13 ms·

You Can Spend $750 in International Data Roaming in One Minute on AT&T

94 points by martin_ 12y ago

pskittle 12y ago
If the OP is reading or anyone who travels internationally get Freedompop. It's almost free.
- martin_ 12y ago
  What about T-Mobile? http://www.t-mobile.com/simple-choice-international-plans.html http://www.t-mobile.com/simple-choice-international-plans.ht...
  - pskittle 12y ago
    freedom pop is an app.
    - sergers 12y ago
      Op didn't have WiFi. This app requires mobile data or wifi this does not fix his problem because if he WiFi they wouldn't have been roaming to begin with. If he used the app, he would be roaming, incurring data charges. Can't tell if you didn't logically think this through or you are pumping your own app. When I goto US, from Canada, I use T-Mobile Sim for unlimited calling and data 3$ a day... If you are a US resident you have plenty of carrier options that cover unlimited entire North America coverage. Also the OP could have cached/saved the area in google maps or installed another GPS/navi software that has a offline map mode. Now to the article... Should have planned ahead. So many travel addons from carriers, using a SIM card from country you are traveling to... Which I know is available at the exact border crossing shops at the border that the OP went through
      - deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
    - sokoloff 12y ago
      Huh? I have a (physical) device called a FreedomPop. It is a local wifi hotspot that routes traffic over a mobile data network. And it's awesome for giving the middle-finger to overpriced hotel wifi services and the like. www.freedompop.com (I have no connection other than a very satisfied user). I'm so satisfied that I won't even post my affiliate code, lest someone think I'm shilling for my own benefit.
      - db48x 12y ago
        Or you could do exactly the same thing from your Android phone, provided you've rooted it. Installing Cyanogenmod makes it even easier (you won't need to download an app; the wifi access point is right in the settings), but isn't required.
        pjbrunet 12y ago
        I'm curious, what kind of data transfer rate do you need to get a solid call through? In the past when I tried to make WIFI calls through Google Voice "Hangout Dialer" the call quality was poor.
        db48x 12y ago
        For VOIP calls you don't need much bandwidth, but you do need low latency and low jitter. Both are pretty bad on cell-phone data connections, so it's rarely worth the bother. However, these comments are about providing a wifi hotspot that routes over the data connection rather than VOIP.
  - freehunter 12y ago
    I recently went to Mexico and was pleasantly surprised to get a text message telling me that roaming data and text was just fine and that calls would be billed at 10c per minute. The hotel I stayed at had wifi, so whenever I needed to make a call, I made sure my phone was connected to wifi. When it was, the carrier changed from Movistar to T-Mobile, and calls were unlimited just like I was in the US. The only way I would go back is if T-Mobile suddenly ceased to exist.
__xtrimsky 12y ago
I just buy an unlocked cell phone and buy a sim card for each country I go to. When I go to France, costs me 20 Euros for unlimited calls (including to the US), unlimited texts and 3Gb of data. What if someone wants to call me? If I'm abroad it's mostly for vacation, I can give my new number to family members wishing to contact me. If I can't do that? I still get texts and voicemails through Google Voice on my phone. And if needed I can enable calls through data on my phone using hangouts.
- mig39 12y ago
  Another great feature for local SIMs is that they are often "caller pay." So that if your family does want to call your French phone number from the USA, then they end up paying for the call, not you :-) I'm Canadian, and my first stop when driving into the USA is to stop at the first department store I come across and buy a T-mobile SIM. If they don't have any, I just buy the cheapest "burner" phone and take the SIM out and pop it into my iPhone.
cpwright 12y ago
I think the title understates one issue and overstates another. He had a $750 bill, because he had no data package. They were willing to settle it after the fact for the $30 15MB data package; which seems fairly reasonable. On the other hand, it seems that at the end he claims, and I don't know if it is true or not; that AT&T didn't bill him for his US usage for the hour prior; and then dumped all that into one bucket at the higher rate. I think this is a serious thing that really matters; if they are charging you for international data that is not actually international that is (in my mind) fraud. Proving that, is probably next to impossible for an individual.
- HCIdivision17 12y ago
  I was surprised as well. This looked exactly like how banks used to resolve transactions out of order to maximize fees. (And would spot you the overdraft for a modest fee; the practice got egregious enough congress got involved.) Hopefully this isn't a widespread practice, but I could imagine it easily be part of the shenanigans regularly played.
- sergers 12y ago
  Living close to the Canada US border this happens all the time. Op could have been at the border for an hour in the lineup roaming as the line can be several hours to get through at the US-can truck border crossing and/or the peace arch crossing they traveled through, need more details. My phone might pickup a cell tower in US while in Canada at home and I get hit with roaming... Just need to contact carrier and explain that you were not across border. There is a reason why your phone has turn off data when roaming options... For people who don't have roaming data plans so you don't accidently use roaming data.
