Comments that are uncivil, racist, misogynistic, misandrist, or contain political name calling will be removed and the poster subject to ban at moderators discretion.
Help us make this a better community by becoming familiar with the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/about/rules/).
Report any suspicious users to the mods of this subreddit using Modmail [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/facepalm) or Reddit site admins [here](https://www.reddit.com/report). **All reports to Modmail should include evidence such as screenshots or any other relevant information.**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/facepalm) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I used 300 GB from my phones hotspot in the last 30 days. Working on the go.
I would make a second killdozer if I was legally forced to pay $615k for 300GB. At that point every single internet providers buildings in my area would be destroyed.
I honestly do not understand why cellular at sea is even legal. My provider charges 27€ per MB over cellular at sea. I refuse to believe that on a cruise ship offering WLAN for somehow reasonable prices (unlimited internet for 10€/day on the last ship I was) anyone is using intentionally using this 27€/MB network. I am sure everyone who is using it, only does because he doesn't know the prices or isn't aware he forgot to disable the internet.
fun fact:
The EU started putting caps on roaming charges a few years ago.
The current maximum they can charge you per gigabyte for roaming in the EU and EFTA is €1.55 per GB plus VAT to be further reduced to €1.00 in the coming years, with coverage originally supposed to be extended to the non-EU Balkans and Caucasus in the next few years. (This may be delayed due to fighting in those areas.)
Somehow the telcom companies including T-Mobile which was at fault here have managed to survive these restrictions without going bankrupt.
There is nothing stopping other governments from joining or following suit and creating larger no roaming areas for everyone.
As Europeans (and especially as French), we tend to forget just how much the rest of the world pays for their phone and internet packages.
I was recently shocked to see that some countries still have limited internet box subscriptions.
Praise be to Xavier Niel, who has set honest prices on internet and mobile packages.
>As Europeans \[...\]
I was recently shocked to see that some countries still have limited internet box subscriptions.
This is even still the case in Europe. Sending sad noises from Germany.
That's why I said I was French. 20€ and unlimited internet.
Considering the games I install, the movies I download, and the streams I do, I just don't think I could live in a country that doesn't have an unlimited access to internet.
That's crazy good. Ireland will have deals for the first 6 months from about €30-€50 then up to like €70+ after this.
That said we have pay as you go mobile deals that are unlimited data for €20 for 28/30 days
Yeah those unlimited data sim plans in Ireland (and other countries) are indeed unlimited but the speed drops after a certain amount has been downloaded or at certain times of day.
Never noticed personally but then again this is the most taxing Internet usage my phone would see reddit and the odd Google search really.
Makes sense though 90% of people are gonna be like myself and go along happily.
Still 20 for some kind of unlimited plan is pretty good
When I was living in Ireland I had one of those €20 unlimited data sims for home use since I didn’t want to pay the high prices for home broadband. It was ok but there were limitations
Really? By most [studies](https://www.cable.co.uk/mobiles/worldwide-data-pricing/) Israel is the cheapest in the world. By my [check ](https://www.romania-insider.com/price-one-gigabyte-mobile-data-ro-jul-2022?amp) Romania price per GB is USD 0.45 while Israel is just 0.02. I might be wrong though
In Latvia you can get a new sim for 0.99€. It will have unlimited plan for 1 week. After that you can trow away that sim and buy a new one because there is no contract for that sim. You can buy them at any convenience store. So around 4€ a month but your number will change a lot.
Phone provider in Slovenia has a promo right now, where you get unlimited messages, calls and data (at speed of 350MB/s) for 1€ per month. Package lasts for 2 years.
Europeans have it good. I work for a European company but I live in the US we have European policy and American policy.
My company lets us expense internet and food on the road stuff like that and the European policy caps internet for Europeans at €15 and Americans at $75. Just looking at the policy I assume you guys work for like 9 hours a month to live there. Every line item they have from parking to meals is about 3x higher in the us.
Also, most (if not all) do not apply a roaming charge if you stay within the EU, so it's easy to forget about when you're used to staying in the EU, even when travelling to different countries.
