Comments on: Stupid: Not Locking Your Phone While Roaming Internationally

By: justin

justin — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 20:54:34 +0000

Interesting. I got the same charges, but T-Mobile dropped them when I called to complain. I’m a long-term customer with an unlimited plan and I had turned on the Blackberry international roaming for the month.
I think they like me because I always pay the bill.

By: Cap

Cap — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 06:06:47 +0000

saver girl: this is a super late reply, but I think cell phone service really depends on your area, how much cell towers they have floating around, and the type of phone you use. my recommendation is to ask friends and families in the area if they have the same service, to see how well reception etc. fares.

as for customer service, I haven’t had any major issues with T-Mobile (except for this stupid charge anyway)… but I’m kind of lucky like that.

By: saver girl

saver girl — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:30:07 +0000

I’ll remember that next time I’m abroad since I’m looking to switch to T-mobile. Are they a good service?

By: Richard @ Student Scrooge

Richard @ Student Scrooge — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:53:38 +0000

Wow, I’ve been with T-Mobile for several years, and I didn’t know that tidbit concerning international roaming and voice mail. Do they bill the amount of time your caller spends on voice mail? That’s ridiculous.

I always get paranoid when traveling internationally — since I have a data plan on my phone, I’m always afraid that I’ve forgotten to turn off the data portion of my phone, as that can quickly get expensive.

By: chickpea

chickpea — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:07:31 +0000

Texts are just as evil! Tmobile (and most other American carriers) charge $.50 per message you send and receive while roaming/international.

While on our cruise in 2006, my bf and I met a couple in which the wife would text her sister everyday, thinking it would save her money. I mentioned to her that her service provider might be charging up to $.50 per text, and she might consider emailing from the ship’s computer lab ($.30 a minute, first 5 minutes free). She checked her recent usage online and was in for a shock when she saw she had racked up $30 in text messages. Good thing we were only halfway into the trip!

Usually when we travel outside of the States, one of us leaves our phone at home and the other brings theirs, but keeps it locked up in the safe. We only use it to make calls once we land back home. We also set up our voicemail online through http://www.gotvoice.com , you can listen to your voicemail online, then email your family/friends back in reply.

By: steve

steve — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:51:48 +0000

We too recently went on our first cruise and was just surprised by my ATT wireless bill. An extra $70.
Live and learn.
Turn the thing off, leave it at home or at least be prepared for a shock when the bill comes.

By: jesse

jesse — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:51:09 +0000

Ah, that is certainly good to know! I have T-Mobile as well and I probably never would have even thought about it (until I saw the bill and cried about it).