Changing Carrier With Disputed Outstanding Bill

Jimmycooker

Is it possible to change carriers and take your number with you while there is still money owed to the first carrier?

I am being charged €300 for tethering my iphone even though i have unlimited data.

Abelloid

Isn't the iphone the only one that can distinguish between regular data and tethered? Unless it's included in your plan you will be charged...

I think if you port now you will be hit with a bill for the remainder of the contract.

drunkmonkey

Justin is bang on, you'll be hit with paying the remainder of your contract and the 300 euro you already own in data charges. I'd dispute that charge as it says you have unlimited data and you weren't aware they charged differently depending on what you done with the data.

Your free to move networks but they might not relaese your phone number until the bill is paid. You'd have to get a new number if signing up to another network. You can put in a request and see what happens. You are obliged to pay them as it's in their t's&c's that you can't use the data for tethering.

I presume your with o2. Meteor have the same policy but i've never seen them enforce it but it could happen any time.

bd250110

iPhone is set up not to allow tethering without the networks knowing, by default. Android is set up the other way round. Wi-Fi/Tethering is on by default so paying attention to the T&C's is much more important. However the networks can still disable and/or charge you for using tethering.

Jimmycooker wrote: »

I am being charged €300 for tethering my iphone even though i have unlimited data.

In the contract it is specifically stated that data is for consumption on the phone only. If it does not, then they can not charge you. Not knowing or "ignorance" is not an excuse. It is up to you to read the T&C's. This will be the only way you can get out of this, unfortunately.

BrendanD

I would talk to your operator , i was in a similar position with O2 and they waved most of the charge

sbtrct

You may have resolved this issue already, but I though I would chip in with my recent experience.

My broadband provider is also my mobile provider, and my broadband connection was down for almost 72 hours over a weekend recently (a verified exchange issue Friday-Sunday more or less inclusive). I tethered my iPhone so I could my laptop get online. I wasn't aware that there was a separate package required to tether, as I have a mobile data package which I mistakenly assumed covered tethering. I was hit with an additional €120 charge in my next billing cycle (at €1/MB, basically).

I rang my provider and explained that I had only tethered because my broadband was down, and the entire additional charge was waived (I had a short conversation with a customer services rep to explain the issue, and they rang back within 30 minutes to verify that the charge had been waived). I had never tethered the iPhone before that weekend.

It's quite irritating that data received through tethering is charged separately, as most smartphone users already have a mobile data package which they are unlikely to use entirely. I understand the technical reasons, but they simply seem like an excuse to compel users to purchase additional subscription extras.

Interestingly, my provider had sent me a text a couple of days after tethering, which said that I should contact them in relation to a technical issue. I did, but the person I spoke to was unable to clarify what exactly they had wanted to talk to me about. They said that the person who sent the text would call me back, which they never did. They probably wanted to talk to me about my tethering and its associated charge.