Europe, iPhone, Bill= not good

[polishmacuser]

im stupid i know but luckly nothing happened i brought my iphone to Poland and i went on the internet and ummm... when i came back i got a $8000 bill and im not kidding. at&t charges $20 for 1 lousy megabyte when you roam. ITs unfair and stupid but luckily nothing happened they removed the chrages

 

[someone28624]

Wow, glad they removed it for ya.

 

[powerbuddy]

How can they remove a 8000$ charge? You had to give quite an explanation for that. I mean 8000$ is huge!!

 

[method525]

How can they remove a 8000$ charge? You had to give quite an explanation for that. I mean 8000$ is huge!!

It looks like the HLA department was very kind to him. I thought the guy who had a 3000 bill was lucky. You must have got a forgiving rep to get that HLA submitted. That 20 dollars for data roaming is our standard rate whenever you go out of the country except for Canada. Wow that is over 400 MB of data.

 

[jecapaga]

It looks like the HLA department was very kind to him. I thought the guy who had a 3000 bill was lucky. You must have got a forgiving rep to get that HLA submitted. That 20 dollars for data roaming is our standard rate whenever you go out of the country except for Canada. Wow that is over 400 MB of data.

yeah seriously..that is some serious data use. what the hell were you doing may i ask.

 

[Felldownthewell]

That is impressive. I was really careful when I was in Europe this summer to not use the internet on my blackjack because I usually use close to a gig a month . Luckily here I have unlimited data, but $8000 is quite impressive. Good job getting the charge removed!

 

[maokh]

come on now guys...it doesnt cost anybody $8000, even the carrier paying the settlement to the system they were roaming on.

Its all just paper until you pay the bill.

 

[scaredpoet]

come on now guys...it doesnt cost anybody $8000, even the carrier paying the settlement to the system they were roaming on.

While that may be the case, try telling that to the carrier they roamed on. It may not cost them $8000, but that's the negotiated price, and that's what everyone else is paying, so that's what they expect to be paid!

Same with gas. Yeah, gas is about $3.00 a gallon in the US, and we can argue with the gas station attendant that it didn't REALLY cost the oil companies $3.00 a gallon to get that stuff out of the ground, but do you think that'll change anything?

That said, AT&T& has a HUGE problem with data usage on the iPhone that they REALLY need to solve. AT&T needs to pressure Apple to allow the ability to turn EDGE off, at least when the phone is roaming off AT&T. This should not be too hard to do.

I'm happy for the OP. though I too wonder what he was doing to manage a 400MB data transfer. My iPhone is checking mail all the time, and it barely reaches 50MB in a month! Then again, I am near WiFi a lot, so most of my usage could be masked that way.

 

[scaredpoet]

come on now guys...it doesnt cost anybody $8000, even the carrier paying the settlement to the system they were roaming on.

AT&T does have a 20MB international roaming option for $25 a month + $.005 per kb for overage, but the gotcha there is that you must have it on your account for at least a year before you can remove it. Total cost over the course of the year: $300. Even so, that would've only brough the OP's bill down to about $2,075 for the time he was out of the country.

That said, AT&T has a HUGE problem with data usage on the iPhone that they REALLY need to solve. AT&T needs to pressure Apple to allow the ability to turn EDGE off, at least when the phone is roaming off AT&T. This should not be too hard to do.

I'm happy for the OP. though I too wonder what he was doing to manage a 400MB data transfer. My iPhone is checking mail all the time, and it barely reaches 50MB in a month! Then again, I am near WiFi a lot, so most of my usage could be masked that way.

 

[iKwick7]

I just checked my phone, and usage says I have sent 32 megs and received 204 megs. I suppose that is total since day one.

400 megs? Good work!

 

[esco]

wow, and I thought my $400 bill from when I went to London was bad

 

[polishmacuser]

thanks guys lol by the way i was on youtube and checking for email ans stuff like that. I was just living in a small little town that doesnt know what internet really is lol

 

[Canuck4]

Bro its not AT&T that charges $20 for 1 lousy megabyte.
Its what those big european companys like Vodafone charge AT&T for your usage. And they pass the bill down to you.
Trust me data services, internet and such cost an arm and 3 legs in Europe.
You pay out the a$$ there, we got it good here in the US with all those good plans with unlimited data etc...

