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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2 Posted by k3nt91 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:45PM EDT Report Abuse
but some are just crazy about apple products and don't even care about the cost and maintainence .
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3 Posted by michael_w_anderson on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:18PM EDT Report Abuse
AT&T roaming charges are excessive anyway. That's one of the many reasons I dropped them in the first place.
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4 Posted by zzralstin@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 11:02PM EDT Report Abuse
Figures. Voice plan bills were upped for the iPhone, so why not up the roaming on it? AT&T needs to make their excessive charges not so bad. How are they going to attract customers if people have to pay so much to use the device wherever they go? I'm on Sprint, and I'm happy with it as long as I don't have to talk to a Sprint person. Coverage is great though. AT&T needs to bump up their stuff. That's why I don't have an iPhone.
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5 Posted by michaelcortese on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:18PM EDT Report Abuse
Well, just about any US carrier used overseas will cost you a fortune. I would think that if you had any brains, you would check before even bringing your phone...
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6 Posted by czechmama on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:33PM EDT Report Abuse
What other phone, and plans did you compair it to?????????
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7 Posted by p3dcrane on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:48PM EDT Report Abuse
Even if he was using 3G he would have still had a 3K bill.
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8 Posted by kdurrah1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:48PM EDT Report Abuse
Hey!! If you gonna use the iphone....its a good idea to read the fine print first. That was the customers 3k mistake. Next time read the "terms" OK!
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9 Posted by commorancy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:28PM EDT Report Abuse
It's probably cheaper not to bring your iPhone overseas and, instead, go to a dealer once you get there and purchase a prepaid phone. Purchasing a prepaid phone there would definitely be less then $3k and probably less than even the most conservative roaming charges. Of course, it won't be an "iPhone", but at least you'll be able to make calls and possibly surf depending on the phone. Just be sure to use up the minutes before you get back. There's really no excuse for Mr. Stolte's circumstance anyway. Usage charges always bite you from wireless services. It doesn't matter if it's $300, $3000 or $30000, the problem still exists and the charge would have been excessive anyway. Mr. Stolte was rather ignorant to think it would only be $100. The one and only thing that Mr. Stolte had in his favor was AT&T's lack of letting him track usage. That issue alone is probably his only saving grace from being saddled with that $3000 bill. Of course, if it happens again, there's no excuse.
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10 Posted by declantynan on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:40PM EDT Report Abuse
thanks for the warning, iphone is just about to come out in ireland, will put this on the radar of the phone regulator
1 Posted by rogueist on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:49PM EDT Report Abuse
HAH! It's an old fashioned speed trap! If this was using 3G instead, there would not have been any charges!