Roaming Charges! Grrr!

[Pete Paxton]

<p>Now please keep in mind that I virtually never travel outside the country. While I was on vacation last week in Belize and Mexico I found that I received a data signal from AT&amp;T. Please understand that I am not griping about my naiveness to roaming charges. That is my responsibility. When I got my latest bill my roaming data charges are $125! I barely even surfed. I checked a couple of emails and some baseball scores for my son. What do all of you think? Doesn't it seem that roaming charges are a tad bit expensive? Did it really cost AT&amp;T that much for the little time I surfed? Any of you out there like me and got surprised by a mobile bill with roaming charges?</p>

[Jason Dunn]

Yeah, roaming charges can be very brutal...my rates with Fido are $50 per MB. Because of that, when I travel I turn off my data connection and switch to SMS messages...which I still think cost me like $1/message. :mad:

Of course, you iPhone users are infamous for getting huge roaming bills. :D

[tnels!]

I suggest switching to Sprint. $15/mo gets me unlimited data access and I have yet to see a roaming message or charge. HTC Diamonds look like better devices than iPhones anyway!

[Janak Parekh]

I suggest switching to Sprint. $15/mo gets me unlimited data access and I have yet to see a roaming message or charge. But Sprint doesn't work in non-CDMA areas, so this is a moot point. Pete is referring to when he left the US.

--janak

[Janak Parekh]

Of course, you iPhone users are infamous for getting huge roaming bills. :D Well, gotta credit the iPhone for finally shining a mass-media light on Rogers' crazy data pricing. Not that it's helping, yet. :( I don't quite understand why Rogers and other Canadian wireless operators charge so much more than their US counterparts. Limited competition? Sure, but we have limited competition too...

--janak

[ScottC]

It's an expensive lesson to learn.

Next time, add an international roaming package from your operator (though this isn't always available for every country). It never ceases to surprise me how many people fail to realize how expensive data roaming can be.

That $125 equals just 19Mb transferred, which is a couple of emails and some rich content websites. Next time disable images and other heavy content before downloading, it'll save you, but not much.

Just be happy it wasn't worse. I know people who have gone to China for 2 weeks and got a text message from AT&T telling them they had exceeded the $3500 spending limit on their mobile account.

And yes; $0.0195/KB is an insane price for roaming. Sadly, none of the iPhone or other global roaming packages for data apply to Belize.

[paschott]

I got docked with a huge roaming bill one time when my company neglected to tell me that I'd been switched to a limited area phone plan from the prior one which was nationwide. The company eventually paid for it because they hadn't told anyone we'd been switched, but it went rounds a couple of times. I can't imagine that we saved all that much money by doing that, but I was creful to check what plan I was on next time I went on a trip.

At least now I control my own plan. I get an allowance for the plan where before I just got whatever the company chose.

[Fritzly]

Being someone who spend at least 4 months a year traveling through Europe I handle roaming charges as follows:

I never buy a crippled Sim-lock phone

I only use GSM phones

I buy prepaid sim for every Country I go

Doing this I do not know what roaming charges are.

[kerrins]

I know of someone here at work that had their exchange activesync turned on and went to Europe. Their bill was a couple thousand dollars. I find it rather irritating that AT&T doesn't have anything that helps with voice or data plans when travelling. Even the voice plan, changes the price from about $1.29 per minute to $0.99 per minute...That's not much of a change even when I have time to plan in advance. I'm sure that people travelling are willing to shell out an extra $50 or even $100 bucks for a vacation out of the country but to hit someone with a $1,000 bill is totally unfair.

[ianl]

The size of these charges depends on which country you are actually roaming in as well as any "plan" you may be on.

1) avoid SIM-locked devices (a very restrictive, repulsive marketing idea) since then you have to accept whatever costs the carrier imposes

2) check roaming rates before you leave for each country you intend to visit

As an example, in Europe using the Internet for bits and pieces over 2 weeks cost me about AUD$20. Using much less bandwidth in NZ for 3 days cost me AUD$80; using miniscule amounts in the Phillipines cost AUD$130 for 3 days.

[Kacey Green]

I just ask the carrier for the sim unlock code, before travelling, so the prepaid sim will work with no issues

T-MO has done this for every phone I've owned from them since 2004 about two per year on average. But only really one device per year when looking at model changes among all those phones.

[ScottC]

I find it rather irritating that AT&T doesn't have anything that helps with voice or data plans when travelling. .

