MSE News: iPhone users still hit by surprise data roaming charges

Sparx

I went to Lanzarote in July earlier this year with my iPhone 4S on Orange and had no issues.

I turned off; Data Roaming, 3G and Mobile Data. Didn't have a penny extra on my bill the following month! I also used the hotel's WiFi often around the area and it worked perfectly, again never affected my following month's phone bill.

Roland_Sausage

I consider myself to be a very technical and savvy user - interested in mobile phones and computers and how they work - and had initially dismissed this article as user error.

The combination of mobile data ON / data roaming OFF has always served me well in the past.

However, I have now experienced a glitch of my own which has made me reconsider my viewpoint. I am in Spain at the moment, and the other day I sent a message to my Dad who also has an iPhone. Since I was out and about with no wifi connection it sent as SMS as I would have expected. However, he replied a few minutes later, and the incoming message shows on my screen as an iMessage. Obviously I would require a data connection to receive an iMessage which I did not have at the time.

So either there is a glitch in the interface and I did in fact receive an SMS and the phone has just labelled it incorrectly. Or the phone did use a data connection despite data roaming being off. I guess I will find out when I get the next bill!

Using (iOS 6.0.1)

NFH

Caddyman wrote: »

Mmm, not quite as simple as you think in South Africa. Every sim card has to be registered to a name and address under their RICA law.

I have a RICA-registered Vodacom SIM card, and I haven't even been to South Africa yet. RICA really isn't the big hurdle that many people perceive it to be.

NFH

Roland_Sausage wrote: »

Since I was out and about with no wifi connection it sent as SMS as I would have expected. However, he replied a few minutes later, and the incoming message shows on my screen as an iMessage. Obviously I would require a data connection to receive an iMessage which I did not have at the time.

Very interesting. I've noticed another bug with iMessage in the opposite of this scenario. I have "Send as SMS"=off, but if I send an iMessage to someone and the data connection fails at my end, my Send button turns from blue to green after I tap it and it sends as SMS instead. This incurs an unexpected charge for SMS when sending internationally or if the sender is roaming. It seems that the "Send as SMS" option is relevant only when there are connectivity problems at the recipient's end, not at the sender's end.

Richard_T_

Caddyman wrote: »

Mmm, not quite as simple as you think in South Africa. Every sim card has to be registered to a name and address under their RICA law. I visit SA often and I'm lucky enough to have plenty of friends who give me access to email. I just put a message on my own mobile to say I can't take any voice calls and leave it in aircraft mode or switch it off so I don't receive calls on it from the UK. Very liberating!

Another solution would be to get a UK pay as you go sim, set it up to top up from a credit card.
In the case of vodafone payg I had to first do this in the UK and then i could top up abroad using the same method.
Next put your contract sim into an old phone that doesnt use data ( you may need a micro sim/nano sim adaptor ) if required you can still receive texts ( free of charge) in the case of some operators such as T mobile make sure that you turn off voicemail.

Next use the pay as you go card while aborad with a small amount of credit on board, if you can get a local sim then thats the best route to go down, if not then top up your UK pay as you go sim as and when required that way you can only spend what you put in, and you wont get any surprises when your next bill arrives.

In some cases its cheaper to send a short text only email as a reply to a text (sms) than it is to reply via text sms, as a short email only uses a tiny amount of data, again make sure that your email system on your phone doesnt automaticlay check emails.

NFH

Richard_T_ wrote: »

Another solution would be to get a UK pay as you go sim, set it up to top up from a credit card.

If you're going to South Africa, then you should get a South African PAYG SIM, not a UK one, otherwise you'll still be paying roaming charges, albeit with a very controllable cap.

A Vodafone UK PAYG SIM is suitable when a local SIM card is not viable, for example you're visiting many countries in one day (e.g. driving across Europe) or local SIM cards don't exist (e.g. aircraft on-board services).

Sparx

Roland_Sausage wrote: »

I consider myself to be a very technical and savvy user - interested in mobile phones and computers and how they work - and had initially dismissed this article as user error.

The combination of mobile data ON / data roaming OFF has always served me well in the past.

However, I have now experienced a glitch of my own which has made me reconsider my viewpoint. I am in Spain at the moment, and the other day I sent a message to my Dad who also has an iPhone. Since I was out and about with no wifi connection it sent as SMS as I would have expected. However, he replied a few minutes later, and the incoming message shows on my screen as an iMessage. Obviously I would require a data connection to receive an iMessage which I did not have at the time.

So either there is a glitch in the interface and I did in fact receive an SMS and the phone has just labelled it incorrectly. Or the phone did use a data connection despite data roaming being off. I guess I will find out when I get the next bill!

Using (iOS 6.0.1)

No, that's your fault.. You had 'Mobile Data' ON..

In my earlier post I mentioned I went to Lanzarote (Spain) and a lot of my friends plus my mum have iPhones who I sent a few texts to during my holiday. Never had any massive charges as I had Data Roaming, 3G and Mobile Data all switched off..

Richard_T_

NFH wrote: »

If you're going to South Africa, then you should get a South African PAYG SIM, not a UK one, otherwise you'll still be paying roaming charges, albeit with a very controllable cap.

A Vodafone UK PAYG SIM is suitable when a local SIM card is not viable, for example you're visiting many countries in one day (e.g. driving across Europe) or local SIM cards don't exist (e.g. aircraft on-board services).

The best option is a Local Sim card if your after data ( and possibly voice as well), however depending upon your destination or what you are doing once you get there these are not always possible to get hold of. I was in Holland last year, flying into Amsterdam, and although there is an airport shop it was not possible to visit it Likewise i was also unable to get to a town centre/shop to buy a local sim for some days, by which time it wouldnt have been worth the cost.

Mmm, not quite as simple as you think in South Africa. Every sim card has to be registered to a name and address under their RICA law

chattychappy

If this were another industry, the obvious advice would be that the product is unreliable and consider an alternative.

I appreciate that people might be on contracts, so can't do this right away. But Androids are increasingly cheap to buy - and compared with the risk of bill shock might be worth considering. I have used an HTC Desire and Samsung Galaxy S2 around the world. Never had this problem.

Guy Anker writes "I love my iPhone and Apple's customer service, but I don't like Apple's unwillingness to address this issue at a senior level". I struggle with this. Best not to love any consumer durable.. or at least know when it's time to reconsider the relationship!

Roland_Sausage

Sparx wrote: »

No, that's your fault.. You had 'Mobile Data' ON..

I think the whole point of the article is that the iPhone is designed so it should be fine to to have mobile data ON as long as you have data roaming OFF, however it is potentially not working as intended and that is why people are getting stung.

Regardless, I am now back in the UK and having checked my unbilled usage with Three, it is showing call and text charges, but £0.00 for data. Therefore it must have been an SMS I received and some glitch caused the phone to show it as an iMessage.