Hello Everyone,
With the increasing evolution of mobile devices being used for remote internet access to just about anything these days, all companies are seeing a growing demand and pressure on their telecommunication plans, packages and costs. We’re no different at Shaw, so with March Break coming up, we thought this would be a good time to send out a little 101 on cell phone usage to help maximize your experience and access, while keeping the costs properly managed.
At The Shaw Group, we do negotiate with our telecommunication carriers to get the best plans and deals available, and we do have out-of-country packages similar to most other companies. This includes plans with daily limits, but even then, usage charges still do apply for even small roaming. And depending on where you are traveling, usage costs can vary notably. Therefore, while travelling abroad, please ensure you follow the guidelines outlined below:
Check well ahead of time with our IT team before leaving to make sure your plan is properly activated. The plan is designed to activate automatically, but we have experienced the occasional situation where it didn’t connect properly upon arrival, and a large bill was inadvertently incurred. With an advance heads-up of upcoming travel, we can make sure everything is addressed and ready with our provider. Please send your travel plan details to servicedesk@shawgroupltd.com. It is important to do this a good week+ in advance, as we do block all access to our IT systems from outside the country unless notified otherwise, and access need is approved and appropriate. If we are not notified, you will lose remote access to all your online Shaw resources until it is manually enabled by Shaw IT.
While away, stay on local Wi-Fi as much as possible! Using the local Wi-Fi doesn’t result in a charge to your plan, whereas using mobile data will and can add up very quickly.
It is also important to limit bandwidth intensive activities accessed off local Wi-Fi and while roaming. Examples of high bandwidth use activities would include such things as video streaming (i.e. YouTube, Netflix, etc.), social media (ie. Facebook), and image sharing (i.e. Instagram). Hotspotting for work is also a very high usage of bandwidth, and should only be done when work circumstances dictate and no local Wi-Fi is available.
By following these simple guidelines, we can help keep our usage in check and prevent any costly overages regarding data usage.
How our plan works. We have a combined monthly company “pool” of data we all have to share. It is not unlimited, and if our collective mobile data usage exceeds what we are allocated for the month, we can see very significant overages fees applied. This includes locally at home as well.
We appreciate everyone’s good due diligence here, and if there’s any questions or concerns about this, or any other IT related issues, please feel free to reach out to me directly to discuss.
Thanks,
Steve