Yet another data roaming bill query!

J_B

(sorry!)

Went to France for 6 days so bought a 10Mb data roaming bundle from Orange for my i-phone.
Switched off data roaming and just used it when I needed to. Used very little in the first 4 days, then used it when we got lost in Paris.
Got back home and see that I've used loads!

Confusingly, my 10Mb bundle only allows 6.666Mb and I then used an extra 10!!! which cost me £31.66

When I bought it I got the text to say 'if you want to exceed the EU limit, just call us' which I didn't.
When I've bee abroad before, I've had a text to say 'you've nearly exceeded your limit', but this time, nothing!

I phoned Orange and suggested that, as I'd only ordered a 10Mb bundle, they shouldn't have let me use more, but their take was that they don't know how much use there's been till 'a long time after' (which I know is bull, but didn't argue). I tried to get her to convert my use to a back-dated bundle, but she wouldn't budge. Maybe she was just having a bad day.

Take it on the chin, or try and call again (business contract/sim only)
???

Guys_Dad

As I understand it - and please anyone feel free to correct me - if you don't take any action, then the EU cap applies and that's about £44.

If you buy a bundle, then the cap is removed and there is none applied.

That seems pretty sly in my book and it is compounded by the fact that Orange have one of the highest £ per mb charge for roaming data.

Personally, I wouldn't use Orange overseas or an Iphone either as I have seen too many threads on here about Iphones in particular gobbling data all the time. Remember that the Iphone is 100% American where telecomms are cheap and, just like their cars of the 50s and 60s, they are profligate with the gas !

Rusty!

Actually American telecoms aren't cheap.

You pay through the nose for the handsets, then again for contract.

J_B

Guys_Dad wrote: »

If you buy a bundle, then the cap is removed and there is none applied.

I think you are incorrect there.

NFH

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Personally, I wouldn't use Orange overseas or an Iphone either as I have seen too many threads on here about Iphones in particular gobbling data all the time.

You're right. I am an Orange UK customer and when I spent 4 days in Belarus with my iPhone last month, I got a local SIM card from MTS and removed my Orange SIM card. I had a reasonable number of outgoing and incoming calls and text messages and also used a reasonable amount of data. Despite being prepaid, MTS gave me a fully itemised bill, which listed all the data I used as well as every outgoing and incoming call and text. The total bill over 4 days cost me £1.56. I imported the bill into Excel and calculated how much the same usage would have cost using an Orange UK SIM card. It would have been a whopping £1,237.38. How can Orange justify such outrageous roaming charges?

Guys_Dad

J_B wrote: »

I think you are incorrect there.

Have a look here.

http://business.orange.co.uk/home/soletrader/plans/roaming-and-international-plans/occasional-bundles

I know that this is a business users' page, but I believe there is a similar one for consumers too - it says

you'll only be charged the bundle fee each day you use data - so if you don't use, you don't pay

once your daily 30MB allowance has been used up, costs revert to £2.55/MB for EU and £5.50 for ROW countries (World Select, Rest of World and Rest of World +)

the bundle will last up until midnight of that same day (local time)
all you need to do is buy it more than 24 hours before you travel, and we'll take care of the rest

If this is still current, then it's why I believed that my post was accurate. See what you think.

Edit:-

Just found this here http://www.orange.co.uk/roaming/eu-data-limit.html#6

6. What happens if I have a Travel Data bundle on my account?

If you have a Travel Data bundle with an allowance over the EU data limit (e.g. over 16MB if you are a Pay Monthly customer or over 12MB if you’re a Pay As You Go customer), the EU data limit does not apply.

N.B. the EU data limit does apply if you have a Travel Data bundle that is less than 16MB on Pay Monthly or 12MB on Pay As You Go.

Not got a bundle? Find out more on the Costs and bundles page

J_B

Guys_Dad wrote: »

6. What happens if I have a Travel Data bundle on my account?

If you have a Travel Data bundle with an allowance over the EU data limit (e.g. over 16MB if you are a Pay Monthly customer or over 12MB if you’re a Pay As You Go customer), the EU data limit does not apply.

Point taken, but, the bundle I bought was a 10Mb one, so, the above won't apply.

Guys_Dad

Two other points from the Orange Web site.

What if I don’t want to limit the data I use when abroad?

It's easy to remove – just text “YES“ to 386.

N.B. If the EU data limit is removed from your account, it stays removed unless you ask us to add it again.

Now I don't know if the N.B. applies if you have verbally requested the limit being lifted.

Over what period does the EU data limit measure my data use?

Your use will be measured on a calendar month basis, so your MB limit will reset on the 1st of every month.

So it's not related to your billing period.

However, things are changing.

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/roaming/regulation/archives/current_rules/index_en.htm

Euro-data tariff introduced: from 1 July 2012, using mobile internet costs no more than 70 cents per MegaByte (excluding VAT).

Measures to counter data roaming bill shocks: as of 1 July 2012, travellers' data-roaming limit will be automatically set at 50€ also when they travel outside the EU (unless they have chosen another limit – higher or lower)

Looks like the bundle charges previously in force will be illegal.