  - newscloud 12y ago
    I'm the OP. I heard similar stories - a friend got an AT&T bill for $1200 after getting off a plane in Europe (from US) and turning it on for 1 minute. I'd bet my reputation that AT&T is bundling data packets across the border - and that this could be the basis of a big class action suit. In my case, I was driving northward from Oak Harbor to Vancouver. Roaming was off on my AT&T phone - so there should have been no intl data billed until I turned it on for that one minute.
doublerebel 12y ago
I travel back and forth to Canada all the time, and ATT makes a total mess of it. I've had all the Canada packages available for some years now, and they still regularly mess up billing -- I've had the Canada package disappear off my bill, and on other occasions been charged the wrong amount for the package or texts. It doesn't help that most of the CSRs are clearly untrained about the different packages -- I've spent hours on the phone undoing mistakes made on previous calls. Long story short, I'm finally switching to T-Mobile. After a couple near $1K bills it's clear roaming is pure profit for ATT -- T-Mobile's texts are free and basic data roaming is too. ATT still charges ~50c/msg. I'm going from ATT's 2 lines, 4GB total with Canada for ~$190 (typically more like $250-$300+) to T-Mobile's 2 lines, unlimited data and global roaming for $100 flat, no overage. It's a no-brainer.
gumby 12y ago
This is why I stick to my grandfathered unlimited data plan (even though it means I have no tethering feature) and switch off data roaming. It hurts me to do this -- I'd gladly change if the marginal costs weren't so horrific. But the idiotic carriers their noses to spite their faces: if they spent less work on generating billable events they'd probably get more revenue and spend less on overhead to get it. Bob Frankston estimates that 30% of network traffic is just managing the tollbooths!
fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
Obligatory, sort of related post from 2006. http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/2006/12/verizon-doesnt-know-dollars-from-cents.html http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/2006/12/verizon-doesnt-know-...
- paralelogram 12y ago
  "Teenager checking Facebook in Antigua runs up £9,000 phone bill": http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2353904/teenager-checking-facebook-in-antigua-runs-up-gbp9-000-phone-bill http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2353904/teenager-ch... "Woman hit with £12k holiday phone bill for downloading BBC sitcom": http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/517556/12k-holiday-phone-bill-download-BBC-sitcom http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/517556/12k-holiday-phone-bi... "VC’s mobile phone bill sets alarm bells ringing": http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/vcs-mobile-phone-bill-sets-alarm-bells-ringing/article6903561.ece http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/vcs-mobile-ph... "Alberta PC leadership hopeful Thomas Lukaszuk dialed up $20,000 in data roaming charges on 2012 international trip": http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/08/25/alberta-pc-leadership-hopeful-thomas-lukaszuk-dialed-up-20000-in-data-roaming-charges-on-2012-international-trip http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/08/25/alberta-pc-leadership-h... "Holidaymaker faced eviction after phone giant Orange took almost £1,000 from her bank account for bill she racked up by checking her emails in Thailand": http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2716750/Holidaymaker-faced-eviction-phone-firm-Orange-took-1-000-bank-account-bill-racked-checking-emails-Thailand.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2716750/Holidaymaker... "'Orange billed me £1,477 for £48 worth of data'": http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/household-bills/10886822/Orange-billed-me-1477-for-48-worth-of-data.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/household... "Arnaldo Brown’s million-dollar phone bill due to ‘roaming’": http://loopjamaica.com/2014/10/30/latest-jamaica-news-arnaldo-browns-million-dollar-phone-bill-due-to-roaming/ http://loopjamaica.com/2014/10/30/latest-jamaica-news-arnald...
jtheory 12y ago
This is about more than the rate, of course, but I was surprised to see that kind of cost for just crossing the Canadian border. For comparison -- my home carrier in France is SFR. In the UK or in the Netherlands (I haven't been elsewhere in Europe recently, but this is probably similar for other European countries as well) data roaming is 24 euro cents/MB. I do see data roaming rates more like AT&T's when I'm in Malaysia - 10 euros/MB (yeah, I get a local SIM). But that's far afield - not just driving into a neighboring country.
cvg 12y ago
This is crazy. International roaming is one reason I switched to T-Mobile. I recently traveled through Southeast Asia and had usable internet throughout Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam (looks like no more free internet in Vietnam). The internet was about 256-512 Kbps and was available even in rural locations. I also had access to my US number when I was on wifi - calls in and out. T-mobile coverage isn't perfect in the States, but overall pretty happy with the switch.
- chatmasta 12y ago
  I went to the same places and paid $5 for 7 days prepaid 3G. Got 10-20mbps at least.
  - cvg 12y ago
    That's the right way, but internet on landing was super convenient. I bought proper SIMs for the places I stayed longer than a few days, but did it outside the airport (cheaper and no lines) once I was settled in.
- jordanthoms 12y ago