 

[beate]

^

Amen. That's what I thought and wanted to post but I wasn't certain. Thanks for confirming (and putting it out there).

Makes me wonder how AT&T can "erase" the $3000 & $8000 bills. Really...it's cost me sleep. I've got to stop aggravating myself so late at night...

 

[robpow]

Bro its not AT&T that charges $20 for 1 lousy megabyte.
Its what those big european companys like Vodafone charge AT&T for your usage. And they pass the bill down to you.
Trust me data services, internet and such cost an arm and 3 legs in Europe.
You pay out the a$$ there, we got it good here in the US with all those good plans with unlimited data etc...

Don't think it's that simple, AT&T only charge 70 USD per month for unlimited roaming data usage for Crackberries so the bulk of that 8000 bill would probably go to AT&T, not the roaming partner.

Also, I'm happy with the unlimited data plan (web'n'walk) on T-Mobile UK's 3G network for $15/month and I'm sure there are many other similar rates around.

By the way - have you seen the stories about the US networks overcharged their customers due to calculation errors, bet this is what actually happened: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/07/31/att_iphone_intl_roam.html

Matt

 

[PowerFullMac]

Hey, there are unlimited data plans here in the UK as well! And I get interlet for 0.75p per 5MB or something...

 

[Evangelion]

Bro its not AT&T that charges $20 for 1 lousy megabyte.
Its what those big european companys like Vodafone charge AT&T for your usage. And they pass the bill down to you.
Trust me data services, internet and such cost an arm and 3 legs in Europe.
You pay out the a$$ there, we got it good here in the US with all those good plans with unlimited data etc...

Well, this thread is about data-roaming with iPhone in Canada, and the resulting $3000 phone-bill. So what were you saying again?

Fact of the matter is that datausage is pretty cheap in Europe. I could get unlimited 1MB/sec mobile broadband for 19.95e/month. What IS expensive is roaming of any kind, and USA is no exception. If I came to USA with my phone and SIM, and started surfing the net with the phone, I too would receive a HUGE phonebill. Roaming is expensive, in Europe, in Japan and in North-America.

And like it or not: you do NOT "got it good" in USA. Your cell-phone usage is outrageously expensive when compred to large parts of Europe. Hell, you guys are paying for INCOMING calls as well, whereas we pay for just outgoing calls!

 

[mkrishnan]

And like it or not: you do NOT "got it good" in USA. Your cell-phone usage is outrageously expensive when compred to large parts of Europe. Hell, you guys are paying for INCOMING calls as well, whereas we pay for just outgoing calls!

Yeah, true, although, to be honest... I have 1000 daytime minutes for $40/month. Even if incoming calls were free, I just have no interest in spending that much time on my cellphone during the day. Perhaps if I were in sales....

 

[epicwelshman]

Well, this thread is about data-roaming with iPhone in Canada, and the resulting $3000 phone-bill. So what were you saying again?

Fact of the matter is that datausage is pretty cheap in Europe. I could get unlimited 1MB/sec mobile broadband for 19.95e/month. What IS expensive is roaming of any kind, and USA is no exception. If I came to USA with my phone and SIM, and started surfing the net with the phone, I too would receive a HUGE phonebill. Roaming is expensive, in Europe, in Japan and in North-America.

And like it or not: you do NOT "got it good" in USA. Your cell-phone usage is outrageously expensive when compred to large parts of Europe. Hell, you guys are paying for INCOMING calls as well, whereas we pay for just outgoing calls!

Oh good... I'm so glad Europe still has free incoming. I'm moving to london in 2 weeks, and wasn't sure whether the cell companies had followed the american way of paying for EVERY minute you spend on your mobile.

 

[PowerFullMac]

Yep, we done have to pay for incoming calls here! Ha! In fact, if your on Three, THEY PAY YOU FOR INCOMING CALLS!