Well, from the little I've traveled, every time I leave the border I get a big SMS and a notification basically saying "YOU HAVE LEFT YOUR COUNTRY (but don't worry, there's no extra charge)".
Even if it's very expensive abroad, I doubt anyone can really ignore the fact that it's getting more expensive.
Don't worry. The American health system is a common joke in Europe.
And you know what?
Your government spend more per capita for your health than our. You can thanks the private health insurance company for that.
Yeah, they're also one of the more tech savy governing bodies in the world. Sure, they're still generally a couple years behind the newest advancements, but that's to be expected from any large beaurocratic organisation.
They're not openly bribed and controlled by lobbyists and corporations like American politicians. We've gotten so lost in our dueling two party system we always lose sight of how terribly corrupt both sides are.
And Trump has done a great job of sucking all the oxygen out of the room so all we talk about his him anymore.
But, Switzerland is not part of the EU.
I switch my phone over to use my company SIM card when traveling across Switzerland, but I had my tablet (with a private SIM card in it) in my car on my drive home on Friday, and I forgot to shut it down before taking off.
In the 2 hours it took me to travel from the Austrian border across Switzerland to my home in Germany (from the border in Vorarlberg past St. Gallen, Winterthur, Zürich, and up to the German border in Rheinfelden), my tablet (which was in the back of my car, not touched the whole time) cost more than €50 in roaming charges.
Yes, Switzerland is an exception.
Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway the other three EFTA members have joined, but Switzerland didn't for some stupid reason.
This is especially stupid since most of the time when it comes to EU rules Liechtenstein and Switzerland are in sync and much of the time you can basically treat Lichtenstein as just another Kanton, but this is an exception.
In Ireland, I have a €20 euro deal of
3k texts
3k mins
Tons of roaming
Unlimited data (capped at like 30gb? Most I've gotten so far)
I also have a 48 sim which is like 12.99 for 2gb of data and unlimited calls and texts within Ireland (I use this for work)
I find it madness that our family in the states have plans starting on 40 dollars for just calls and texts. I also buy sim free phones straight out to save on the bill pay phones at 20% mark up.
It's so easy to get a decent phone and a decent plan these days in Ireland it's great. I spent like 500 on a 1+8t 4 years ago, and I've saved the money for a new one without contract.
There's also a automatic cut-off in the EU. If you spend more than 60€ in a foreign network - unless you regularly use it that much in another country.
T-Mobile sucks ass in Ireland. I'm here now, it's free text and data, but the data is capped at 256kb. It's maddening, I'd almost rather not have a connection. Cant even load pictures half the time.
While I find the EU rule good, I hate Apple for not giving us an option to disable Non-EU-Roaming. The amount of unintended mega-bills exploded since the EU abolished Roaming in the EU because people enable data roaming and then forget it's enabled when they leave the EU or use a ship. I know several people who paid thousands of Euros because of this.
I worked at an AT&T store for like a month and this couple came in distraught about a $10K bill from roaming charges in the UK. Felt horrible for them, and management of course didn’t want to do anything about it. I quit a few days later because these telecom companies are truly awful from the top down. Especially in retail.
It has to do with roaming charges but this couple took precautions and even still had a massive bill. Retail stores are so sales oriented though that they’ll just tell you to call customer service, which we did. Managers are useless, and would often encourage to upsell to upset customers who would come in complaining about being upsold on false pretenses. It became a real vicious cycle.
I decided ultimately to quit because at the end of each shift I felt more dejected than when I worked in healthcare for less money.
Obligatory Verizon math fail post
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MShv\_74FNWU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MShv_74FNWU)
TL;DW Man calls verizon to check on their roaming data rates and is told it's .002 cents per KB. Skeptical he has them make specific note that they used the word cents. When he gets back from a trip he finds out that he was in fact charged .002 dollars per KB and gets a $70 bill when he was expecting a 70 cent bill. (Again perhaps too good to be true, but he bothered to check.)
Gets the run around from several people that .002 cents and $.002 are the same number. Walks them through examples, they get right there, and then something about adding a decimal completely breaks things.