  Yeah, it's great - but it's important to note that, despite the un-carrier moves, you only get that free data roaming with a post-paid plan. If you are on prepay and paying the exact same amount for the same service within the US, you'll still get charged the extortionate data prices when you roam (although you won't get a massive bill, it'll just stop when your credit runs out in a few seconds).
- danellis 12y ago
  > International roaming is one reason I switched to T-Mobile. It's nice that it doesn't cost any extra, but in my limited experience with it (in Canada and the UK), it is extremely slow. It's fine for having your phone picking up your mail, but things like Google Maps don't seem to work so well, and anything that involves uploading speech for recognition just seems to fail.
  - 12y ago
sehugg 12y ago
The EU is taking steps to abolish exorbitant roaming fees like these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_roaming_regulations#Proposal_to_abolish_all_roaming_charges http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_roaming_regulati...
- switch007 12y ago
  Great. I can't wait for domestic call charges and monthly fees to rise as a result.
jkot 12y ago
I got 6GB of maps, 22GB wiki snapshot, an several GB of talks and pdfs on my phone. Just buy sd card.
izacus 12y ago
Hmm, interesting - for comparison, here in EU the telco MUST disconnect your data after you burn through 50EUR worth of roaming charges and send you a notification (which is usually an SMS to which you reply if you want the data reenabled). Saved me and my family alot of money a few times when we forgot data roaming on and apps started downloading updates.
choppaface 12y ago
I had a similar experience but didn't have to pay. AT&T's i18n data system (the whole thing) is a piece of junk. * I unlocked my phone (iphone4S), went to Asia, and bought a SIM card for a local carrier. The SIM card didn't work because I had unlocked my phone the day before leaving, and AT&T claims they need 30 days to process unlock requests. * Fine. I bought AT&T's data roaming plan, and turned data on a few hours later once I confirmed AT&T had charged me. Data worked OK, though I couldn't get texts, and was therefore locked out of my work email which had text-based MFA. Alright. * I return to the US and promptly cancel the month-to-month i18n data plan. Phone behaves normally. * A full week after being back in the US, I get a text from AT&T saying my data is suspended for excess use. I call them (this is at 9pm and I'm trying to get dinner) and they drag me on for 45 minutes. Their system didn't recognize my i18n plan purchase and they wanted $700. Eventually they got an adjuster to drop the charge completely. Moral: even if you play AT&Ts games you'll still get burned. Request for Startup: a telecom customer service provider.
twsted 12y ago
Sad story, been there (in Europe). It is a legalized robbery. "They also were unable to document the bandwidth usage to any detail but this is partly understandable for privacy reasons." Ahahahahah
crazygringo 12y ago
I'll be honest, this is one of the reasons I use pre-paid (StraightTalk). It automatically deducts $50/mo., so it's just as convenient as a contract, but I know I can't be overbilled, because there is no bill. Only difference is, you pay at the start of the month instead of the end. Just the peace of mind, knowing that crazy charges can't happen because you have your phone on while abroad, is worth it.
ndomin 12y ago
Does anyone know what it actually costs a carrier to have you on roaming data? For example is AT&T being charged extra by the Canadian carrier for the data you use?
grecy 12y ago
This and many cases like it are now illegal in Canada thanks to the CRTC's new Wireless code of conduct. Among other things, overages are capped at $50. More details here : http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/12/02/wireless-code-of-conduct-crtc_n_4372436.html http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/12/02/wireless-code-of-con...
MichaelGG 12y ago
Ha! Fido.ca lists roaming data at over $6 per KB. I asked a rep and confirmed on my contract. So at 4G, that's about, what, $10,000-$30,000 per second?
- benguild 12y ago
  That is so outrageous. They clearly do this insane billing because it’s left over from the GPRS days, and it pushes people into the also overpriced plans. There needs to be some sort of legislation passed to limit this, but since it only matters internationally it’s a gray area and carriers are getting away with it.
wodenokoto 12y ago
I always wonder who is pocketing this money. In the simplest case you have two operators. You own (local) and the 'foreign'. In the simplest setup you would have a price structure that is foreign charge + local charge. What probably is inflating it is that both local and foreign operator charge a service charge, which is where the insane prices come into existence. So who are overcharging here? Both? My old company explicitly stated that international prices were foreign operator plus current charge, but the foreign operator prices were quite inflated compared to what friends in those countries were paying at the time.
nextweek2 12y ago
On the English coast, the white cliffs would sometime mean that you were not inline with an English tower but if the weather is right you could pick up a French telephone tower. Much to the annoyance to the local residence the telephone company would mark you as roaming and all data and calls for that day would be charged as international. I was caught out about 10 years ago, one would hope charging was more granular these days, however the roaming issue does still exist: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-21739029 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-21739029

