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Data Roaming Charges when Data Roaming is turned OFF - o2 UK

Recently I was stuck in Barcelona for work thanks to the Icelandic volcano which closed international airspace. The iPhone was an absolute godsend: Barcelona's free citywide wifi service kept us abreast of travel disruptions. When I returned to the UK, I found that I had been charged by my service provider o2 for "mobile internet browsing and downloads." Given that I had international roaming switched off at all times, I queried the charge.

Here's the bit you may not be aware of it. I was told the following, verbatim, by a member of staff at o2's "iPhone department":

*"o2 advises iPhone users who are abroad always to switch off their wifi connections after every use, even when connected to free wifi, because sometimes this can turn roaming on and incur charges."*

I was not aware that this was an issue with the iPhone. Having owned it since version one and travelled widely in the US and Europe, I had not experienced this "problem" before.

So: 1) is this information accurate? And 2) if it is not, is Apple happy that an international partner is propagating this nonsense?

Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on May 17, 2010 7:12 AM

36 replies

Chris...

Level 1

85 points

Sep 1, 2010 9:04 AM in response to drspk

I'm with Vodafone and only use my iPhone 3GS on WiFi yet despite Cellular Data switched off it still caught me with a £180 bill for data usage when out of range of the wifi!

The only way I can prevent my phone using the cellular data is to delete the network addresses in General/Network/

This is an iPhone OS 4.x fault as I've not had this problem with earlier OS's.
Vodafone took my money despite my protests.
Not happy.

North20

Level 1

8 points

Nov 23, 2010 8:29 AM in response to Chris...

I have recently returned from a week in Malta and had data roaming switched off on my 3GS. I have just received a message to say that I have reached the £20 midway point for data roaming!!! I have contacted O2 and they are doing a network check to see if that shows up anything. This, however, is not the first time that this has happened to me. On a previous occasion, I got data charges with data roaming turned off and O2 refunded me. This should not be happening. If you switch data roaming off you should not incur data roaming charges. You follow the official advice and end up with a problem. Think what a state we would be in if all the other things we switch off suddenly decided to operate a potluck system on whether they did!!! Someone - carrier or Apple - need to be ensuring that off means off!

Jan 13, 2011 7:43 AM in response to drspk

I have suffered from this too. I phoned for advice on avoiding roaming charges, because of the new EU regulations. I carefully kept Data switched off throughout a week long trip to the US in October 2010. I now have a £250 data bill for that period.

O2 have "intimated user error in settings" - but I see on their discussion lists that others have complained of the same thing and been refunded.

Any advice on what to do or what might have caused this? O2 have denied that connecting to free WiFi can switch on roaming, so I would sure like to know the original source for drspk's information.....

jjtg5

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0 points

Jan 17, 2011 4:10 AM in response to drspk

Stay away from the Hilton Heathrow.... 3 days, $240 roaming charge.... Data Roaming off, connected 3 times to an allegedly "Free Wi-Fi" network. ATT actually shut my data roaming off because of excessive charges. Query AT&T with above... so sorry.... NOT HAPPY

Jan 20, 2011 4:16 PM in response to drspk

I too turned data roaming off when in Portugal on both my Work iPhone 4 and my sons iPhone 4, we both got text plans and simply used the macbook and bought internet time for that with our room. At every free wifi site I was also unable to access WIFI it would simply reroute me back to a sign in screen. The one exception was a modern hotel in Evora where the hotels free lobby wifi worked for about 20 minutes. Upon return home I received a $1,200.00 bill for roaming charges of about 15 minutes which coincides with the date and time of the "free wifi". Bell states I used roaming despite the fact that I repeatedly explained this is not true. They also charged my sons cell for text messages at .75cents each despite the plan which we purchased pre travel which is recorded on the same bill. This latter charge on his phone Bell said they corrected but to date it still appears as a charge. They must be aware of this issue and how do you protect yourself? Do you need to rent another phone for travel as the iphone simply will access data regardless? Clearly phone companies selling you iPhones know this and should be advising people of this problem particularly as I called Bell for travel plan advice prior to leaving.

Jul 14, 2011 6:43 AM in response to Chris...

Hi Chris

Thought I would just give you a quick insite to your post on Data roaming. I am an ex-employee of a phone company you mentioned and there is an issue at the moment with certain phones certain even if data roaming is turned off the foreign networks poll your phone. Best explained like receiving a spam text as soon as you reply you then in their eyes signed up for a service. Some phones although data roaming is off poll from the networks and the phones seem to send and receive data that’s not visible but charged.

I went to OZ over a year ago and once a day logged into facebook for 5minutes and logged out and took data roaming off. Its also some apps land social network sites are allowed to poll your position which again is charged info. The networks don’t seem to be taking customers seriously as I had a £1,200 bill in 3 weeks. As I worked there I knew how to sort it when I got back. Drop me a reply with your email addy as I believe you should be able to get all your money back its just knowing where to go.