 

[Evangelion]

Yeah, true, although, to be honest... I have 1000 daytime minutes for $40/month. Even if incoming calls were free, I just have no interest in spending that much time on my cellphone during the day. Perhaps if I were in sales....

The deal with those packages (like your 1000 daytime-minutes for $40/month) is that... they are not that cheap in the end. They might be that if you spend more or less exactly the amount of minutes the package gives you. If you spend less, you still pay full-price so the cost per minute is pretty high. If you spend more, you pay extra for those extra minutes, again driving the per-minute cost up. And, of course, those minutes include incoming calls as well, which more or less makes the deal about twice as expensive when compared to over here, where only outgoing calls are billed.

I prefer per-minute plans myself. The most common plan is 0.069e/minute with miniscule monthly fee (1-2e). And that's only outgoing calls, incoming calls are 100% free. But since my employer pays for my phone-usage, all this is moot for me .

Of course there are those package-deals as well. I looked for a plan that would be comparable to your, and I found one that gives 1000 minutes (no time-restrictions) for 35e. And again: that's only outgoing calls, incoming calls are free. It also includes all possible services.

 

[overcast]

Can we just create a separate forum for people who rack up phone bills and then blame it on the carriers?

 

[mkrishnan]

I prefer per-minute plans myself. The most common plan is 0.069e/minute with miniscule monthly fee (1-2e). And that's only outgoing calls, incoming calls are 100% free. But since my employer pays for my phone-usage, all this is moot for me .

Yeah, I guess I do see the value in that. Although... assuming you pay for airtime regardless of time of day, let's take last month for me:

I pay $40/month (€30) for 1000 minutes during the day and evening / weekend time.

Last month, I used about 400 minutes of daytime access (which, granted is a lot less than the 1000 minutes I paid for) and 3300 minutes of evening/weekend access (long distance relationship....).

So I paid €30 for that access... if I understand correctly, I would pay:

€1 + 3700 x €0.069 = €256.30

For the same access in Europe? (When you use a small e, you mean Euros and not some fraction of Euro, right?) Even if I assumed that my (ex ) - girlfriend had made half the calls, so we each only had to pay for half of the minutes, that's still about €125, which is four times what I actually paid.

Anyway, I don't want to get into a random off-topic discussion about pricing... I don't think we have it best in the US, but I'm also not convinced that our plans are completely illogical from an American consumer's perspective.

 

[beate]

Can we just create a separate forum for people who rack up phone bills and then blame it on the carriers?

Na - wouldn't work. Those that you refer to would probably post just any old where. Not exactly rule-followers (or readers, for that matter).

Good point though. Seems like a new thread pops up every day or so.

AT&T/Apple...PLEASE...enable the disabling of Edge. Put an end to this madness.
AT&T...a reasonable international data option, please.

 

[Canuck4]

Obviously, thats why you dont travel to other countrys and keep using data and expect to pay what you pay at home.
I dont know what you pay in the UK but in Italy and Greece they pay some outrageous amounts for data and 3G usage.
$20 for unlimited data anywhere in the US is not a bad deal I think.
I personally think we got it good and Im happy with my plan.
in the UK do you get free mobile to mobile unlimited if you use the same companys network or free night calls after 7PM and all your weekend calls free?
Who cares anyway, if you multiply the currency exchange with the british pound or the Euro and what you pay you'll see the difference

Well, this thread is about data-roaming with iPhone in Canada, and the resulting $3000 phone-bill. So what were you saying again?

Fact of the matter is that datausage is pretty cheap in Europe. I could get unlimited 1MB/sec mobile broadband for 19.95e/month. What IS expensive is roaming of any kind, and USA is no exception. If I came to USA with my phone and SIM, and started surfing the net with the phone, I too would receive a HUGE phonebill. Roaming is expensive, in Europe, in Japan and in North-America.

And like it or not: you do NOT "got it good" in USA. Your cell-phone usage is outrageously expensive when compred to large parts of Europe. Hell, you guys are paying for INCOMING calls as well, whereas we pay for just outgoing calls!