94 points by martin_ 12y ago

pskittle 12y ago

If the OP is reading or anyone who travels internationally get Freedompop. It's almost free.

martin_ 12y ago
What about T-Mobile? http://www.t-mobile.com/simple-choice-international-plans.html http://www.t-mobile.com/simple-choice-international-plans.ht...
- pskittle 12y ago
  freedom pop is an app.
  - sergers 12y ago
    Op didn't have WiFi. This app requires mobile data or wifi this does not fix his problem because if he WiFi they wouldn't have been roaming to begin with. If he used the app, he would be roaming, incurring data charges. Can't tell if you didn't logically think this through or you are pumping your own app. When I goto US, from Canada, I use T-Mobile Sim for unlimited calling and data 3$ a day... If you are a US resident you have plenty of carrier options that cover unlimited entire North America coverage. Also the OP could have cached/saved the area in google maps or installed another GPS/navi software that has a offline map mode. Now to the article... Should have planned ahead. So many travel addons from carriers, using a SIM card from country you are traveling to... Which I know is available at the exact border crossing shops at the border that the OP went through
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
  - sokoloff 12y ago
    Huh? I have a (physical) device called a FreedomPop. It is a local wifi hotspot that routes traffic over a mobile data network. And it's awesome for giving the middle-finger to overpriced hotel wifi services and the like. www.freedompop.com (I have no connection other than a very satisfied user). I'm so satisfied that I won't even post my affiliate code, lest someone think I'm shilling for my own benefit.
    - db48x 12y ago
      Or you could do exactly the same thing from your Android phone, provided you've rooted it. Installing Cyanogenmod makes it even easier (you won't need to download an app; the wifi access point is right in the settings), but isn't required.
      - pjbrunet 12y ago
        I'm curious, what kind of data transfer rate do you need to get a solid call through? In the past when I tried to make WIFI calls through Google Voice "Hangout Dialer" the call quality was poor.
        db48x 12y ago
        For VOIP calls you don't need much bandwidth, but you do need low latency and low jitter. Both are pretty bad on cell-phone data connections, so it's rarely worth the bother. However, these comments are about providing a wifi hotspot that routes over the data connection rather than VOIP.
- freehunter 12y ago
  I recently went to Mexico and was pleasantly surprised to get a text message telling me that roaming data and text was just fine and that calls would be billed at 10c per minute. The hotel I stayed at had wifi, so whenever I needed to make a call, I made sure my phone was connected to wifi. When it was, the carrier changed from Movistar to T-Mobile, and calls were unlimited just like I was in the US. The only way I would go back is if T-Mobile suddenly ceased to exist.

