Meteor Data Roaming Bill Shock

Marc Carlo

I was updating apps on my phone On free wifi but the wifi signal got lost and i recieved a text saying i was near my limit so i turned off data altogether and Today I got a whopper of a bill when I looked at the breakdown the times didn't match up to when I was using the data the most I'm just wondering have they a clue or just chancing there arm

Max Power 2010

Marc Carlo wrote: »

I was updating apps on my phone On free wifi but the wifi signal got lost and i recieved a text saying i was near my limit so i turned off data altogether and Today I got a whopper of a bill when I looked at the breakdown the times didn't match up to when I was using the data the most I'm just wondering have they a clue or just chancing there arm

The times would of been in GMT, also bare in mind Apps connect to internet at various times without your knowledge.

The Irish operator billing you are simply going by what records are sent back to them from there Roaming Partner.

Marc Carlo

Max Power 2010 wrote: »

Marc Carlo wrote: »

I was updating apps on my phone On free wifi but the wifi signal got lost and i recieved a text saying i was near my limit so i turned off data altogether and Today I got a whopper of a bill when I looked at the breakdown the times didn't match up to when I was using the data the most I'm just wondering have they a clue or just chancing there arm

The times would of been in GMT, also bare in mind Apps connect to internet at various times without your knowledge.

The Irish operator billing you are simply going by what records are sent back to them from there Roaming Partner.

I checked my bill there was 80mb used at 3.16 am gmt there is no way I used that much data at once at that hour

Kensington

Marc Carlo wrote: »

I checked my bill there was 80mb used at 3.16 am gmt there is no way I used that much data at once at that hour

You're billed when a data connection closes so if your phone reset it's data connection at 3.16am it shows up then. There could be a couple of days of data usage factored into that 80MB figure.

Caseywhale

The providers actually live in hope that you will go out of bundle. Its a HUGE money maker for them.

Same thing happened to me with O2.
Came back from holidays to a bill of €1300.
But (on the advice of a solicitor friend who was caught like this before to) I had already sent them a letter and an email months before, not to allow me to use data which would exceed €50 extra on my bill. I asked them to cut off my data connection should I ever use €50 worth of out of bundle data.
They denied ever receiving this email, but I had proof that i'd sent it.

They didnt have a leg to stand on. In he end they settled for €50 and after that I just left them to go to Tescomobile. Tescomobile data is a whole other nightmare though. you would never, ever be able to use much data with them anyway its so slow. So now i'm with meteor.

I heard is supposed to be European legislation coming in to make sure that providers must cut you off when you spend €50 out of bundle. The sooner the better.

So everyone should just write that letter to them. Be proactive, so you dont get cauht by accident.

ninjasurfer1

Caseywhale wrote: »

The providers actually live
But (on the advice of a solicitor friend who was caught like this before to) I had already sent them a letter and an email months before, not to allow me to use data which would exceed €50 extra on my bill. I asked them to cut off my data connection should I ever use €50 worth of out of bundle data.
They denied ever receiving this email, but I had proof that i'd sent it.

They didnt have a leg to stand on. In he end they settled for €50 and after that I just left them to go to Tescomobile. Tescomobile data is a whole other nightmare though. you would never, ever be able to use much data with them anyway its so slow. So now i'm with meteor.

I heard is supposed to be European legislation coming in to make sure that providers must cut you off when you spend €50 out of bundle. The sooner the better.

So everyone should just write that letter to them. Be proactive, so you dont get cauht by accident.

Are they under any obligation to act on your letter?
just because you send in a letter doesnt mean they have to abide by it though?

Their network, their T&C's?

ardmacha

Across the world operators cannot easily act on such a letter as there may be delay in receiving details from overseas operators, so they would have to disable data roaming in those places. I imagine they are not keen to negotiate individual terms with each customer. Regulators need to act to have a common regulatory framework.

Sponge Bob

When you reach the airport go into network settings and in there are APNs or Network settings for data mms and voicemail. A modern phone has perhaps 3 or 4 apn settings. The ones that cost you are Data and MMS.

The data apn is something like data.meteor.ie change it to feckdata.meteor.ie while you are abroad and use wifi only while abroad.

I'd change the mms apn as well...mms.meteor.ie becomes feckmss

Remove the fecks when you get home and are safe to use data again.

Kenno90

ResearchWill wrote: »

Was in Thailand last year with a few mates, one guy said to us all on arrival, take out sims lads, went to phone shop in airport, bought sims topped up and got a months data all for about €30 if I remember. Two guys decided an it's ok will be careful, well over a grand when they each got home.

The best thing about iPhones is HulloMail, even with Thai sim in still get notifications of missed calls to Irish number, I did put Irish sim back in now and again to make important calls home that Skype or Viber just not good enough for, total roaming fee about €20.00.

