International iPhoning Results in $3,000 Bill

Wed Aug 1, 2007 8:28AM EDT

See Comments (282)

It was only going to be a matter of time before something like this happened. Someone decided to take their iPhone on a little jaunt to Europe, where he says he underwent "sporadic AT&T EDGE network usage off and on mixed with wifi when available." The bill waiting for him when he got home: three grand. (And I bet it was 40 pages long, too.)

Dave Stolte is hardly alone in the annals of absurd, accidental overseas charges, but as more and more people start traveling abroad with their iPhones, cases like this are going to become a lot more common, and fast. The iPhone is a chatty little device, constantly checking the network and calling home to the mothership, and iPhone users quickly get spoiled on its nifty data features, using them constantly to check the web, watch videos, etc. (In fairness: You do have to call AT&T first and ask for international roaming to be unlocked for this to work at all.)

Those little charges add up fast. $0.02 per kilobyte sounds pretty cheap, right? WRONG. Do the math: A 1-megabyte web page (a very common size) costs almost twenty bucks to open. 20. Dollars. Whoa. Seriously. (Thanks to Portfolio for helping out with our collective multiplication, and noting that there are various rate plans available, going down to $.005 per KB, which would still be about $5 per megabyte.)

So what do you need to do if you're going abroad with your iPhone? Portfolio suggests the same thing I do: Sign up for an affordable international voice plan but disable the data plan altogether. You can still use data services over Wi-Fi, which is free. The inconvenience of not being able to check Google Maps when you're away from a hotspot is nothing compared to a multi-thousand dollar data bill. When you get home, just turn your data services back on.

Stolte's story has a happy ending. After wide online publicity, AT&T agreed to waive the charges. As the first to report such a problem, he's the lucky one. But I doubt the next 10,000 or so people to fall into this predicament will find AT&T so accommodating. Don't become one of them. 

LINK: ATT + iPhone int'l. roaming data horror story: $3K bill 

Comments on International iPhoning Results in $3,000 Bill

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  • 46 Posted by tehani1047 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:59PM EDT Report Abuse

    i too had a problem with at&t when i went to mexico. my original phone was 3 years old and wanted a new nokia for my trip thinking it would give me better svc to reach my family and kept me feeling safer since i'm 65 yrs old. well i couldn't call out of mexico i tried every day and only could txt msg my family. when i came home after 3 wks, tried to call a&t to cancel phone and svc but was told "too bad i had to stick with it" Attn: all seniors, S---W at&t.

  • 47 Posted by waestrem on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:38PM EDT Report Abuse

    I am writing this from New Delhi where I am sipping data off of the hotel WIFI. Last month on a trip to Banglaore from the US, I forgot to call to disable International data roaming. The result was a $80 download at the Mumbai airport of my Yahoo! mail whihc contained important messages about breast and penis enhancement. All of this before I got off the plane. There was even a charge for $20 of data downloaded in Malaysia, a place I have never been near... After a lot of yelling and screaming and escalating through two levels of support to reach someone with the authority to waive the $20, I agreed to pay the $80 for the spam download. I wish AT&T and Apple would make it as easy to switch off International, or even US based EDGE roaming as it is to shut off WIFI. Why do I have to call their International Techn Support line to disable the feature. Actually, I wish I didn't have to disable it. I like my Internet access, but is it that much harder to send a packet from Bangalore to Minneapolis than from Seattle to Miami? Come on AT&T, get real about your International rate plans for voice and data... In the meantime, I am using SKYPE as much as possible when abroad...

  • 48 Posted by seh97001 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:12PM EDT Report Abuse

    you can't disable data on an iphone. It is att's policy, it cannot be removed. I was working at att recently. Iphone is B.S. Don't buy it. Get a samsung sync, they are 3g good phones.

  • 50 Posted by lemh246 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    just goes to show how stupid people are rewarded he should have to pay the charges just like everybody else

  • 51 Posted by lordantman101 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:56PM EDT Report Abuse

    Eeprete, since you are a web developer you should know not to f...... spam.