__xtrimsky 12y ago

I just buy an unlocked cell phone and buy a sim card for each country I go to. When I go to France, costs me 20 Euros for unlimited calls (including to the US), unlimited texts and 3Gb of data. What if someone wants to call me? If I'm abroad it's mostly for vacation, I can give my new number to family members wishing to contact me. If I can't do that? I still get texts and voicemails through Google Voice on my phone. And if needed I can enable calls through data on my phone using hangouts.

mig39 12y ago
Another great feature for local SIMs is that they are often "caller pay." So that if your family does want to call your French phone number from the USA, then they end up paying for the call, not you :-) I'm Canadian, and my first stop when driving into the USA is to stop at the first department store I come across and buy a T-mobile SIM. If they don't have any, I just buy the cheapest "burner" phone and take the SIM out and pop it into my iPhone.

cpwright 12y ago

I think the title understates one issue and overstates another. He had a $750 bill, because he had no data package. They were willing to settle it after the fact for the $30 15MB data package; which seems fairly reasonable. On the other hand, it seems that at the end he claims, and I don't know if it is true or not; that AT&T didn't bill him for his US usage for the hour prior; and then dumped all that into one bucket at the higher rate. I think this is a serious thing that really matters; if they are charging you for international data that is not actually international that is (in my mind) fraud. Proving that, is probably next to impossible for an individual.

HCIdivision17 12y ago
I was surprised as well. This looked exactly like how banks used to resolve transactions out of order to maximize fees. (And would spot you the overdraft for a modest fee; the practice got egregious enough congress got involved.) Hopefully this isn't a widespread practice, but I could imagine it easily be part of the shenanigans regularly played.
sergers 12y ago
Living close to the Canada US border this happens all the time. Op could have been at the border for an hour in the lineup roaming as the line can be several hours to get through at the US-can truck border crossing and/or the peace arch crossing they traveled through, need more details. My phone might pickup a cell tower in US while in Canada at home and I get hit with roaming... Just need to contact carrier and explain that you were not across border. There is a reason why your phone has turn off data when roaming options... For people who don't have roaming data plans so you don't accidently use roaming data.
- newscloud 12y ago
  I'm the OP. I heard similar stories - a friend got an AT&T bill for $1200 after getting off a plane in Europe (from US) and turning it on for 1 minute. I'd bet my reputation that AT&T is bundling data packets across the border - and that this could be the basis of a big class action suit. In my case, I was driving northward from Oak Harbor to Vancouver. Roaming was off on my AT&T phone - so there should have been no intl data billed until I turned it on for that one minute.

doublerebel 12y ago

I travel back and forth to Canada all the time, and ATT makes a total mess of it. I've had all the Canada packages available for some years now, and they still regularly mess up billing -- I've had the Canada package disappear off my bill, and on other occasions been charged the wrong amount for the package or texts. It doesn't help that most of the CSRs are clearly untrained about the different packages -- I've spent hours on the phone undoing mistakes made on previous calls. Long story short, I'm finally switching to T-Mobile. After a couple near $1K bills it's clear roaming is pure profit for ATT -- T-Mobile's texts are free and basic data roaming is too. ATT still charges ~50c/msg. I'm going from ATT's 2 lines, 4GB total with Canada for ~$190 (typically more like $250-$300+) to T-Mobile's 2 lines, unlimited data and global roaming for $100 flat, no overage. It's a no-brainer.