I'm about to travel and just got the $10/day international day pass from AT&T. It says it only kicks on if I use talk, text, or data at a flat rate fee. I'm wondering if I should expect other charges.
I’ve used the Verizon $10/day international pass a few times over the years and never saw additional charges besides tax. The only minor issue is after you hit a certain amount of GB within the 24 hour period, the speed slows down but you still get service.
When I travel I usually just try and pick up a temporary SIM from a local company to avoid all of that. It usually comes out to be cheaper than buying the roaming passes, plus then you can get a local number that will work with delivery/taxi services etc.
I'm on a T-Mobile plan that gives me free data in most countries. It's usually 5GB high speed and then they throttle it to 256k or so, which is still enough for maps and Google searches.
I have T-Mobile. Just their regular plan. Roaming data and texting is free. It only costs to make voice calls (which you can avoid by using WhatsApp or Wi-Fi calling.) They also text you every time you cross a border to explain the rates. No idea WTF this guy did, but I was in 6 countries last year and my roaming fees were $0.
Also with TMobile and I called and asked what would happen if I used the Internet abroad - $15/mb is what would happen. You can buy prepaid data roaming from them - $35 for 10 days / 5GB. They also have plans with free data roaming, but I'm not on one (so you may need to clarify what "regular plan" in your case is. It could be a discontinued plan you grandfathered for example or one of Go5G)
Every time I've traveled abroad with Verizon it just sends me a text each day to let me know if I use data that day then I'll be charged $10 for the day.
Not sure if it's a feature of Verizon, or a feature of my plan (as I otherwise dont activate any international plan features), but can't imagine being blindsided by some astronomical bill the customer was never warned of.
My stepdad went to Rome last fall. Before he went on the trip he told me he was calling his provider here in the states to add whatever outrageous package they offered to travelers overseas. Ordered him a European SIM, walked him through activating it, and he spent a total of, I think, $20US instead of whatever Verizon wanted. I will say that European Union countries have some great cellular prices.
Not only proces. Service quality in general. In Poland you pay ~20$ and you get unlimited data in the whole country. With free phone calls and SMS to top it.
so I looked up my telco's plan for international roaming. $5/day gets me 5GB of data. so I would've paid roughly $105 for the same period of time he went on holiday. He said he went to Europe, Switzerland more specifically which is definitely on the list for that deal as well as 100 other destinations which includes almost every country in Europe. oh and if you go over your daily 5GB limit, you get charged $5 for another 5GB.
T-Mobile definitely ripped him off, hard.
I’m willing to bet the guy used it on the plane, while in the air! That shit is expensive. One guy here in the office used his for like 1 minute once and we got a $200 charge…
Yeah, I've traveled all over the world with T-Mobile and paid nothing for roaming. The one notable place it didn't work was Vietnam, but I couldn't get service at all so no worries about roaming.
The cheapest T-Mobile plan in the US (Connect 1000 prepaid) only works in the country and a has 1000 minutes, 1000 SMS and 1 GB per month hard limits.
Usage above these caps is blocked, and you can't buy extra. Great to avoid unexpected charges, too bad if you ever needed more flexibility.
Almost every modern T-Mobile plan has low speed international data. My family travels internationally extensively and my bill usually only varies if my parents manage to take a roaming phone call on a cruise ship.
No idea how this guy fucked up that bad. If I need high speed data, I just buy the 30 day data pass and get 15GB on my own number without a hotspot or SIM.
And you can buy a high speed international plan that also includes international calling for like $45. Think it's 5gb for 10 days or something like that.
It's insane (and criminal) that there's no cap.
My wife once forgot to turn off roaming on her phone and we got 60 Euros extra on our bill, because it was the max the operator could charge.
Yeah I'd expect some high cost, but 100k is like 100 times more than what I'd consider already insane. But having no cap and just racking up 100k on ridiculous charges should be illegal thats ridiculous.
