As I stated in the thread about the cruise ship catching fire and being stranded I just got back from a cruise on Sunday. I have an iphone and for turned it on airplane mode when we were on the ship. We had 3 stops in Mexico and I turned the signal back on a few times when I was at locations with free wifi. I did also use the 3g network for about 5 minutes while in Mexico to set my fantasy lineup however.

 

Fast forward to a few days ago, we arrive in California and I go to turn my cell phone on and I get a text saying my data had been disabled due to high international usage. When I finally arrived back in Illinois I called ATT and asked what was needed to be done to turn back on my data plan. They informed me I had somehow used 500 megabytes and without a plan it would cost me roughly $11,000. However being the swell people they are they offered to sell me an international data plan retroactively. They said the highest plan they have is 500 megabytes for $499 and that I went over 500 megabytes and would have to pay $5 for every megabyte over 500 which came out to another $300 dollars.

 

So here I am with the choice to buy this plan or have an 11k bill hanging over my head so I said Id think about it. Has anyone else ever been in a situation like this? Im sure there have to be other ways around this Im just not sure what yet. Any help would be appreciated.

500 mega is a ton of data even for normal users. If you ony had it on for 5 mins then it isn't possible to use that much. AT&T has been known to have musteriouus data charges. I would explain that you didn't use that much and it's a mistake on their end. And good the problem. I'm pretty sure I've read about this before.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/...lar_bill_shock/

 

First off the government is looking into mandating* changes to cellular companies to prevent this sort of thing from happening.

 

I would get detail from them about the usage, especially to find out exactly the location of the usage and determine if it actually could have been you, or if somehow your phone was cloned or the service provider in Mexico is fraudulently making charges. I would also contact the States Attorney and see what relief you can get from them.

 

*not something Rex does on a Saturday night.

I kid because I care™

I Ecuador/Galapagos Iwas very concerned bout data roaming/international assist settings ad barely used voice on my cell (not that there is much coverage ion Galapagos any way), I made a few calls to my wife in Guyaquil and kept them to a few minutes. The rest of the time I used text because how much can that cost, right?

 

Ach! I went well over my text allotment and was soon getting charged $.50 a pop which added up to a couple hundred dollars by the end of the trip. I know people have had worse international cell charge experiences but it still hurts.

Um, yes. Just recently, as a matter of fact. Data usage, they rape you in foreign countries, even Canada, which isn't foreign, eh?

 

If you travel, get on the global data plan of your carrier BEFORE you go. You'll be glad you did.

As someone else said, 500 MB is astronomical. I don't even think the average person uses that a month. However, there are many stories about users with smartphones getting raped for international charges even when they're on airplane mode because the phone sends pings to cellular towers.

What sucks is ATT has the best global plan available. Beats Verizon and Sprint just dropped there. Sprint used to have the best one available (now they have none).

Yikes, I have no suggestions. I just know that I won't be bringing my cell phone with me if I travel outside of the US. In fact, I'll probably just continue my life of never leaving the country.

Yikes, I have no suggestions. I just know that I won't be bringing my cell phone with me if I travel outside of the US. In fact, I'll probably just continue my life of never leaving the country.

 

I had mine in Europe for 10 days 2 months ago on the entire time, just make sure data roaming is OFF