Roaming charges for Internet use bring $16,379 bill

San Diego Tribune ^ | 29 January 2010 | Tanya Sierra

[Isabel C.]

They were really cool about it and I lucked out that nobody used my phone.

cool = understanding?

[PA Engineer]

Can you lay off the mutual titillation long enough to notice that even conservatives generally frown on fraud

Oh BS. That is one of the most leftarded conclusions. Where did the entitlement to free network service come from. She did not understand her phone. Her parents did not understand. They receive a bill every month with the data plan broken out for domestic usage and yet they forgot she was in a foreign country. Please spare us the feigned bleeding heart. This was not a case of fraud. Conservatives do not enable entitlement.

[AFreeBird]

$16000 / $15 per MB = 1066 MB

I just checked my iPhone AT&T app. AT&T international data roaming (some 90 countries) can be bought as a monthly package. Max plan: $200 for 200MB. Over that and it's $0.005/KB.

With an unlocked GSM phone, you can usually buy a local SIM and get much cheaper rates "in country".

That's what I always hated about Verizon's phones. No SIM card. But they'll rent you a phone for use overseas.

[mnehring]

Does it not even occur to anyone if you go overseas to ask what it will cost to use your phone before you actually use it? Do people just assume that it costs the same everywhere?

[Anti-Bubba182]

How difficult is it to get a cell phone that only does voice calls? Is that even possible?

[Kozak]

Yeah, i did that for my daughter who is doing study abroad in Italy. The charges are way way lower then the ATT overseas rate. We did have to unlock the phone however.

[CORedneck]

When I traveled to New Zealand three years ago and Japan six months later, I took my iBook which had a software Voice IP Phone with a US Number. I used it quite a bit to make calls in addition to e-mail and web surfing. I would go to an Internet cafe. I remember being in an Internet cafe in Queenstown, NZ talking to my stock broker. When I arrived in Auckland and waiting for my flight to Christchurch, I called one of my former co-workers back here in Colorado and gave him a hard time that it was 75 degrees while it was zero where he was at. When we got to Japan, we called my parents in Indiana. It was morning in Tokyo and early evening in Indy.

I now have an iPhone and when I travel overseas, the phone will be in Airplane mode or turned off. I have an older hacked iPhone that I could use with a local chip as well.

When I traveled to Asia, there was never, ever a shortage of internet cafes around. As per my calculations, they were dirt cheap. I did bring my cell but it just took me seconds to look, then shut off.

[max americana]

>>I now have an iPhone and when I travel overseas, the phone will be in Airplane mode or turned off. I have an older hacked iPhone that I could use with a local chip as well.

You are correct. When I was in the Philippines, I went to the local markets and everywhere I asked in Manila, there were available people to hack my Iphone and replace the chip. It was 100 pesos which was like $2. Then again, most overseas Filipinos use Skype because its free.

[Drew68]

cool = understanding?

Yes, pardon my slang. Cool as in spoke English clearly, understood my problem and was able to rectify the situation immediately over the phone, by herself, with no additional cost to me. Feats that seem increasingly rare in the world of telephone customer service.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Have you heard of “plans.” Did you see that the woman called to see if access from that point would be in the plan and they said yes. Fraud, end of story.

[Drew68]

Did you see that the woman called to see if access from that point would be in the plan and they said yes.

And I'll bet T-Mobile has a phone record of one of their customer service employees (perhaps incorrectly) affirming this. That could be one reason why they decided to waive the charges.

[mom aka the evil dictator]

They will rent you a phone? More info please. We have Verizon and my son is in Iraq. Would it work there?

[Gene Eric]

>> Really??? I mean really????? Since when is it the companies responsibility to give that information?

Stolen phone.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

When my son got his phone (”Mom, I’m the last 17 year old in the county withouy a phone.”) I set his limits before he touched his phone. He is in his first year of college and I still have a zero dollar spending limit.

I threaten to add the tracker on his phone so I know where he is every minute of the day. “Mom that’s just creepy.”
:-) Thank God, he’s a good kid so there is no need for that. It is enough that he knows I will do it if need be.

[philetus]

Here would be me,when I was a kid, asking my dad if I could have a cell phone:
Dad,can I have a cell phone?

NO!

But Dad,all the kids”POW”

[Richard Kimball]

You try to tell your kids that today and they won't believe it.

[jocon307]

I had a much smaller version of this type of problem once. I’m too tired to recount the details, it pertained to a calling card, remember those? I told the carrier straight out, I’m sorry I was confused, but there is just no way I can afford to pay this, and we did work it out. I did have to write about three times to actually get the big credit they did give me. I think it was MCI, remember them?