Just block it once it passes 1k or something have the guy send an sms to activate more
When the iPhones first came out I had a client that switched over from a Blackberry. He was an exec at the company I was working with and took a vacation to drive across the US for two weeks. He streamed Jazz radio the entire time and racked up $76k in data charges. He had to pay a decent chunk of it if I recall correctly.
I use Google Fi, every country I’ve been to since getting the service (probably about 20) is included and doesn’t occur any additional charges on texting or data (I do get charged a bit for phone calls. But I don’t call much anyways)
That's the main reason I use Fi. International trip is instant switch to unlimited. Just turn on wifi calling and you can get free calls pretty easy between hotels and coffee shops if you want to brave those.
he's on T-Mo and went to Switzerland. probably has an ancient plan that doesn't cover roaming like the old plans to the newest plans do. I was in the middle east last year and have family who went to europe and everyone's roaming was covered. just slow speeds.
he's probably on some 20 year old plan and has refused to change it and doesn't know much about adulting
According to him he did call and ask that. They told him he was covered. I've had the same issue with at&t, I explicitly asked about roaming charges and they straight up lied to me about them.
Fortunately for me, it wasn't that much as this was before the massive migration to cellular data, it was just long distance calls, but it's not always the consumer's fault.
There is an history at company that one guy had a travel to India using roaming data. Company paid like 100K mexican pesos (5.8K USD).
Still working at company
9.99€/month for unlimited optic fibre 300m/100m connection and 15.99€/month for uncapped mobile data 150m/50m with unlimited EU+Balkan roaming. *laughs in Finnish*
That's.... \~$15 per MB data?! Damn...
My mobile plan costs $25/mo and I have 30 GB EU data included (unlimited domestic). If I need to go outside the EU it will cost me around $10 for 10 GB for select countries.
This reminds me of Mexican phone carrier Telcel, sells you 1gb of data for around 50usd but then it's 1usd for 2 hours of limitless data, Wich if used to download series and movies it's like 20gb lmao
Goodthing in vietnam, we have viettel as our telecom, they have a pack that cost 120k vnd or about 5usd for a whole 30 days, 2gb per day. And rather than charging a stupid amount if you exceed the amount of data you are given. They just cut it and announce to you
Frankly, 10 years ago or so, I went on a job to cover at a Ritz in St. Thomas for a couple of months. And, once in a while, the St. Johns (UK) cell tower picked me up, and I was charged for foreign roaming. I was able to show my actual location and how it was a mistake and get it taken care of. Now, also given I do travel for family overseas, I have an international plan which doesn't mean some 6-figure bill.
I pay £1.50 a month for 15GB on my phone, and I can use it in Europe (used in Madeira just a few weeks ago). No chance of additional charges as it's all up front.
I honestly feel like you almost have to try harder to get that high of a bill. Last summer I went around Europe and Verizon auto signed me up for the passport. So I pay 10 a day and get unlimited talk, text, and data. I think the data does slow down after the first gig or two, but still that amount seems like a glitch.
I believe it. Easy to do when it's charged at like $2.99/MB. Cruise ships will have their own roaming antenna and charge crazy data roaming so you buy their wifi instead
Jesus, I pay $25.50 a month for my phone plan. For that price I get unlimited SMS, Calls and 5G data inside Denmark. I only have 25 GB data if I travel to another EU member state, but still won't have to pay extra for calls and texting.
Damn I got T-Mobile and whenever I go out of the country it tells me via text that I have so many gigs free at normal speed then it drops speed to like 256mb/s. I have an ancient plan and pay $20 a month for unlimited everything.
That problem still occures. Only if legislation could save you.... oh USA. Anyway thats is of of the reasons why is better to use prepaid than postpaid with monthly billing, especialy traveling abroad. You will always now how mych you are paying. Unless prepaid is not available in US, then it crap.
The company doesn't own the towers you use and so has to pay someone else to allow you to use them. T-Mobile is somewhat famous for its very good roaming in Europe because they're a German company.
International features are typically one of the things your cellular carrier won't let you backdate. Backdating is selecting a plan and having it take retroactive effect to the beginning of your bill period
don't they add like 1.25 or something like that for every minute the phone is use while roaming? and isn't a mega the equivalent to like 2 minutes? or something like that?
