Monumental mobile internet charges when abroad

fluffnutter

Hammyman wrote: »

No, just sick of people blaming others for their own stupidity and incompetence.

Not realising that smart phones connect automatically does not make you 'stupid' nor 'incompetent'. We're not born with knowledge, we have to acquire it.

If someone typically has a mobile phone bill of, say, £15 a month, goes abroad for a fortnight and comes home to a bill of £2000 or more, do you really think that the mobile phone provider's not going to work out that that customer's going to be a bit miffed? It's not an enormous leap from there to realising that that bill is probably not intentional.

There's legislation coming in which enables users to select the network that they want when going abroad instead of connecting automatically to whichever one has struck a deal with the UK provider (thus ensuring they all get a nice slice of the pie). This alone suggests to me that these charges are unreasonable, unfair and opaque.

Hammyman

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

Something really needs to be done about this though. Yes, people are responsible for their phone settings and usage abroad, but not everyone is tech savvy or sits on the internet reading up about data roaming.

RTFM.

Orange don't openly advertise that to avoid high charges you need to switch off roaming, instead it's "somewhere on the internet"... yeah easy to find IF you know what you're looking for.

Actually they do on the very pages where you can find out the costs.

I'm with O2 and every time I have left the country they switch off roaming for you. I get a text message saying data roaming has been switched off and how to switch it on if I need to.

Orange is not O2 and not all phones allow OTA disabling.

Hammyman

fluffnutter wrote: »

Not realising that smart phones connect automatically does not make you 'stupid' nor 'incompetent'. We're not born with knowledge, we have to acquire it.

Correct. And how do you think I found out about it, do you think I just magically knew? No, I did this little thing called READING THE MANUAL and checking costs before going abroad. So yes, you are stupid and incompetent if you don't bother to learn how to use the device that can cost you money if you don't use it correctly or for checking what it will cost.

And whilst there is legislation coming in, IT ONLY APPLIES WITHIN THE EU so again, people like the OP going to Turkey won't be covered and will still end up in the same mess BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T BE BOTHERED TO READ THE MANUAL OF THE PHONE OR THE INFORMATION FROM THEIR NETWORK PROVIDER.

Gordon_Hose

Hammyman wrote: »

Orange is not O2 and not all phones allow OTA disabling.

They should all be forced to IMO. They don't because they know they can catch the unwary out with it.

Reading the manual/the internet is all well and good, but there are still people out there who will skim read or not understand what it all means. There are people out there that will have read the manual, read the internet and still forget to switch data roaming off.

The fact still remains that operators freely allow their customers to run up massive bills abroad. Regardless of whether they read the manual or not.

Hammyman

Indeed. If I read up on the phone, check the website and do what I am told to do and still get a bill then it is the mobile phone networks fault.

If I am too stupid/lazy/bone idle to read the phone manual, check what the costs are on the website and do what is needed to do to ensure I don't use what I don't want to then it is entirely my fault, all of it. However, in addition to wanting the telcos to lock down everything so the stupid can't get themselves into trouble, these halfwits are wanting everyone else to pay for their incompetency as pay the rest of us will. Orange will have to pay the Turkish Telco what they are charged for the data and it will cost money to implement the changes these halfwits want and that cost will get passed on to the rest of us.

jamespir

simple solution is dont take your phone abroad

Gordon_Hose

Hammyman wrote: »

Indeed. If I read up on the phone, check the website and do what I am told to do and still get a bill then it is the mobile phone networks fault.

If I am too stupid/lazy/bone idle to read the phone manual, check what the costs are on the website and do what is needed to do to ensure I don't use what I don't want to then it is entirely my fault, all of it. However, in addition to wanting the telcos to lock down everything so the stupid can't get themselves into trouble, these halfwits are wanting everyone else to pay for their incompetency as pay the rest of us will. Orange will have to pay the Turkish Telco what they are charged for the data and it will cost money to implement the changes these halfwits want and that cost will get passed on to the rest of us.

It has nothing to do with being bone idle or lazy, it has everything to do with actually comprehending what it means. Like I said, some people aren't savvy when it comes to things like this.

It's an easy thing to foget to do when you're running around packing, making sure you have the passports, strapping the kids into the car etc. Operators should be more responsible and stop big bills being run up, it goes without saying that if someone's bill is £20 per month for 18 months, then all of a sudden it comes in at £2000, there's something wrong.

Hammyman

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

The fact still remains that operators freely allow their customers to run up massive bills abroad. Regardless of whether they read the manual or not.

Because they are not mind readers. The people are connected to a network that their UK network provider has no control over. The UK network operator doesn't know what the bill is until several days after THEY are sent the bill by the operator in that country. The reason they can do it in the EU is because the telcos are required to share the data pretty much in realtime however no such agreement exists outside of the EU which is why this is a problem with people who roam on data once they leave the EU.

So please tell me just how the hell that Orange would be able to know how much data the OP had used on a network they don't own, don't have access to and get sent the info days or weeks after usage when the local telco decides to send it?

At some point the user has to take responsibility. You and the other halfwits blaming the telco are typical of the responsibility shifting that is bringing this country to its knees. Everything is always someone elses fault isn't it?

Gordon_Hose

Hammyman wrote: »

Because they are not mind readers. The people are connected to a network that their UK network provider has no control over. The UK network operator doesn't know what the bill is until several days after THEY are sent the bill by the operator in that country.

So please tell me just how the hell that Orange would be able to know how much data the OP had used on a network they don't own, don't have access to and get sent the info days or weeks after usage when the local telco decides to send it?

At some point the user has to take responsibility. You and the other halfwits blaming the telco are typical of the responsibility shifting that is bringing this country to its knees.

I'm not BLAMING the telco, get down off your high horse and read what I'm posting. I'm saying they should take a little more responsibility. It's like a bank loaning someone £1m pounds when they have an income of £15k a year, then saying "well, we weren't to know he was going to default!"

I wouldn't get caught out this way because I know the pitfalls of data roaming. I also have an operator that would ALLOW me to run up a massive bill.

victor2

The Facebook generation generally don't read the manuals and wouldn't understand a lot of them if they did. Many don't even know what the internet is, never mind data roaming. They just live online, which they see as a global presence, and accept that using it abroad might cost a little more, as would making a call, but cannot comprehend a bill of £100's. Some of them actually use their mobiles to speak to other people too!