AT&T iPhone Roaming Charges $7,757.29

Posted:
in iPhone edited February 2014
Incident

I am a Cingular AT&T customer for the last 5 years with 2 family accounts including 7 mobile phone numbers for my wife and 5 kids. I switched my Mobile phone from Blackberry to AT&T iPhone first week of December last year just before leaving for a 2 weeks business trip to Israel. The iPhone was so slow in downloading my emails and in most of the cases failed to do so. The iPhone constantly checks back and forth for data until you lose your patient.

Upon my return to the US, I have reported these miserable performances to AT&T store where I got my iPhone and the sales representative has told me that Apple iPhone are aware of the slow performances and going to come out with a new software revision to fix the slow download process. I called AT&T customer service to tell them about it and asked for the details of my bill in Israel; they didn't have the details and said they will notify me as soon as they get it from Apple.

10 days later, January 16th. I left for a 3 weeks business trip to the Fareast with my iPhone, hoping for a better performance. Guess what? It was the same never-ending downloads.

A week later my wife called my hotel and told me we got a bill of $7,757.29 for my roaming charges in Israel. I switched immediately the roaming button on my iPhone to ?off? and asked my wife to wait for my return to discuss it with AT&T customer service. My wife spoke with AT&T and they promised to check the roaming charges and even reduced it by $938. The next day my wife went to the AT&T store to complain and been told that the notes on the account says it is in a ?Review status? and we should wait a couple of days. On January 29th AT&T disconnected all 7 phones including my iPhone without any prior notice by phone, email or letter. I was caught and trapped in Mainland China snow storm without any way to communicate by emails or mobile phone.

I have returned back to the US on Feb 6th and called the AT&T customer service. They told me that Israel is not on the list of roaming countries and I should not have used it there, I asked her to log on AT&T web and see for herself, it clearly says Israel is included and support the iPhone; Click to view the link: http://www.wireless.att.com/travelgu...cenum=1&STEP=4

In anyways, they refused to answer my question, why they have decided to close my 7 mobile lines even before my bill was due, and never warned us before doing so. I asked to talk to their legal department which they refused to refer me to, and said only my lawyer could do so.

My advice to all businessmen traveling in the US and overseas, forget about the iPhone Gimmick, and stay away from AT&T. It doesn?t work for us, Switch back to BalckBerry; there is nothing like it!

Damage Resulting

I was using my iPhone for my business and was trapped in the snow storm in China without my emails and mobile phone; missed 2 important meeting, tones of emails and phone calls. My wife and my 5 kids were left without any phones to communicate between ourselves.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    Can I have your iPhone then please? I'll pay for shipping to New Zealand.
  • Reply 2 of 13
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    I think you should have been aware about these roaming charges, you have been suckered.
  • Reply 3 of 13
    I’m sorry to hear that, Benz. Both United States domestic and (to a certain extent) international cellular calls to and from the United States, are handled by another agency – the FCC – Federal Communications Commission. The FCC does not regulate contractual arrangements with cellular providers, but does handle complaints about wireless service. http://www.fcc.gov/aboutus.html



    Naturally, you might start filing a complaint with them at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints_general.html .They may be contacted in various ways, listed at http://www.fcc.gov/contacts.html.



    Two of the first sections that might cover your situation are complaints #1 – deceptive or unlawful advertising and marketing, and #2 – billing, privacy and service quality. They have multiple departments, however, so they may shift you towards their Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. http://wireless.fcc.gov/



    I would give you more suggestions but that depends on your exact situation. There are many details about the laws in each state which may influence what can be done at this time. I hope this gets resolved to your satisfaction. It might serve to contact your local / regional paper news editior or columnist that specializes in tech or business. Tell them you might have an interesting story about the iPhone and why it's not the best choice for businesses and those that travel. When they ask why, mention your incredible $7,757.29 cellular bill and what happened. If they aren't interested, contact the editors of Wired or MacWorld magazine. There are others - be creative, hehe. For extra fuel, contact a publication or personality that doesn't like the iPhone to begin with. Try a Windows based magazine.



    Any good reporter or columnist will check facts before going further, but as long as what your saying is accurate they might run your story. Even if they don't, you can get creative and buy a full page color ad in multiple papers, run them nonstop for a month, explaining your story. What happens after that is debatable, but I’m sure you’ll feel better about it. Especially once AT&T catches wind of it. For a bill over $7,000 - oh yes, they would hear about it from me. So would thousands of others.
  • Reply 4 of 13
    You could have swapped in an Israeli SIM.



    Oh, wait... no you couldn't.



    But still, you should have been smarter than that. If you had been paying just the slightest bit of attention to roaming issues from US carriers (especially with regard to data and not just the iPhone) then you would have known better.
  • Reply 5 of 13
    INCREDIBLE ROAMING CHARGES ON MY IPHONE!!!!

    During the last weeks of November 2007 I contacted AT&T to discuss my future traveling plans. For the next three months I was going to be in Chile and wanted to lower my plan and obviously disconnect any data transfers while abroad. I was offered a plan of $39.99 to maintain my number. At the time it was never mentioned that I needed to leave my iPhone behind in the States. Never was mentioned any of the ?switches? that I needed to turn off while abroad.

    Never was discussed the charges of roaming or data, reason being I had requested those services off, so no need to mentioned I guess by the AT&T representative. These calls were for more than 2 hours, plenty of time to make me aware of the different options. I was not informed of the charges of the iPhone while just using the iPhone as either an iPod or camera device. The iPhone appealing it?s that it?s more than just a phone. It?s a very expensive device, supposed to fulfill many purposes.