gumby 12y ago

This is why I stick to my grandfathered unlimited data plan (even though it means I have no tethering feature) and switch off data roaming. It hurts me to do this -- I'd gladly change if the marginal costs weren't so horrific. But the idiotic carriers their noses to spite their faces: if they spent less work on generating billable events they'd probably get more revenue and spend less on overhead to get it. Bob Frankston estimates that 30% of network traffic is just managing the tollbooths!

fnordfnordfnord 12y ago

Obligatory, sort of related post from 2006. http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/2006/12/verizon-doesnt-know-dollars-from-cents.html http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/2006/12/verizon-doesnt-know-...

paralelogram 12y ago
"Teenager checking Facebook in Antigua runs up £9,000 phone bill": http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2353904/teenager-checking-facebook-in-antigua-runs-up-gbp9-000-phone-bill http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2353904/teenager-ch... "Woman hit with £12k holiday phone bill for downloading BBC sitcom": http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/517556/12k-holiday-phone-bill-download-BBC-sitcom http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/517556/12k-holiday-phone-bi... "VC’s mobile phone bill sets alarm bells ringing": http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/vcs-mobile-phone-bill-sets-alarm-bells-ringing/article6903561.ece http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/vcs-mobile-ph... "Alberta PC leadership hopeful Thomas Lukaszuk dialed up $20,000 in data roaming charges on 2012 international trip": http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/08/25/alberta-pc-leadership-hopeful-thomas-lukaszuk-dialed-up-20000-in-data-roaming-charges-on-2012-international-trip http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/08/25/alberta-pc-leadership-h... "Holidaymaker faced eviction after phone giant Orange took almost £1,000 from her bank account for bill she racked up by checking her emails in Thailand": http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2716750/Holidaymaker-faced-eviction-phone-firm-Orange-took-1-000-bank-account-bill-racked-checking-emails-Thailand.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2716750/Holidaymaker... "'Orange billed me £1,477 for £48 worth of data'": http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/household-bills/10886822/Orange-billed-me-1477-for-48-worth-of-data.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/household... "Arnaldo Brown’s million-dollar phone bill due to ‘roaming’": http://loopjamaica.com/2014/10/30/latest-jamaica-news-arnaldo-browns-million-dollar-phone-bill-due-to-roaming/ http://loopjamaica.com/2014/10/30/latest-jamaica-news-arnald...

jtheory 12y ago

This is about more than the rate, of course, but I was surprised to see that kind of cost for just crossing the Canadian border. For comparison -- my home carrier in France is SFR. In the UK or in the Netherlands (I haven't been elsewhere in Europe recently, but this is probably similar for other European countries as well) data roaming is 24 euro cents/MB. I do see data roaming rates more like AT&T's when I'm in Malaysia - 10 euros/MB (yeah, I get a local SIM). But that's far afield - not just driving into a neighboring country.

cvg 12y ago

This is crazy. International roaming is one reason I switched to T-Mobile. I recently traveled through Southeast Asia and had usable internet throughout Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam (looks like no more free internet in Vietnam). The internet was about 256-512 Kbps and was available even in rural locations. I also had access to my US number when I was on wifi - calls in and out. T-mobile coverage isn't perfect in the States, but overall pretty happy with the switch.

chatmasta 12y ago
I went to the same places and paid $5 for 7 days prepaid 3G. Got 10-20mbps at least.
- cvg 12y ago
  That's the right way, but internet on landing was super convenient. I bought proper SIMs for the places I stayed longer than a few days, but did it outside the airport (cheaper and no lines) once I was settled in.
jordanthoms 12y ago
Yeah, it's great - but it's important to note that, despite the un-carrier moves, you only get that free data roaming with a post-paid plan. If you are on prepay and paying the exact same amount for the same service within the US, you'll still get charged the extortionate data prices when you roam (although you won't get a massive bill, it'll just stop when your credit runs out in a few seconds).
danellis 12y ago
> International roaming is one reason I switched to T-Mobile. It's nice that it doesn't cost any extra, but in my limited experience with it (in Canada and the UK), it is extremely slow. It's fine for having your phone picking up your mail, but things like Google Maps don't seem to work so well, and anything that involves uploading speech for recognition just seems to fail.
- 12y ago

sehugg 12y ago

The EU is taking steps to abolish exorbitant roaming fees like these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_roaming_regulations#Proposal_to_abolish_all_roaming_charges http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_roaming_regulati...

