Telecom operators should start listening to their users. In Belgium people pay to much for mobile Internet. Compared to neighbouring countries we pay 2 to 5 times more. Prices go as high as € 13,00 / Megabyte for private users! People will no longer agree to pay these amounts. Last year we saw a rise of 10% of complains about telecom operators, and most of them were about the excessive rates.

Due to a lack of competition there is not much innovation in Belgium. All operators have similar plans and rates. For the roaming market the situation is similar. For most operators there’s only few options of local operators to offer the same technology. This makes the local operators powerful and expensive.

Our best hope for cheaper international roaming is a fundamental change in how cellphones work, which, thank God, is starting to happen. Some see prices falling as mobile carriers switch more and more to data-based tech, like VoIP. Skype's able to route calls overseas for almost nothing, so if all a host carrier has to do is connect visitors to an active data connection, their job gets simpler. Deals could be renegotiated as an industry is fundamentally changed. Even further, you may not need to worry about who's supplying your wireless connection, or if it's associated with a particular number. You'll just rent a dumb data pipe using an online checkin service, your email, Skype, Facebook or IM accounts, and never worry about whether or not your phone number works (If that will still exist?). (After all, it's just another username, right?)

That dream is a few years away. Our phones are still locked, and most pay-as-you-go deals across the world aren't built around that kind of data traffic.

But considering consumers are gaining power and control on what products will sell and what won't, it’s only a matter of time before someone picks up this consumer demand offering people an honest mobile solution.