    I was very surprised at the beginning of January to received some phone calls, being away and because I thought it could be an emergency I picked up the phone and then made a couple of phone calls to resolve the problem. I was aware that perhaps this will incur in some expensive charges. The total of those phone calls was $317.59. When I came back to New York, on February 29, I received an email with the latest bill, $2,373. I must mentioned that while I was traveling I did check my bill and instead of the plan that I have chosen before my departure, AT&T kept on charging me the regular fee $89 monthly.

    I did call immediately to report this issue, and they told me they will look into these charges, next day I received a text saying that they have made and ?adjustment? of $1,000. Still absolutely unsatisfied with their solution I called. After many hours and going through my bill, realized that multiple charges were made at the same time in two different countries, Uruguay, country that I have never visit and Chile. The representative just said, ?well that was just an error in the name of the country?. Seriously there are two countries in between, not the right answer.

    As a consumer, I didn't expect that the phone was going to be doing all this data transfer in the background while I was listening to my iPod.

    As my discussion went on with AT&T representative I mentioned that the rates plans listed on the site indicate "unlimited data (Email/Web)," without an asterisk.

    I did not expect data transfer charges internationally because I believed the data network in South America, Chile, wasn't compatible with the iPhone.

    I am an ordinary consumer and not at the level of ?Mac Rumors? members and even 1/100th of that. If Apple and AT&T only want to sell to technicians and experts, they do not have a business. This malintention about charging people for automatic data usage when they are not aware of it and having the defense as ' it is in the fine print' is just a recipe for failure.

    Was the information about international roaming charges buried in the AT&T contract? Sure it was. But I would ask you to also look at the cover page for the iPhone on Apple?s website. You will find the following under the AT&T logo?



    ? Rate Plans for iPhone

    All rate plans include Visual Voicemail and unlimited data



    I am writing you in the hope that the exposure of my story might force AT&T's hand in admitting they have an inadequate solution in place for international iPhone users, that they've discriminated against the iPhone in favor of the Blackberry, that they failed to adequately disclose the exorbitant nature of their rate plan, that they kept me in the dark about my usage specifics (iPod+camera). I am not satisfied with ?their adjustment? of $1,000. I seriously demand the full refund!! Also I want to mention that no where on the user friendly iPhone interface, it was indicated that I was doing expensive roaming! The close connection between Apple and AT&T, this kind of important feature could be developed.
  • Reply 6 of 13
    amoryaamorya Posts: 1,103member
    O2 just sent me a helpful text explaining that data was not free when roaming. I think they want to make sure everyone knows, to avoid situations like this.



    Amorya
  • Reply 7 of 13
    I would suggest you go buy the service from AT&T that you need, which is fairly inexpensive to cover international roaming and data.

    You try to get by on the cheap.... and then complain about it to us?

    Wow......
  • Reply 8 of 13
    enlilenlil Posts: 1member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    I think you should have been aware about these roaming charges, you have been suckered.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tonton View Post


    But still, you should have been smarter than that. If you had been paying just the slightest bit of attention to roaming issues from US carriers (especially with regard to data and not just the iPhone) then you would have known better.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wbrasington View Post


    I would suggest you go buy the service from AT&T that you need, which is fairly inexpensive to cover international roaming and data.

    You try to get by on the cheap.... and then complain about it to us?

    Wow......



    Is there something I don't get? He posted a link in the original Post, that shows that Israel in fact IS one of the countries in which roaming for both data and voice is supported. So I am not getting what you guys suggest he should have done instead.
  • Reply 9 of 13
    banukabbanukab Posts: 1member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Enlil View Post


    Is there something I don't get? He posted a link in the original Post, that shows that Israel in fact IS one of the countries in which roaming for both data and voice is supported. So I am not getting what you guys suggest he should have done instead.



    If you looked at the bottom of the page you would see the following:

    "If your device is compatible with the countries shown above, call 1-800-331-0500 to add international roaming. Restrictions may apply. If your device is not compatible, visit our online store or a AT&T retail store."



    Since data roaming is off by default, he would have turned it on and ignored the warning right next to the switch saying "substantial roaming charges may apply".
  • Reply 10 of 13
    nickstl77nickstl77 Posts: 21member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Banukab View Post


    If you looked at the bottom of the page you would see the following:

    "If your device is compatible with the countries shown above, call 1-800-331-0500 to add international roaming. Restrictions may apply. If your device is not compatible, visit our online store or a AT&T retail store."



    Since data roaming is off by default, he would have turned it on and ignored the warning right next to the switch saying "substantial roaming charges may apply".





    Did you really just bump a thread that was over a year old? Come on..
  • Reply 11 of 13
    jupiteronejupiterone Posts: 1,564member
    No, the poster just before him did.
  • Reply 12 of 13
    What a horror story One of my friends went to Europe for 2 weeks with iPhone, used it to the full - even listened to online radio all the time over 3G, and got 0 roaming bill. And he does not know how to jailbreak or unlock.



    He just rented iPhone from iphone rental company. They gave him european iPhone with freee 3G internet that is why there were no roaming charges. To find these companies search "rent iphone" in google.
  • Reply 13 of 13



    You can cut down the roaming charges by using xxsim carrier ,i suggest it is the best options ,because international incoming is for free for over 140 nations.Its coverage is pretty good and services too,i ve enjoyed the services

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