switch007 12y ago
Great. I can't wait for domestic call charges and monthly fees to rise as a result.

jkot 12y ago

I got 6GB of maps, 22GB wiki snapshot, an several GB of talks and pdfs on my phone. Just buy sd card.

izacus 12y ago

Hmm, interesting - for comparison, here in EU the telco MUST disconnect your data after you burn through 50EUR worth of roaming charges and send you a notification (which is usually an SMS to which you reply if you want the data reenabled). Saved me and my family alot of money a few times when we forgot data roaming on and apps started downloading updates.

choppaface 12y ago

I had a similar experience but didn't have to pay. AT&T's i18n data system (the whole thing) is a piece of junk. * I unlocked my phone (iphone4S), went to Asia, and bought a SIM card for a local carrier. The SIM card didn't work because I had unlocked my phone the day before leaving, and AT&T claims they need 30 days to process unlock requests. * Fine. I bought AT&T's data roaming plan, and turned data on a few hours later once I confirmed AT&T had charged me. Data worked OK, though I couldn't get texts, and was therefore locked out of my work email which had text-based MFA. Alright. * I return to the US and promptly cancel the month-to-month i18n data plan. Phone behaves normally. * A full week after being back in the US, I get a text from AT&T saying my data is suspended for excess use. I call them (this is at 9pm and I'm trying to get dinner) and they drag me on for 45 minutes. Their system didn't recognize my i18n plan purchase and they wanted $700. Eventually they got an adjuster to drop the charge completely. Moral: even if you play AT&Ts games you'll still get burned. Request for Startup: a telecom customer service provider.

twsted 12y ago

Sad story, been there (in Europe). It is a legalized robbery. "They also were unable to document the bandwidth usage to any detail but this is partly understandable for privacy reasons." Ahahahahah

crazygringo 12y ago

I'll be honest, this is one of the reasons I use pre-paid (StraightTalk). It automatically deducts $50/mo., so it's just as convenient as a contract, but I know I can't be overbilled, because there is no bill. Only difference is, you pay at the start of the month instead of the end. Just the peace of mind, knowing that crazy charges can't happen because you have your phone on while abroad, is worth it.

ndomin 12y ago

Does anyone know what it actually costs a carrier to have you on roaming data? For example is AT&T being charged extra by the Canadian carrier for the data you use?

grecy 12y ago

This and many cases like it are now illegal in Canada thanks to the CRTC's new Wireless code of conduct. Among other things, overages are capped at $50. More details here : http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/12/02/wireless-code-of-conduct-crtc_n_4372436.html http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/12/02/wireless-code-of-con...

MichaelGG 12y ago

Ha! Fido.ca lists roaming data at over $6 per KB. I asked a rep and confirmed on my contract. So at 4G, that's about, what, $10,000-$30,000 per second?

benguild 12y ago
That is so outrageous. They clearly do this insane billing because it’s left over from the GPRS days, and it pushes people into the also overpriced plans. There needs to be some sort of legislation passed to limit this, but since it only matters internationally it’s a gray area and carriers are getting away with it.

wodenokoto 12y ago

I always wonder who is pocketing this money. In the simplest case you have two operators. You own (local) and the 'foreign'. In the simplest setup you would have a price structure that is foreign charge + local charge. What probably is inflating it is that both local and foreign operator charge a service charge, which is where the insane prices come into existence. So who are overcharging here? Both? My old company explicitly stated that international prices were foreign operator plus current charge, but the foreign operator prices were quite inflated compared to what friends in those countries were paying at the time.

nextweek2 12y ago

On the English coast, the white cliffs would sometime mean that you were not inline with an English tower but if the weather is right you could pick up a French telephone tower. Much to the annoyance to the local residence the telephone company would mark you as roaming and all data and calls for that day would be charged as international. I was caught out about 10 years ago, one would hope charging was more granular these days, however the roaming issue does still exist: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-21739029 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-21739029