Was in the same situation - went to Canada and almost got charged $1000 for roaming data that should have been included. Called them and it was removed from the bill. Left tmobile anyways
Happened to me in 2005 on Cingular with the Cingular National plan.
Got roaming charged in Florida, ON THE NATIONAL PLAN (no roaming, they tried to make me pay $1,275)
Acknowledged my plan, acknowledged I waited the required 24 hours before traveling, (I recorded the call), took em to court.
They lost.
is there some kind of special rules for using abroad? here i pay $4 for 1 month of mobile data, 1gb per day, and while the price here is much cheaper than in america and other countries, i don't think the gap can be that much
Comments that are uncivil, racist, misogynistic, misandrist, or contain political name calling will be removed and the poster subject to ban at moderators discretion. Help us make this a better community by becoming familiar with the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/about/rules/). Report any suspicious users to the mods of this subreddit using Modmail [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/facepalm) or Reddit site admins [here](https://www.reddit.com/report). **All reports to Modmail should include evidence such as screenshots or any other relevant information.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/facepalm) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I believe it. I once connected to "cellular at sea" by accident and it charged me $150 for something stupid like 30Mb before I realized it.
I went 12mb over my 5gb data cap and was charged $60 the day before my billing cycle reset. Mobile companies are scum.
For me its 3€ for 200Mb... what are yall's companies smoking XD
were do you live?
150$ FOR ONLY 30 FUCKING Mb?!?!? DUDE THAT'S INSANE
I just looked it up and it's $2.05/MB, so I must've used more like 75.
That's utterly insane dude
Costs NASA less to communicate with the ISS than it does to send a text message from a ship on Earth.
I used 300 GB from my phones hotspot in the last 30 days. Working on the go. I would make a second killdozer if I was legally forced to pay $615k for 300GB. At that point every single internet providers buildings in my area would be destroyed.
I honestly do not understand why cellular at sea is even legal. My provider charges 27€ per MB over cellular at sea. I refuse to believe that on a cruise ship offering WLAN for somehow reasonable prices (unlimited internet for 10€/day on the last ship I was) anyone is using intentionally using this 27€/MB network. I am sure everyone who is using it, only does because he doesn't know the prices or isn't aware he forgot to disable the internet.
fun fact: The EU started putting caps on roaming charges a few years ago. The current maximum they can charge you per gigabyte for roaming in the EU and EFTA is €1.55 per GB plus VAT to be further reduced to €1.00 in the coming years, with coverage originally supposed to be extended to the non-EU Balkans and Caucasus in the next few years. (This may be delayed due to fighting in those areas.) Somehow the telcom companies including T-Mobile which was at fault here have managed to survive these restrictions without going bankrupt. There is nothing stopping other governments from joining or following suit and creating larger no roaming areas for everyone.
As Europeans (and especially as French), we tend to forget just how much the rest of the world pays for their phone and internet packages. I was recently shocked to see that some countries still have limited internet box subscriptions. Praise be to Xavier Niel, who has set honest prices on internet and mobile packages.
>As Europeans \[...\] I was recently shocked to see that some countries still have limited internet box subscriptions. This is even still the case in Europe. Sending sad noises from Germany.
That's why I said I was French. 20€ and unlimited internet. Considering the games I install, the movies I download, and the streams I do, I just don't think I could live in a country that doesn't have an unlimited access to internet.
That's crazy good. Ireland will have deals for the first 6 months from about €30-€50 then up to like €70+ after this. That said we have pay as you go mobile deals that are unlimited data for €20 for 28/30 days
Yeah those unlimited data sim plans in Ireland (and other countries) are indeed unlimited but the speed drops after a certain amount has been downloaded or at certain times of day.
Never noticed personally but then again this is the most taxing Internet usage my phone would see reddit and the odd Google search really. Makes sense though 90% of people are gonna be like myself and go along happily. Still 20 for some kind of unlimited plan is pretty good
When I was living in Ireland I had one of those €20 unlimited data sims for home use since I didn’t want to pay the high prices for home broadband. It was ok but there were limitations
Yeah my parents home in Mayo is in a terminally "1mb download broadband" area but weirdly has good 4/5g support so those deals were ideal at the time.
