What is International Roaming Service?

What is International Roaming Service?

International Roaming Service enables you to take your mobile phone to another country and use it to make and receive calls in the same way as you do in the Maldives. When you travel overseas, all the calls to your mobile will be automatically redirected to you wherever you are. The only conditions are that Dhiraagu should have a roaming agreement with a GSM operator in the visited country and you must be within the coverage area of that operator.

How does it work?

When you arrive as a visitor in another country and switch on your GSM mobile phone, the GSM network there detects that a DhiMobile customer is present, and if there is a roaming agreement between Dhiraagu and the visited network, you are ready to make and receive calls. The name of the operator or operator code of the visited network will be displayed on your phone indicating that you have successfully been connected to the visited network.

If there are many GSM networks having roaming agreement with Dhiraagu in the visiting country, which one would my phone use?

Your phone can select a network automatically or you can select your network manually. When you turn on the phone in automatic network selection mode, the phone will search for the available networks and select the one with the strongest signal. In the manual network selection mode, you will be prompted to select one from the list of available networks. The phone will accept any network with which we have roaming agreement. You can check Dhiraagu website or with Dhiraagu Customer Service to find out the networks with which we have roaming agreements.

The network I got connected to does not allow me to make calls or use GPRS. What shall I do?

Your phone will most of the time automatically connect to a network but if it does not allow you to make outgoing calls or use GPRS, then you ca manually select another network (this may happen if they have a technical problem or if Dhiraagu and visited network are in testing stage). Go to menu in your phone and chose to setup network manually and select another network.

Do I have to get a special phone to get roaming service?

In most cases you would not require a different phone as most GSM networks are of GSM 900 and 1800 type. The latest mobile handsets support both 900 and 1800 networks and also support GPRS. However you will need a 3G handset to roam in 3G networks and to roam in a GSM 1900, you will need a tri-band mobile handset or GSM1900 handset. (i.e to roam in Japan and South Korea CDMA networks or in USA GSM1900 networks, you will need to rent one of their handsets if your handsets does not support their technology).

How can I get roaming?

International Roaming is a premium service that keeps you connected where ever you are with the same number.
You can subscribe to the service if you have a Post-paid Dhiraagu Mobile.

Are there any fees for roaming?

There is no setup or monthly fees for this service. However, as you are a Post-paid customer you may need to keep a refundable deposit with us as a security measure depending on your credit rating with Dhiraagu. This is standard practice with most GSM operators throughout the world. Please refer to Dhiraagu Deposit Policy.

How can I make a call while overseas?

To make a call while in the visited country, you should dial in the same way as local users in that country would do. All area codes for local, long distance and international calls should be applied. If you want to make an international call but do not know the International Access Code from the country you are visiting, you may enter '+' which all GSM networks will translate into the relevant International Access Code. Your phone user's manual will explain where the '+' key is on your GSM mobile phone. For example: to call the number 1234567 in the Maldives while overseas, you would dial in the following sequence of numbers: 009601234567 or +9607771171 where the '+' indicates the international access code, '960' indicates the country code for the Maldives, and '7771171' is the telephone number in the Maldives. Some mobile phones have a built in list of countries, which you may use to key in the required country code.

How can my friends, family and business associates call me when I am roaming?

They can simply call your Dhiraagu Mobile number. You will receive the call as if you are in the Maldives. The callers will not even know that you are out of the country. (Unless of course you tell them).

Will my friends, family and business associates hear MyTone or another tone?

The caller (your friends, family and business associates) will generally hear the distant ends ring back tone.

Now that people can call me on the same number while roaming, what about the cost they have to bear?

If they are calling you from Maldives, they simply pay for a mobile call. A person calling you from another country will have to pay for an international call to Maldives.

Can I use Fax Mail and Voice Mail while roaming?

Yes, you can use these services but they will be international calls.

Will Dhiraagu MyTones work when I am roaming?

Yes, most of the time and you cannot modify it while abroad.

How are calls charged whilst roaming?

Calls made while roaming are charged according to visited network's calling rates for roamers. For calls received, you will be charged for an international call for the forwarding of the call from Maldives to the country where you receive the call. In addition, you will have to bear any charge, which the visited network may impose on incoming calls.

For example, if you are roaming in Sri Lanka and you receive a call from a friend in Male' you will have to pay for an 'international call' from Maldives to Sri Lanka plus any applicable network charges in Sri Lanka, and your friend will be billed at the applicable mobile call rate in Maldives. Further, if you receive a call from your friend in Singapore, while you are roaming in Sri Lanka, your friend will be billed for the international call from Singapore to Maldives and you will have to pay for the 'international call' from Maldives to Sri Lanka plus any applicable network charges in Sri Lanka.

(Dhiraagu charges the international route (1st leg) on per second basis, however the roaming partner may charge on per minutes basis in most cases for the received call (2nd leg). The roaming charges are depends on the selected network.

