accessing the web (what they call ‘non Vodafone Live pages’)! That’s the equivalent of $20 or nearly €15! And that’s the cost if I connect via a Vodafone network – I haven’t even looked at what Vodafone will charge me if I connect via another network (and I’m not sure I’ll even be able to).

Just accessing a website or blog is likely to consume many megs with all the images so many use. A timely call for mobile-friendly websites!

It’s ridiculous. No wonder the EU has forced mobile operators across Europe to reduce their roaming charges for phone calls. Not for SMS messaging nor data, though (although Vodafone has a new data price plan coming up from July).

The changes don’t take effect until later this year. I bet we see more political action on this.

So while I’ll have to grin and bear it re phone calls and those roaming costs, I’ll definitely not be using the net on my mobile when abroad this trip, that’s for sure.