Global Data Packages:

http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/affordable-world-packages.jsp#7

But only in certain countries. Overage charges are also much lower, half a cent instead of 1.95 cents per KB transferred.

It's not perfect, but it can turn a $2000 bill into $300.

If you beg, they'll often apply the plan retroactively.

[Pete Paxton]

Get this: my monthly payment to AT&T is automatically taken out of my bank at a payment I preset. I called AT&T to let them know that I would make another payment to cover the other $125. I was genuinely polite but I let the rep know that I was a bit shocked to see my roaming charges were so high. She put me on hold for a moment and returned to let me know she credited me the $125. I didn't even ask for that. She agreed that roaming charges are too high and too confusing. Pretty cool huh? Good job AT&T!

[keirmeister]

I got hit with a $7300 bill from T-Mobile. What irritates me is that they didn't charge us for using data internationally the previous year, so I thought everything was cool. When we arrived this time, I got a text message saying, "Stick with T-Mobile while travelling abroad." I double-checked their website to make sure, and nothing came up, not even when I did a search using the terms "international data roaming".

Near the end of our trip, we get a call from T-Mobile stating the bill had reached $5,000 (thanks for the late notice). When we returned home, I spoke to a CSR and was given the ONE PAGE on their ENTIRE SITE where international data roaming rates are mentioned. And guess what? That ONE SENTENCE on that ONE PAGE was under the CRUISE SHIP section - easy to miss.

Obviously I'm fighting this. I checked AT&T, and their rates are right upfront. The obnoxious thing is, the CSR's at T-Mobile don't even know their own system. One lady told us international data rates are charged by the byte and BY THE MINUTE. Another fairly unfriendly manager lady actually said I was calling her a liar because she refused to believe their T-MobileWeb system allowed you to view web pages - even though their own website shows you how to set it up. When I told her we weren't charged for using data internationally the previous year, she said that was impossible. I told her we have the bills to prove it. She said we must be lucky then. WTF?!?

Oh well, we'll see where this goes. :(

[Darius Wey]

Fortunately, I've never been slapped with a huge roaming bill, but I'm aware of others that have. So, I avoid using my existing SIM to make and receive calls when abroad. I don't mind sending and receiving text messages, though, since my carrier (Optus) charges a small amount to send and nothing to receive.

Usually, I'll look around for prepaid SIMs if the country offers them. Some countries in Asia practically shove them into your face when you step off the plane, which is always nice. :D Of course, this is tricky if your phone is SIM- or network-locked, like the version of the iPhone sold in the US.

[baralong]

I spent 3 weeks in the USA last year, my roaming charges were about $1000, but most of that was calls. It only cost me au$0.50 to send an sms and nothing to receive, I emailed and browsed quite a bit in the first week (no other internet) but it was the call charges not the data that got me.

Particularly irritating was the $200 worth off calls to our travel agent for the various things they'd stuffed up.

[fone_fanatic]

I travel outside of the US frequently! and by frequently i have over 80,000 frequent flyer miles with KLM/Northwest!

Wherever i go, whether it be in the middle east, europe, or asia.. i always get a prepaid simcard. I always buy unlocked gsm phones (the tilt was actually the first phone i bought from a carrier!) trust me it saves u a lot more then signing on to some BS int'l plan that any US carrier has.

all i can say is do your research.. be smart/gsm and take advantage of other advanced networks prepaid/no contracts chips... and happy roaming!!!

[thejet]

Even if you NEVER use your phone, but you leave your phone on, you will be charged roaming fees.

I just got back from a Caribean cruise and because I left my phone on, my roaming charges were over $100. I was told by AT & T that because I left my phone on and the cell phone system had to track me. I know in my heart that the cruise line made part of that money because that NEVER warned us.

[ScottC]

I got hit with a $7300 bill from T-Mobile. What irritates me is that they didn't charge us for using data internationally the previous year, so I thought everything was cool. When we arrived this time, I got a text message saying, "Stick with T-Mobile while travelling abroad." I double-checked their website to make sure, and nothing came up, not even when I did a search using the terms "international data roaming".

Near the end of our trip, we get a call from T-Mobile stating the bill had reached $5,000 (thanks for the late notice). When we returned home, I spoke to a CSR and was given the ONE PAGE on their ENTIRE SITE where international data roaming rates are mentioned. And guess what? That ONE SENTENCE on that ONE PAGE was under the CRUISE SHIP section - easy to miss.



