Does anybody else have Viber or Whatsapp charges on their AT&T phone bill?

@Marie232 -

Hi,

As we've already explained here on this thread, it is not us (Viber) who charge you at all.

Please see our very detailed reaponse above, explaining what could have caused those charges.

Where do you hae the config setting at? I do have all notification on for Viber, I never remember have any checkbox. If you don't mind let me know where do I get to what you described.

Also, if wifi is weak, why it doesn't switch over to use 3G?

Hello Viber,

I'm the latest victim of this useless feature that Viber provides. I'm charged a whopping $312 for making international calls on viber. Why the **** under the sun anyone would like to make phone call on regular cellular network when the call is initiated from viber app? The basic thinking of this so called feature is completely wrong, and viber should admit it. I did not get any warning message about this VoIP to Cellular switch while making calls. From now on, I'm going to be on one agenda - "making sure none of my friends have viber on their smart phones". If you think there is no issue with Viber, do provide me with the CDRs that you maintain. I'll take up my issue with my cellular provider (AT&T).

Based on my gut feel, I think Viber fails to show the warning message when both parties are registered to Viber and one of them are not connected to Internet (WiFi/3G) when the call is made. What a shame Viber. A basic thing to catch, which you failed.

What you are saying isn't accurate -

We never claimed that Viber's sole purpose is to reduce people's fat phone bills. Viber was meant to be a "substitute" for your regular, cellular phone services, and by doing that it should also reduce the cost of calls at the end of the month, yes.

Viber users worldwide love using Viber as their default dialer (and we know that through numbers) since they don't want to go through the hassle of switching the dialer each time. The warning message we added is more than enough, we believe. If you don't see it, it means you have manually disabled it at some point. We invite you to simply uninstall Viber, then reinstall, then you should have the warning message pop back up.

Also, it is important to note that at least 95% of calls worldwide are made domestically (not abroad), and so even when people get "confused", the result is not harsh. In other words - according to our users, having this feature inside Viber as a convenient, easy-to-use option is worth the seldom confusion of dialing regularly to a contact, and as a company we have to go with that user preference.

So, you are saying the warning message about which route the call is taking is ignorable ? And the only way to flip it is by reinstalling app? And that is how you want it to be? Well, I'll leave it upto to the readers of this thread to digest this info. I think I've given engough feedback already.

Good luck!

@suman.ganta -

Just like 90% of apps in the world today (both for PC and cellular applications) - yes, certainly it's ignorable, after the user has personally and intentionally chosen to not show it again. This is very standard behaviour by applications worldwide today.

Thank you for your feedback, make sure that it will be passed on to the developers here in the company, and we'll see what we can do to better notify the user of switching to GSM.

Would it be possible to add it option to disable call using GSM in the setting. At least for some user who do not wish to use this option won't run into the huge bill? that would be my feedback to the developers.

Thank you for your response.

First, what you are saying is not accurate. Naturally, a developer cannot change the app on an hourly basis based on specific users' complaints (yes - this case, as much as we acknowledge its severity - and we do! - is indeed relatively rare). However, once an issue becomes bigger and more popular among users, we do care to consider changing the app accordingly and in fact we have done so several times already, i.e making changes in Viber SOLELY due to popular user demand. Here is just one of many examples, in this case on Viber on Android: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=23290460#post23290460

Secondly, you have not addressed my very elaborate answer to your claims in previous posts - Viber does not (and simply technically cannot) automatically switch the call to a GSM call in the middle of the Viber call, as you claimed earlier in this thread. Thus - saying that a switch to a GSM call is "ignored" is simply incorrect. Yes, we give the user the option to choose "not show that message again in the future". Once chosen personally by the user, this can be reverted only after reinstall. This isn't that far-fetched - a user chose to ignore that messgae, and if they choose to revert that personal decision, they need to reinstall - a process that lasts about 2 minutes.

HOWEVER - as I have mentioned at least 2 times above, I will pass on your request to add an option that brings this pop-up message back. You'll need to understand that as a company with limited resources, we are obligated to attend faster to very popular user demands, so bear in mind that the addition of such option may take a while, as long as the complaint about it is rare.

My mom recently fell victim to viber. She was charged $287.00. Why is it that almost everyone who fell victim to this is an AT&t user. My mom has AT&T as well. Also I agree that if viber was really concerned, they would have taken action already. I will research more of what can be done about this issue because it really isn't right. Something is definitely wrong and it shouldn't be ignored. I definitely will not be using viber anymore but I guess that doesn't really matter when there are billions of other people who will fall victim. I can only imagine how much money that's worth. The money is going somewhere.

is there a way to block (like a check box in setting) viber from switching to regular call? My wife was charged $150 for making international call to viber member without her awareness (only for 45 minute, for which we normally paid 3-5 cents/minute using different service like V247). I look in the setting and no option there. Could Viber team look into this? We really want Viber is only for viber call at all time. Thanks.

Okay, so I get it that many people use Viber for many different reasons so maybe I am not seeing the bigger picture here. I would like to ad that I live in a remote fishing village in Alaska and, as such, have no 3G and only cell service and internet via the satelite. How is is possible that AT&T had every message I sent using Viber? Is there a function that I can use that would restrict my Viber messages to only internet? What if I send a message to a viber user and she is on 3G? Argh.

Me myself was the latest victim of this.

ATT charged me $65 for international calls. The calls were made through VIBER.

I know clearly when you have ATT mobile, you cannot just connect or make an international call, there's gonna be an warning Voice message saying you're not allowed to make international phone calls.

So how can ATT know about it and charge me? Sorry for for a dumb question, but Data vs. Cellular network are different or not? How can they switch from Data to regular GSM and get charged?

Why and when does a call switch to regular GSM? People use Viber becaus of its ability to use VoIP to place the call. So, basically its a FREE call. If and when a user wants to call regular they will use the standard carrier's calling app.

Can't Viber automatically see that both parties are using Viber and therefore NEVER allow accidentally using regular GSM call for such (when in the Viber app)? Why would any sane person want to call otherwise? I have been charged over $300 for an hour call which all that time I thought was VoIP FREE call since we both use Viber.

So, instead of a pop-up warning, just DONT allow it because 101% of the time the user doesnt want paid call while using Viber.