  • 52 Posted by jwight01 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:45PM EDT Report Abuse

    www.Mobal.com Buy the $49 phone, use it overseas, averages $1.25 a minute. No web access but there are plenty of Internet access points available overseas. We spent a month in Europe, total bill was around $100.

  • 53 Posted by rafesson on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:27PM EDT Report Abuse

    I got a Helio a week before iPhone realease and don't regret. I knew that iPhone would not be on G3 so why spend money with slow connection and high bills from ATT?

  • 54 Posted by lilgenepro on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:51PM EDT Report Abuse

    AT&T is one of the worst companies to have a contract with period, they still have those old fashion hidden fees for everything, the phone has everything possible thing on it but here the cstch you got hidden fees for thing you use on it. The phone has youtube, it cost somwhere around $90 to watch 2 videos

  • 55 Posted by wes27_desmoines on Sun Aug 12, 2007 2:25PM EDT Report Abuse

    This is very amusing and awful at the sametime. I guess when you have a new toy like the iphone you get what comes to you. Like I say, especially with high dollar AT&T (not the best service) billion dollar company there bottom line is all about the benjamins and don't care much about the so called hidden charges. I dont care if u like the iphone its all about money...remember that's the American way of life.

  • 56 Posted by pirtybirdy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:13PM EDT Report Abuse

    I'm sorry, but I agree with most of the posters here. This guy wasn't too swift when he used his phone in Europe. The charges are disgusting, even if you go with an International AT&T plan. I use my phone in Europe for Text messaging back home, and that is it. No phone calls, no data usage. With all the internet cafe's around, who needs to use a stupid phone of any sort for web browsing? I don't even use web browsing here in the US on the phone. I'm glad an article was written though. Hopefully it will keep other "not so smart" folks from making the same mistake.

  • 57 Posted by thegothmog2003 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:04PM EDT Report Abuse

    dont forget at&t h ad a cell phone service before and IT went belly up so they bought cingular.

  • 58 Posted by just_scott1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:45PM EDT Report Abuse

    I heard that AT@T will NOT let you cx the internet plan. It all goes together with the IPHONE deal. No Plan. no phone.... Also, they will not insure the phone for loss or theft, it does not have a removable battery, so anything happens, its back to Apple, not AT@T, they will not help with warranty exchanges. Face it, it is an overpriced paperweight.

  • 59 Posted by singingm on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:23PM EDT Report Abuse

    I like the Trac Phone. There is no monthly fee. You purchase cards which give you time. I use my phone as a phone, not as a camera. This entire year, I spent about 50 dollars on the phone. At this point, I do not have to add minutes until October.

  • 60 Posted by colinrvision on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    I travel to the UK quite often and take my T-Mobile phone with me. When I land I change the SIM in my phone to a T-Mobile UK prepaid SIM card which I brought on one of my last trips. Although it's a different number it saves me a bunch. You do have to get your phone SIM Unlocked first and T-Mobile were more than willing to do this for me. I got the idea from jwire.com

  • 61 Posted by goose_1a on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:11PM EDT Report Abuse

    How connected do you have to be? You can't do without the internet or a phone for a vacation?

  • 62 Posted by thms_donaghy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:07PM EDT Report Abuse

    Sometimes people get what they paid for...its not neccasary to have a phone that has all that rolled up in one. just give me a phone I can talk on and I'll worry about the web when I get home. Thats why I have Alltel..good plan and good rates. Maybe he should have took the head to head challenge...lol

  • 63 Posted by cavedweller_09 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:19PM EDT Report Abuse

    There is a reason that I buy the throwaway phonecard telephones. I don't get a three thousand dollar phone bill and I dont worry about identity theft because my phone is not registered with ssan and all that other garbage, I dont even have to use address and name.

  • 64 Posted by thegreatgooglymoogly75 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:04PM EDT Report Abuse

    if you can afford the $600 phone you should be able to afford the bill that goes with it .. i say tough $h**!!!!

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