Orange Data Roaming Charges of £700!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Julzanne

Hi folks, Im new here but im hoping you can give me some advice!

I returned from a weeks holiday to Turkey on Friday to a phone call from Orange advising that I had spent over £700 on data whilst over there!

Both my bf and I have the same iphone 3GS and both swithed our data roaming off as soon as we landed in Turkey. He is with O2. He recieved a text message the day we were coming home telling him he had spent £20 of data abroad and they were now suspending it. (Excellent service!)

Whilst abroad we both checked our e-mails maybe 3 times each on our phones and went on facebook twice for approx 5 mins a time.

We ensured Data Roaming was switched off immediately afterwards!!

Why could this have cost him £20 with O2 and cost me £700 with Orange?!?!

I am totally devastated and dont know what to do!!

Also, not sure if this is relevant atall but seems too much of a coinsedence- Apple suspended my AppleID for security reasons, telling me that someone had entered my password wrongly on numerous occasions-this wasnt me!

Please Help!!!!:(

ZenUK

Check your itemised bill online for breakdown.

Julzanne

They said they cant do anything to help me until my bill gets generated- which is on Saturday. But even if I do get an itemised bill, its their word against mine and surely thats not going to wash?

grumbler

Firstly, if you really switched data roaming on only three times, ask Orange for a daily statement of data roaming.
Secondly, identical phones can have different apps that can start consuming data without asking you as soon as you switch the data on.
And finally you could have checked in advance that Orange charge £8/Mb :eek: without any cap while O2 charge £6 with £40 default cap. 1Mb is a very small amount of data.

Having said that, I remember reading in the past that some iPhones were faulty and kept using data even with data roaming switched off. Try searching the board.

notafan

Didnt the EU pass that bit of legislation a couple of months back to make all operators cap data roaming at £40?

I thought you had to actually opt out of that £40 cap for them to let you spend over.

This might be worth checking out as i'm not 100% sure when the law kicked in but i'm with orange and i remember something been said about it when i was away a few months ago

As to why you've used more data then you thought some apps can turn it back on (so if you've used an app it might have requested data access and turned the data thing back on). It was a known issue i think even apple looked into it - i don't have a link but if you google data used whilst switched off i'm sure you'll get plenty back.

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/networking/2010/03/02/european-data-roaming-caps-come-into-force-40064624/

Have a look at that see if it helps.

I'm don't think you'd get out of it because of an app turning on data though you'll maybe limit to the cap if you haven't opted out.

Also if you argue it out with orange there are a few stories of them reducing it.

Hope that helps a little bit

edit - just realised Turkey isnt EU (not yet anyway) so might not apply at all.

GRM

notafan wrote: »

Didnt the EU pass that bit of legislation a couple of months back to make all operators cap data roaming at £40?

Only for roaming within the EU.

Theocritis

Hi, I have had exactly the same experience. I arrived back from Bodrum this morning and found my calls had been blocked. I rang Orange and they said my bill was currently £793!

I too switched to airplane mode, switched off roaming and location services. I switched off airplane mode to talk to my husband - once or twice a day for around 10-15 minutes. I did surf the web, but for no more than 15-20 minutes each day.

I didn't download any emails at all.

I am totalling stunned, this is more than my mortgage payments. I am at a complete loss as to what to do.

I received a text from Orange when I first arrived, which I unfortunately deleted this morning, I'm sure it set the data charged at £1.37 per mb.

If I had known at the £8 charge, I wouldn't have even taken my phone abroad with me.

I explained to Orange that I spent 3 weeks in Australia last year, calling home everyday and using the internet, and my bill was around £200. I asked how in camparison they could possibly charge almost £800 for a week in Turkey - they were unable to answer, just gave the same reply that you had, I should check the bill when it arrives.

Orange have blocked my 'phone and my internet account, and so I can't even see at present how the charges have accrued to date.

Distraught of Birmingham!

macman

20 mins per day is 140mins over 7 days, at £8 per MB that adds up pretty fast, depending on what you were doing online.

Jon_01

Theocritis wrote: »

I explained to Orange that I spent 3 weeks in Australia last year, calling home everyday and using the internet, and my bill was around £200. I asked how in camparison they could possibly charge almost £800 for a week in Turkey - they were unable to answer, just gave the same reply that you had, I should check the bill when it arrives.

Orange have blocked my 'phone and my internet account, and so I can't even see at present how the charges have accrued to date.

Distraught of Birmingham!

Its the network you're roamingon that set the price not your home network over here. Australia aren't too bad, but the networks in Turkey (Turknet, I think) regard it a money spinner and change the maximum they can...

nobby24

I'm with O2 and whenever I go abroad, as soon as I arrive in a foreign country I get a text from O2 advising me about charges and how to disable data roaming etc. I can only assume other networks don't do this?

mrcamp

The moment you switch data roaming on, anything that's been waiting to download, that normally does when at home, will start downloading instantly. And that will add up quickly.

Theocritis, 15 - 20 mins of data roaming at atrocious rates will add up quickly. So, a £793 bill should not be a surprise at all. Data roaming outside the EU is insanely expensive. DO NOT do it unless you are ready to pay a large bill!