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Level 1

6 points

data roaming off, cell data off, yet being charged!!!

For the second time in the last two months I have experienced this issue: With cellular data roaming turned OFF and then even cellular data turned OFF, when visiting the US (I'm based in Canada) I get a message that I am now "using data" at a special rate. The first time this happened, immediately on my return to Canada I contacted my cell provider (FIDO, owned by Rogers) and asked about it. They weren't very concerned, and told me that when I receive my bill, if there are any charges that I don't agree with, I should call them.

That bill came in early last week. Sure enough I was charged $4.99 as a "special" rate for roaming data PLUS another $6 for some text messages I'd sent. The Fido people couldn't explain what had happened, and suggested that I had NOT turned off data roaming. But absolutely positively without question, I had turned it off. They were nice enough to credit me the amount anyway. They told me that if it ever happens again, I should call them immediately from the States and they would check what was going on.

Over Saturday night until Monday afternoon I was again in the States. I turned off data roaming first, and then also turned off cellular data completely BEFORE LEAVING CANADA. I did not use the phone to make/receive phone calls. I stayed in hotels with WiFi and I did use that. No problem Saturday night, and none on Sunday morning, even though I had heavily used the WiFi. I packed up my gear (I ride a motorcycle and can NOT use the phone for anything while I'm riding) and toured around the Adirondacks in upper NY State for hours on Sunday. When I got to my hotel Sunday night and checked into my hotel, when I got to my room I took the iPhone out of my pocket and found a message from Fido stating, "You're using data at our exclusive promo rate of $4.99/day (+ tax)! You get up to 50mb of data to use over 24 hrs...."

I immediately called Fido to have them check and they were totally unsympathetic, and suggested that I had NOT turned off data roaming. Yet I HAD!!! Plus I had turned off cellular data completely. Fido suggested that if I "think" I'd turned it off, then there must be a "data leak" in the iPhone and it was Apple's problem and not Fido's. I replied that I had bought the phone FROM Fido (I have a corporate account with them and several phones) and that Fido was my cell provider. They replied that they don't make the phone and that I need to contact Apple about this. They also indicated that they would not be crediting me for any data roaming charges. SIGH

Searching the Internet turned up lots of similar stories/complaints. The threads I found here about the issue all appear to be from back in 2012, and are now locked. So I'm posting this message.

My phone is an iPhone 5 with 64gb. iOS 8.1. The first occurrence of this issue, back at the end of September was (I THINK) with the first release of iOS 8.0. Prior to that, I'd often been in the States and had never experienced this before. I always turn data roaming turned off then also.

What can possibly be done???

Posted on Nov 4, 2014 1:06 PM

19 replies

Apr 2, 2015 7:59 AM in response to Eldor

Just returned from a trip to Europe and had small increments of roaming data show on my Rogers statement. Both data roaming and cellular data were turned off the whole time we were out of the country. The phone shows 0 bytes Cellular Data Usage under roaming. Charges were reversed after some discussion but no indication they are aware of the problem. Agent told me I must have turned roaming on which I know isn't the case.

Apr 2, 2015 8:06 AM in response to Eldor

I would do a couple of things...

First turn on airplane mode to deactivate all connections. Then turn on Wifi.

This will not allow it to have any connection to your provider.

Second you could ask for a blank sim card to put in while you are in the States. Also a way of not linking it to your carrier.

Apr 2, 2015 8:22 AM in response to bryan.vance

Thanks Bryan. Unfortunately, we would like to have the phone part working in case someone needs to reach us. I suspect this problem impacts Rogers customers as well as Fido is a Division of Rogers and uses the Rogers network. I'm going to reset the Network settings and I guess I'll try to leave the phone on Airplane as much as possible when travelling abroad. When I called Rogers Tech Support just pushed the call through to customer service so I guess a lot more people will need to complain for this to get any attention.

capthss

Level 1

8 points

Jul 3, 2015 1:04 PM in response to Alan Musgrave

I have not yet tested this with roaming outside Canada. But at home I did try, I shut off cellular data, but the phone still continued to use small amounts of data for system services.

I changed network/ carriers setting from automatic to manual and selected FIDO ( my provider). Now with cellular data shut off the phone used no data at all.

Using an iphone 6 plus.

Would appreciate if others can also test and see if it works.😕

data roaming off, cell data off, yet being charged!!!