iPhone roaming charges - please help.

macman

Your AV (and Windows Updates) should be set to download and install automatically.

Any

grumbler wrote: »

Does Windows ask you before downloading updates several times a week? And even if it does, how does it know that the new updates are available before asking you?

Good point..
Not sure about Windows, actually I don't think Windows ever asked me or told me anything...

Any

I can see now how people with knowledge of computers inside out would realise immediately that the phone is consuming data even though not in use....
But you can see from my limited knowledge that not everyone would have realised that immediately.. I thought that phone only connects to the internet when I ask it to, like good old dial up.. It can happen!! It's a phone!! Even though Smart:-))

macman

The Windows Updates default is to download and install updates automatically. And I can't recall my antivirus ever asking me if I wanted it to get daily updates.

2sides2everystory

robt wrote:

Don't make this out to be an iPhone problem.

Why not? The impression I have gained is that it might be. I pay the bills on two iPhones. They are loaded guns and it is very easy to make an expensive mistake. If you are the type of customer who doesn't know what the safety catch is or where the safety catch is and may have flipped it (or flipped one of two or three) and who does not know that an iphone is a loaded gun pointing at your wallet then it is far too easy to go on holiday and think you are using WiFi and find out far too late that you were not.

Even if you do know a little about the dangers, it is stilll too easy to make an expensive mistake.

With 3 mobile's offer it is quite easy (if you are mildly technically savvy) to quickly login to the My3 Account page before and after any new type of usage e.g. you've found a WiFi bar you will use for the duration of the holiday, or you have tired Skype calling via Wifi (you hope!) for the first time this holiday. You check your data usage as you go until you are sure you are in control. True if you are roaming then it costs a little in data charges to check, but it is a useful feature nevertheless. If using a browser like Opera then it is a doddle to switch off image downloads so this type of preventative data usage checking can actually be relatively cheap and may quickly pay for itself in reduced hassle when the bill lands on the doormat when you get home. Mistakes get picked up much faster if you check as you go to begin with. Does Safari easily let you turn off image downloads?

Another safeguard I benefit from results from me personally using an older Windows Mobile 6.1 phone. Built into the operating system it seems to have standard error messages utilised by many apps when the program calls to open a data connection whilst roaming "No free internet connection available - do you wish to proceed? If you thought you were using WiFi then that error condition is a dead giveaway that something is wrong and you must not proceed until you make sure data roaming is switched off one way or another. I don't know if later Windows Mobiles phones have the same feature but I imagine so.

It is true that reports of massive overcharges are not restricted to iPhone, but iPhone was certainly problematic in earlier versions as it was well recognised that the OS was not at all intuitive for even a technically savvy person to easily be able to turn off data-roaming. From what I have experienced (in mistakes I have had to deal with in my iphone bills) and reading constantly about three and four figure nightmares on MSE, I have rightly or wrongly formed the impression that iphones and Orange figure disproportionately in the stories.

Any

macman wrote: »

The Windows Updates default is to download and install updates automatically. And I can't recall my antivirus ever asking me if I wanted it to get daily updates.

Well done you then!!
I know that now too when you told me.

O.K., I already admited it - I don't know that much about computers!!
I know how to use them, expert over excel spreadsheets, but I do not know anything about Windows update!!

Edit: And that brings me to another point - even if I did know about Windows update connecting whenever it wants, if I take my laptop to caribean it is not going to connect itself to foreign network and spend 800 quit on my behalf, so I am not sure that I would put 2 and 2 together even then!!

robt_2

2sides2everystory wrote: »

Why not?

I already explained why, but you decided not to quote that part of my post.

Users are at fault. Not the phones.

macman

Any wrote: »

Well done you then!!
I know that now too when you told me.

O.K., I already admited it - I don't know that much about computers!!
I know how to use them, expert over excel spreadsheets, but I do not know anything about Windows update!!

Edit: And that brings me to another point - even if I did know about Windows update connecting whenever it wants, if I take my laptop to caribean it is not going to connect itself to foreign network and spend 800 quit on my behalf, so I am not sure that I would put 2 and 2 together even then!!

But most people would know that if they have a smartphone and it allows roaming, then the data charges on roaming are going to be steep. The charges are not hidden, they're clearly stated on the network operators websites.

Any

macman wrote: »

But most people would know that if they have a smartphone and it allows roaming, then the data charges on roaming are going to be steep. The charges are not hidden, they're clearly stated on the network operators websites.

????
I also know that roaming is expensive, as I said, I just didn't know I am roaming when I am not actually using it!!

Call roaming is also expensive, but only if you call!

macman

Most smartphone owners would surely know that a data connection is always 'on', unless switched off. Little point in having such a phone otherwise.