After 40 years working in telecommunications with the last
15 in wireless services (mobile), you would think I would know more about
international roaming charges. Well, I
may understand the enabling technology, but how the roaming charges are
calculated is still a mystery. My
experience during a recent trip to South America demonstrates my ignorance.
Before leaving on a month long trip to South America, I knew
we would need some kind of international roaming package. Therefore, I visited an AT&T office to
discuss international roaming options.
After talking to the agent, we agreed to a limited “roaming package”
that contained both voice and data for my iPhone. I told the agent that we would be on a cruise
ship and visiting several countries during our trip. No problem, I agreed to a purchase an
international roaming package for about $120.
We knew that we needed to limit our voice and data usage during our
trip.
The day before our trip, I called AT&T to activate the
roaming service for one month. Again,
the agent (different agent) asked if we would be on a cruise ship and visiting different
cities. After our conversation, the
agent activated our international roaming service.
The first few days in Argentina, we controlled our data use
and didn’t make any calls. We then
boarded the ship and left for Montevideo.
Much to my surprise, I received a text message from AT&T telling me that
our international data use had exceeded $300.
Since I didn’t have a data package (per the message), the rate was $28 a
KB – note the KB, not MB. Wow! How did
that happen? Most of the time, the
iPhone was left in “airplane mode” (no GSM traffic) and WiFi enabled. This allowed me to use the phone while in the
hotel (free WiFi). Needless to say, the
phone was then turned off!
While in Montevideo, we stopped at a café with free WiFi and
“chatted” with AT&T via their website.
The agent on line told me that I had a “cruise ship only” package that
gave me a reduced rate on the Celebrity Cruise ship, but not from a land-based
cellular operator. I was told there is
no single roaming plan that covers both maritime service and land based
operators! In addition, the ship can
only provide service when it is more than 12 nautical miles from shore. When
the ship approaches shore, the shipboard telephone switch is disabled and
mobile phones will attach to a land-based operator. The only way to tell when the phone changes
carrier is by reading the abbreviated name of the operator on the screen. User friendly, not!
For the remainder of our 28 day trip, we left the mobile
phone is “airplane mode” and used it at “WiFi hotspots.” When we got home, we received international roaming
charges in excess of $300. The charges
trickled in for the next two months.
After reading the fine print in the AT&T agreement with Celebrity, I
discovered the maritime agreement is only for the Caribbean. I don’t think Argentina and Uruguay are
considered part of the Caribbean…
Now, the good news: AT&T wrote off all the international
roaming charges! Thanks, AT&T, you
kept a customer!
The moral of this story, check with your mobile service
provider before you leave the country, don’t assume anything, and understand
what you are buying. If you need to use
the phone for voice and data, buy a roaming package, but be sure you know what
the package covers – and where it is covered.
A smart phone sends/receives a lot of information and the data rates are
excessive. You need a roaming
package. Or, leave the phone in airplane
mode.
