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Surprised data charge from international trip

During my recent European trip, I turned off only the Cellular Data Roaming option on my iPhone 7, but not the Cellular Data. I did all my text message including photos and videos while I had WIFI connection in the hotel. After my return, I was surprised by the charges that I thought should not have happened. Did I do something wrong? Should I have also turned off the Cellular Data?

iPhone 7

Posted on Oct 10, 2019 7:21 PM

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Posted on Oct 11, 2019 1:15 PM

Many hotel wi-fi connections are captive, and you may not have been truly connected. You should check before you do anything. As far as text messages, only iMessage will send/receive through wi-fi. Text messages, SMS, sent to non-iOS users use the cellular band. And the same for MMS, which are SMS sent with media content like pictures. A Group messages that contains any non-iOS users is also an MMS, and has nothing to do with iMessage.

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Oct 11, 2019 1:15 PM in response to gschen55

Many hotel wi-fi connections are captive, and you may not have been truly connected. You should check before you do anything. As far as text messages, only iMessage will send/receive through wi-fi. Text messages, SMS, sent to non-iOS users use the cellular band. And the same for MMS, which are SMS sent with media content like pictures. A Group messages that contains any non-iOS users is also an MMS, and has nothing to do with iMessage.

Oct 10, 2019 7:27 PM in response to gschen55

Yes, you should have. Turning off roaming will prevent you from connecting to networks that your carrier does not have an agreement with, but it can still connect to others. That should have appeared in the status bar, the name of the network. Were you using the phone itself for phone calls? If you do not plan on using the phone for calls, then put it in Airplane Mode, and then make sure that you turn wi-fi back on.


Also, most of the major carriers in the US have got inexpensive international plans now. I know with AT&T can use theirs for only $10/day, for any day that I use it.

Surprised data charge from international trip

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