Sep 18, 2011 6:23 AM in response to inmyshadow

I'm an O2 customer...I recently had a charge to my phone with Data Roaming off while in Jamaica. This is what they said:

"If you were using Wi-Fi while abroad and the connection

drops/disconnects (even if the data roaming is switched off), your

iPhone will automatically switch to a data (3G, EDGE, GPRS) connection.

You'll be charged for the data usage at the rate applicable in the

country, you're visiting."

and

"Some data applications and data functions including email updates will

still work in the background even if the iPhone data roaming is switched

off but not in direct physical use by you and this data roaming usage

would appear as it is working on the device without any warning.

The device could be using data that you don't necessarily know is being

used, for example, embedded rich content in emails can generate

significant volumes of data both ways. The email application is a likely

source of most of that data usage."

So switching data roaming off, doesn't actually do that. Very odd!

I've been travelling with the phone since I've had it (3 years) and never been charged before. Why now?

Oct 26, 2011 2:39 PM in response to drspk

I'm relieved to discover so many people have had the same, or similar experience as me. I have an iPhone 4. On two occasions after overseas visits (one to India, one to Spain) 02 charged me small amounts for data roaming even though my iPhone 4 was switched off ...... it was in the middle of the night, and I'd been asleep for hours. I always put it in airplane mode and turn off data roaming as I leave home, so shouldn't be any problem.

The first time it happened i spoke to 02 who refunded the money, "as a goodwill gesture", whilst adding that i must have mistakenly switched data roaming on. The second time, no refund and again, it was my error. Now I've read so much on this forum and others, i realise that 02 know there's a problem and are just trying to fob us off with a "nothing to do with me, guv" attitude.

A lot of posts on various forums recommend deleting the APN content so shall do that and switch from 02 to another provider when my contract runs out. Enough is enough. If i get big charges another time, i'll see them in Court!

Seet99

Level 1

0 points

Dec 5, 2011 1:02 PM in response to inmyshadow

Hey Inmyshadow, I'm so glad I found this site. I too have been stung with huge data roaming charges from T mobile even though I had turned it off during a recent holiday. Was totally shocked to see the bill for £350!!!! I would really really appreciate some help in trying to recover the costs?? It's gonna be a crap Xmas otherwise :-(

Seet99

Level 1

0 points

Dec 5, 2011 1:08 PM in response to inmyshadow

Oh my email is divine_mc@hotmail.co.uk!!! :-))))

Mar 27, 2012 3:19 AM in response to inmyshadow

My grandson has just had a similar experience. He used the iPhone "Airplane mode" to switch off his roaming, but when he got back to the UK, he was hit with a bill of £1073. This is also an iPhone 4. We've taken it up with T-mobile, but if you can help in any way, it would be appreciated. My email address is christineduplessis@hotmail.co.uk.

Many thanks

Mar 27, 2012 4:35 AM in response to roaminghell

You have to do more than switch "airplane mode" on! You have to switch roaming off. Even then, unless you delete the APN content (as described above) you can still be stung for downloaded data which you haven't downloaded. Incidentally, deleting the APN worked for me when travelling in Spain in February. Suggest your grandson tries that next time.

Apr 15, 2012 5:17 AM in response to drspk

As others have said... Switching Data Roaming to Off is not enough!

I did this and still got landed with a £40 bill for 6MB of data use while in the USA (I live in the UK).

I spoke with my mobile operator O2, thinking there must be some mistake. The first guy told me I shouldn't have been using Wifi at all, as that's bound to result in charges! Crazy. Then I asked to be put through to the cancellation department and the lady there explained that while it's okay to use Wifi, I should have been switching it on only as needed and then switching it off again before moving around anywhere. (I still asked for my PAC code!)

I'm going to read up on the APN thing that others have mentioned... in the meantime, I'm feeling rather annoyed at both O2 and Apple!

Apr 15, 2012 5:52 AM in response to poshaughnessy

p.s. Has anyone investigated legal options yet? (E.g. small claims court?) I'm not a lawyer, but if anyone wants to get some People Power going, I'll help as much as I can (p_os at yahoo dot co dot uk). For me, it's not about getting the money funded, but about standing up for ourselves on principle.

Apr 15, 2012 7:35 AM in response to poshaughnessy

Problem with taking it to law is that we probably can't actually PROVE we weren't downloading data. Well, I can't .... can anybody?

Oh yes, and the guys at O2 just don't get it ... it's not in the script, you see! No script .... no conversation.

When I go overseas now I take my iPad for wifi and emails now and take my iPhone for apps. Sorted.

Good luck!

Data Roaming Charges when Data Roaming is turned OFF - o2 UK