Even the outgoing call charges may be charges on per minutes basis. Most operators do charge on per minutes basis.)

Also note that the calling time in the roaming bills will be mentioned incase of roam incoming (1st leg), Maldives time will be mentioned in the bill & incase of Incoming (2nd leg) of the call, Roaming partner’s time will be mentioned which means same call is repeatedly displayed in the bill with different times on different sections of the bill.

How are SMS’s charged whilst roaming?

When you send an SMS while roaming, for each SMS of 160 characters (some phones support 140 characters) you will be charged according to visited network's rates per SMS for roamers. For SMS's received while roaming, most GSM networks do not have a charge.

For example, if you are roaming in Sri Lanka and send an SMS of 200 characters you will be charged for 2 SMS's.

However, if you are roaming in Sri Lanka and you receive an SMS from a friend in Male' you will not have to pay to receive SMS.

How do I pay for roaming call charges?

If you are using Dhiraagu Post-paid the charges incurred while roaming are converted into Rufiyaa and included in the normal telephone bill, which you receive for DhiMobile services.

How are roaming calls updated?

Generally TAP files are received 1 to 3 days from called date (however if they have a billing issue they can send it within 30 days from called date. Hence your roaming calls maybe updated within 1 to 30 days.

If a country is listed in the list of roaming countries, does it mean I can use my phone any where in that country?

As in this case with all mobile networks, you can use the service only where there is coverage. Dhiraagu will be working towards having roaming agreements with dominant network operators in each of the countries, which means coverage provided by these networks will be wide. Please note that India is a special case where there are a number of GSM operators who provide coverage only in a specific city or area. There is no single operator who dominates GSM coverage in India.

How can I get help when I am roaming?

For inquiries and assistance, you may call the customer service number for the network in which you are roaming. The customer service number may or may not be toll free, depending on the network. Alternatively you may call our Dhiraagu Customer Service (123 or 3338887); bearing in mind that it would be a chargeable IDD call.

Can Dhiraagu assure roaming network’s quality?

Dhiraagu cannot control the quality of roaming network.

Why can not I see the number (CLI) while roaming?

As explained above, the quality and delivery of service is controlled by the visiting roaming network and sometimes by the international carriers. Hence Dhiraagu is unable to ensure that CLI is delivered while roaming.

Do we have to do a new GPRS setting to continue using GPRS on roaming network?

We can use the local Dhiraagu GPRS settings to use GPRS in the roaming network.

How will I be charged when GPRS is used while roaming?

GPRS charges for distant operator are published on the internet.

Can I send call me back requests to DHIMOBILE numbers while roaming?

If you want to economize you can send ‘Call Me Back’ SMS request, Dial “*100*xxxxxxx# and then press send”.

Can we send MMS to Dhiraagu customers even though Dhiraagu have not launched MMS service with the roaming network?

While roaming if you can use GPRS service then you can send MMS to Dhiraagu customers or to international operators whom Dhiraagu have commercially launched (please click here for the latest International MMS operator list). Remember when you send an MMS, GPRS charges in the visited roaming operator will apply and also you will pay for MMS charges from Dhiraagu for the MMS sent.

Can we use GPRS in 3G networks?

No, you can only use GPRS in a GPRS network that has launched commercial service with Dhiraagu. Pure 3G network do not support GPRS.

Can we call FREE NUMBERS while roaming?

National Calls

To a fixed phone
Dial <Telephone number>
Eg: Singapore : 978 37 328

To a roaming mobile phone as a normal call (without OCR)

+country code and mobile number.
Dial <+ country code & mobile number>
Eg: Dhiraagu mobile: +960 x xxxxxx

To a roaming mobile phone using OCR

+country code and mobile number.
Dial <# country code & mobile number>
Eg: Dhiraagu mobile: #960 x xxxxxx

Note: OCR dialing formats may differ in different networks.

International calls or calling home

+country code and mobile number.
Dial <+ country code & fixed line>
Eg: Dhiraagu Fixed Line: +960 xxxxxx

Note: You must use “+” sign for international calls while abroad

Examples on Charges Related to Roaming

Receiving Calls

Outgoing Calls

DHIRAAGU will not be charging for SMS sent, while roaming. The only charge applied will be from the roaming operator.

DhiMobile services:

Short Codes:

Some of the networks such may support DhiMobile’s short numbers or short codes.

By using this service you can access the voicemail and the customer care of your network without using any prefixes.
Short codes make your travel easier and less stressful.

Note: For some networks short code service may network (not work) due to changes in settings.

Tariffs & Services

For roaming tariffs & services please click here.

Access Codes

DhiMobile

Customer Care: +960 3338887 (when dialing from overseas) or mail us to 123@dhiraagu.com.mv.