Best bet is pick up local sim when abroad.

Exactly what i did in Oz, I'm on meteor bill pay and knew of all these data charges, when to a Vodafone shop and topped up by 30 dollars, Gave me 500Mb of Data and the usual calls and texts

Solair

ResearchWill wrote: »

The best thing about iPhones is HulloMail, even with Thai sim in still get notifications of missed calls to Irish number, I did put Irish sim back in now and again to make important calls home that Skype or Viber just not good enough for, total roaming fee about €20.00.

Best bet is pick up local sim when abroad.

HulloMail also works on Android and Blackberry.

The only thing I would say though is that it diverts your incoming calls to an 076 (VoIP) number and a lot of mobile networks exclude this from your inclusive minutes as they classify them as a non-geographic number.

The only network that officially supports it and provides free diversion to it is Tesco Mobile.

The result is that you end up being charged for every call diverted to Hullomail!

When I've been abroad, I divert my calls to my Blueface landline (021 number). You're not charged extra for the diverts and your messages are delivered to your e-mail as .wav attachments.

du Maurier

Eod100 wrote: »

I really think Meteor (or any other phone company) should be obliged to send a text message to notify you when your bill has reached a certain point.

They do this for the E.U when you've spent 48 euro and again when you've spent 60 euro.

The data rates for the U.S are ridiculous : 10.41 euro per MB so it doesn't make sense that they don't notify customers in the U.S.

Heading abroad soon and noticed that data charges are 1.01 euro per MB. I know it's nowhere near as expensive as the U.S, but still expensive in my opinion. There is a special offer of 50MB of data for 19.99 which works out at 40c per MB which seems to be the best with Meteor.

As far as I know, there's plans to reduce prices for roaming in the EU from July of this year: http://www.thejournal.ie/mobile-roaming-charges-to-drop-as-meps-vote-for-cuts-447227-May2012/

I guess the best thing you could do is state that you were under the impression that you would receive a text message from them warning that you've reached a certain amount.

Yes, a notification of excessive use unbeknowst to a customer can be quite an arbitrary thing from one network to the next. Tesco Mobile do notify you of potentially excessive charges when it reaches a certain mb/gb outside of a bundle, but their charges outside are exorbitant to say the least (I don't have an exact figure, but it's a few euro a mb iirc).

Once again, as other posters have mentioned, it would be a prudent measure to understand the potential outcome financially when using a handset abroad. It's common sense really. This coupled with the companies' terms and conditions I find it hard that people do complain when stung. It's perfectly acceptable to complain about the high charges, but find yourself another network if this is the case. Their conditions are clearly outlined.

I can't fathom why a simple measure like removing your sim-card and connecting via wi-fi (much more efficient and widely available wi-fi infrastructure abroad imo) would not be utilised.

Caseywhale

ninjasurfer1 wrote: »

Are they under any obligation to act on your letter?
just because you send in a letter doesnt mean they have to abide by it though?

Their network, their T&C's?

No but when it comes to them chasing you for money it actually says "I give you permission to let me run up a bill of €50 but anymore is excessive and you could have prevented it, so its your responsibility."

Apparently thats enough that they wont be able to get the money of you legally.

chrislad

Caseywhale wrote: »

No but when it comes to them chasing you for money it actually says "I give you permission to let me run up a bill of €50 but anymore is excessive and you could have prevented it, so its your responsibility."

Apparently thats enough that they wont be able to get the money of you legally.

The problem is that roaming isn't always real time. They might not get notified from the network you are roaming on until the usage has exceeded the limit. The smart option is to take responsibility yourself, and this isn't geared at you personally, and to disable data. It's very, very straightforward on all phones and by default, data roaming is set to OFF so you actually have to change the setting to enable it!

Caseywhale

chrislad wrote: »

The problem is that roaming isn't always real time. They might not get notified from the network you are roaming on until the usage has exceeded the limit. The smart option is to take responsibility yourself, and this isn't geared at you personally, and to disable data. It's very, very straightforward on all phones and by default, data roaming is set to OFF so you actually have to change the setting to enable it!

All I can tell you is that it worked for me and 1 other person I know.

And with tescomobile you must have data roaming enabled. I wonder how many people they have caught who are just driving innocently near border areas. Or who forgot all about it off when they landed in another country.

ardmacha

And with tescomobile you must have data roaming enabled. I wonder how many people they have caught who are just driving innocently near border areas. Or who forgot all about it off when they landed in another country.

Unless it has changed, tescomobile doesn't work outside the 26 counties.

The border thing generally is just price gouging, as O2 and Voda operate on both sides.

As for roaming generally, a text message should be sent whenever someone connects to a roaming data reminding people of the costs. This should be required to indicate the relative price, i.e. data here is 500 times as much as at home, even the most technically illiterate can understand that!