DFDS Ferry - Be very careful using your mobile phone

TBeckett100

Dear All,

When travelling on DFDS out of Dover on Saturday I bought an internet pass online via my mobile network provider. However, after I bought it (it was £5 and gives me a day's unlimited browsing abroad) I then started receiving text messages advising me that 5 minutes of facebooking (ironic as i couldnt actually update anything) cost £30.

It turns out that my phone had hooked itself onto a norweigen system run by DFDS which closcked up the extortionate charges. I will of course be in touch with them over their Maritime Com system, but just a heads up that as it is a Norweigen system, it wont be covered and the charges are horrendous.

DFDS in my view are not explicit about this and therefore people who openly surf the net having latched on will face a very hefty bill.

vuvuzela

TBeckett100 wrote: »

Dear All,

When travelling on DFDS out of Dover on Saturday I bought an internet pass online via my mobile network provider. However, after I bought it (it was £5 and gives me a day's unlimited browsing abroad) I then started receiving text messages advising me that 5 minutes of facebooking (ironic as i couldnt actually update anything) cost £30.

It turns out that my phone had hooked itself onto a norweigen system run by DFDS which closcked up the extortionate charges. I will of course be in touch with them over their Maritime Com system, but just a heads up that as it is a Norweigen system, it wont be covered and the charges are horrendous.

DFDS in my view are not explicit about this and therefore people who openly surf the net having latched on will face a very hefty bill.

I've a few questions here, but will start with a basic one, what exactly was the 'Internet pass' that you bought ?

peachyprice

Are you sure this is the fault of DFDS?

When crossing the channel with my o2 sim when you're out of range for both UK mobile and French mobile connections it will connect to Inmarsat. This has nothing to do with the ferry company I am using it's an o2 roaming thing.

vyle

Some questions:

1) Were you buying the ferry's wifi pass, or actually buying some internet browing time through your mobile data provider, which is something you could use anywhere in the uk?

2) If it was a wifi pass, did you make sure that your mobile data connection was switched off to ensure that you didn't default onto mobile data should you lose a wifi connection?

3) Had you switched off data roaming?

4) are you on PAYG or a contract?

shaun_from_Africa

vuvuzela wrote: »

I've a few questions here, but will start with a basic one, what exactly was the 'Internet pass' that you bought ?

Probably something such as this

http://blog.three.co.uk/2012/06/12/introducing-the-euro-internet-pass/

System

This sounds like the pass 3 offers. It's £5 a day and let's you have unlimited Internet in certain European countries.

What I suspect happened is originally you were picking up the roaming from an eligible country then as the ship moved and changed position you started to pick up your signal from a different country (Norway) which wasn't covered by the pass.

If this is the case I don't think it's DFDS's fault and I doubt you'll get the money back.

I would have not ignored the texts you received. You get them for a reason!

lammy82

It sounds like the OP's phone connected to the ship's on-board mobile service (http://www.mcp.com/customers/passenger/).

Your phone will have connected to this and would have displayed the name of the network so you can see who you are connected to.

I'm not sure exactly which pass you bought but presumably it would have come with a list of exactly which operators in which countries it is valid with, and it doesn't include the MCP network offered on the ship.

But yes I think DFDS should make it clear that they are providing mobile reception on board and that it may be charged at a higher rate than 'normal' international roaming or be excluded from offers etc.

The thing with international roaming is that the prices are set by negotiation between the different mobile operators involved (i.e. your phone's own network and the network you are logging in to) so it's not like they can just stick a price list up on the boat.

Hope this helps.