I'm sorry, but that is just not true. I found the data roaming charges in 10 seconds on their site, and I know for a fact that it's in the same place it's been for the past years.

On their site I clicked "coverage", then "International Roaming", and it's all right there. With the data charges for every country. It's in virtually the exact same place ATT have it on their site.

It also shows up if you do a search for "international data" or "international roaming" or "international data roaming". The search results give a link to their worldclass roaming page where you can find a list of all countries. It is also NOT true that it's hidden away with cruise ship roaming. Cruise roaming just happens to be listed on the roaming page, but that doesn't mean it's "hidden".

Yes, CSR's are often poorly educated, but they are hardly to blame for your incident. It is very unfortunate that you were not charged last time, but it seems that you understand you should have been.

I'm sure they'll make you an offer, but if you racked up $7300 in data roaming charges at 1.5 cents per kb you must have used almost 500Mb of data, you had to have known that they wouldn't allow that much data for free?

I really wish the operators would educate their customers before leaving on a trip with their phone. I mean no disrespect towards you, as you did the same thing 1000's of people do, but 2 minutes of research would have yielded the correct answers, and saved you this headache.

[Non-Geek]

Wherever i go, whether it be in the middle east, europe, or asia.. i always get a prepaid simcard.


I travel too much internationally - at one time, I have 700K miles in just a few years!!! I agree that unlocked GSM phone is a must, but the pre-paid SIM card is normally for voice only, esp in Europe. It is rare to get one for data! Correct me if I am wrong.

[keirmeister]

Not to get into a war over this, but what I'm saying is true - so true that in fact I made screen captures as proof - including my search results, etc.

I haven't been to their site since the beginning of the year, so it's possible they changed it since then - and I raised this point with them all the way up to their Executive Customer Relations. But even the CSR said that the rates are listed on only one page. And when those rates are listed in one short sentence under a section that appears to be talking about something else, it's incredibly misleading. Again, I have documented proof of this.

As for free data - I never considered it free. I was paying $20/month for unlimited. I wasn't as educated on the implications of this as I am now, but because of their billing "error", I was led to believe there were no extra charges internationally. I figured it was because data was different than voice. But I don't think it's unreasonable to have a service provider be more upfront about their rates - especially if they are egregiously high. On a side note, I did a search about this and discovered a site where they talk about this exact issue with T-Mobile. Apparently, there are many people who don't get charged extra for international data, and that apparently it's a anomaly with their system. And yes, I still have the site link and capture to prove it. But this begs the question, if you can use data internationally without it getting flagged by T-Mobile, how much does it ACTUALLY cost them? Sounds fishy.

Oh, and yes, I did more than 2 minutes of research. On that same page where they discuss the rates, the top section is about international data roaming. I selected the country expecting the next field to display the cost. Instead it said, "GPRS: Yes". ScottC, I think that's what you're talking about. But it doesn't actually give you the cost. Again, the line about rates was further down the page under the Cruise Ship section. It is (or at least was) very easy to miss. I've shown this to many people, including a lawyer, and they agree. Simply put, it is not a very good disclosure of terms on the part of T-Mobile.

But taking all of that aside, to me the worse offense was the text message they sent us to "stick with T-Mobile" the second we arrived overseas. Knowing we use data alot, knowing our bill never went above $100, knowing we were overseas...it just seems incredibly F*&%'d up!

I wished I had have known better back then, but it's not like T-Mobile made it any easier. I've done alot of research on this since the issue first came up. Now I know, and it's an expensive lesson.

[MitchellO]

And yes; $0.0195/KB is an insane price for roaming. Sadly, none of the iPhone or other global roaming packages for data apply to Belize.

Ha, that's what some people pay here for casual data use, and that's domestic. Our carriers charge around $20/MB transferred while overseas.

[Jason Dunn]

Even if you NEVER use your phone, but you leave your phone on, you will be charged roaming fees.

Hmm - that must depend on your phone and maybe your carrier, because I leave my phone on all over the world and have never been charged for it.

[TimeHunter]

AT&T (Cingular at that time) tried to nail me with $400 USD in data charges for 13 MB of data. Since I was no longer bound by contract and they refused to negotiate to something more appropriate for a charge, it was bye bye!

[Jason Dunn]

AT&T (Cingular at that time) tried to nail me with $400 USD in data charges for 13 MB of data.

My rates are even worse: Fido (Canada) charges $50/MB of roaming data, so 13 MB would have cost me $650 CAD.