Charged for data roaming whist in England?!

cackfod

Hi,

I have recently been charged by vodafone for the amount of £139. This is because I work in Cumbria during the week and appreantly my phone detected signals from the Isle of Man.

I have rang them on many occasions and even rang to check when I first noticed this on my Vodafone app, they reasurred me that I would not get charged this amount and that the problem has been rectified.

Having being charged yesterday, the phone operators and one manager at vodafone insist that there is no error and that I have to pay the data roaming charges for November 2013, although I havent stepped foot off English soil for about 6 months.

What do i do next? is this wrong?

Thank you
Chris

Buzby

Your phone is guilty. As to what you do - you pay!

Radio signals can leap off coastlines, and if the IoM network provided connectivity, then they need to be paid. You need to ensure you have roaming turned OFF.

As you didn't it you'll select any valid available network. In Anglesey you get Irish networks, and the south coast CI and sometimes continental networks. As always, the user needs to be aware.

cackfod

I was not made aware of this at any point, if they told me to ignore it, surely im not liable to pay?

PasturesNew

Not just you - here's others: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/welcome-to-france-kent-villagers-hit-by-data-roaming-charges-after-phones-connect-to-french-mobile-networks-8529718.html

cackfod

I wonder if they're complaining as much as I am!

MataNui

Having roaming turned off may not have saved you these charges anyway. I do quite a bit of work in the channel islands. A few years ago when i had my iphone 3gs despite having data roaming turned off i would get data charges every time i was in Guernsey yet turning data roaming off worked in Spain and Greece. To avoid the charges i had to turn 'mobile data' off entirely then just enable it when i needed. This is what i have always done since so i have no idea if it was an iphone related problem or network related (the network was also vodafone). I think it is network related as you will notice the channel islands (and i bet the IOM is the same) the network is identified on the phone as 'vodafone' so you would never know you are roaming. In Spain and Greece it is not.

If the IOM network is the same as the channel islands you would never actually know you were connected to the mast there rather than one down the road so the roaming charges are unfair IMO but good luck arguing that with vodafone. I never got a penny back despite endless complaining.

cackfod

Yes it was only shown as vodafone for me as well. I just think it is totally unfair for them to do this, I assume the only way I can avoid these charges is by selecting vodafone uk instead of automatic network.

I am going to fight the case until the end because I was atleast 50 miles away from the IOM in england, it just doesnt make sense and I have lost complete trust in the company as I expect them not to do something like this.

Not good!

NFH

cackfod wrote: »

I have rang them on many occasions and even rang to check when I first noticed this on my Vodafone app, they reasurred me that I would not get charged this amount and that the problem has been rectified.

It appears that Vodafone's misleading advice caused you to make a transactional decision that you would not otherwise have taken (i.e. you continued using the phone in the same way), which would be a breach of Regulation 5(2)&(4)(g) of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

However, do also bear in mind consumers all over Europe (and the world) suffer roaming charges if they use their mobile phones near another country or territory without manually selecting their home network. Do you think that being in England makes yours a special case?

I believe that my first point overrides my second point, but you should nevertheless bear it in mind.

cackfod

Wow you're good! That is a good point that you've raised there as well, I did'nt think of that..

I do believe though that I should have been made aware of this and after realising that my bill was drastically increasing, vodafone should have advised me what to do, instead they reasurred me that I could carry on as normal, like you said.

john1

This is a very long shot which you may not want to take but unless you ask the answer is no.


As the signals originated in the Isle of Man and you were in England then I would suggest you also complain / correspond with The Isle of Man Communications Commission. See here. This Board has responsibility for the licensing and regulation of telecommunications and broadcasting on the Isle of Man.

I am aware that radio waves do not respect man made borders but with decent radio designers and planners this “spill over” can be reduced but not totally eradicated.

Working in Switzerland for Orange on the original network roll out (circa 1999), I was acutely aware of this problem and having to source and site antenna installations to minimise the cross border radiation whilst maintain domestic coverage was a nightmare at times.

I would suggest that if this roaming is happening on a regular basis (and not due Tropospheric propagation) then the Manx Telecom antenna radiation patterns need modifying to overcome this persistent problem.

It is also alleged that some operators “accidentally” increase coverage over sea areas /ferry routes to increase revenue from maritime users, but I'm sure that is not the case here.

Manx Telecom has a responsibility to “avoid harmful interference between radio stations of different countries” so it may be fruitful to approach the Communication Commission for their views.

NFH

john1 wrote: »

Working in Switzerland for Orange on the original network roll out (circa 1999), I was acutely aware of this problem and having to source and site antenna installations to minimise the cross border radiation whilst maintain domestic coverage was a nightmare at times.

Whenever I've been to Basel, it occurs to me that this must be a particular nightmare, where three countries meet at a tripoint in a populated area. With 3 Swiss, 4 French and 4 German networks, it must be a challenge for frequency allocation between the 11 networks, let alone preventing the signals from spilling over the borders.