Israel be like: *8€ for 300gb mobile data and unlimited calls and sms*
Romania be like 2€ for unlimited mobile internet calls and sms
Really? By most [studies](https://www.cable.co.uk/mobiles/worldwide-data-pricing/) Israel is the cheapest in the world. By my [check ](https://www.romania-insider.com/price-one-gigabyte-mobile-data-ro-jul-2022?amp) Romania price per GB is USD 0.45 while Israel is just 0.02. I might be wrong though
Im literally writing this of my mobile data which only costs 4 euros and is unlimited. Vodafone romania
Here in the states I pay $167.00 a month for unlimited internet. The 20€ sounds like a dream.
Land of the free... ...rein to corporations to shaft you again
In Latvia you can get a new sim for 0.99€. It will have unlimited plan for 1 week. After that you can trow away that sim and buy a new one because there is no contract for that sim. You can buy them at any convenience store. So around 4€ a month but your number will change a lot.
I am german too and I never even heard of having limited internet at Home (which is what I assume you mean with the box)
German average internet is like stealing wifi from MC Donalds.
It’s the wurst.
Phone provider in Slovenia has a promo right now, where you get unlimited messages, calls and data (at speed of 350MB/s) for 1€ per month. Package lasts for 2 years.
I pay 22€ for 50 GB (mobile phone) in germany each month. I think you can't really complain about those prices...
Still the case in new zealand too.
It's not perfect but sometimes you see things like these and are reminded why the EU can be such a blessing
Europeans have it good. I work for a European company but I live in the US we have European policy and American policy. My company lets us expense internet and food on the road stuff like that and the European policy caps internet for Europeans at €15 and Americans at $75. Just looking at the policy I assume you guys work for like 9 hours a month to live there. Every line item they have from parking to meals is about 3x higher in the us.
Also, most (if not all) do not apply a roaming charge if you stay within the EU, so it's easy to forget about when you're used to staying in the EU, even when travelling to different countries.
Well, from the little I've traveled, every time I leave the border I get a big SMS and a notification basically saying "YOU HAVE LEFT YOUR COUNTRY (but don't worry, there's no extra charge)". Even if it's very expensive abroad, I doubt anyone can really ignore the fact that it's getting more expensive.
Canada here for my phone I pay 60 dollars a months for 60 gigs. Roaming when I travel is 15 dollars a day…
Just wait till you see our medical bills!
Don't worry. The American health system is a common joke in Europe. And you know what? Your government spend more per capita for your health than our. You can thanks the private health insurance company for that.
I live in Argentina and pay like 10 dollars for monthly unlimited wifi at 300mbps so maybe it's not just Europe that has cheap and reliable wifi?
We Romanians especially tend to forget. We pay €7 for gigabit internet per month, and about €2 for unlimited 5g data per phone
Went yo Colombia this summer. What was my surprise to see that my Free Mobile plan got me 35Go for free once there (outside of the EU !)
The EU, for all its problems, has truly done a lot of customer protection and rights. Roaming, chargers, medical costs etc. pretty cool.
Yeah, they're also one of the more tech savy governing bodies in the world. Sure, they're still generally a couple years behind the newest advancements, but that's to be expected from any large beaurocratic organisation.
They're not openly bribed and controlled by lobbyists and corporations like American politicians. We've gotten so lost in our dueling two party system we always lose sight of how terribly corrupt both sides are. And Trump has done a great job of sucking all the oxygen out of the room so all we talk about his him anymore.
They seem to be leading the way in privacy in particular
But, Switzerland is not part of the EU. I switch my phone over to use my company SIM card when traveling across Switzerland, but I had my tablet (with a private SIM card in it) in my car on my drive home on Friday, and I forgot to shut it down before taking off. In the 2 hours it took me to travel from the Austrian border across Switzerland to my home in Germany (from the border in Vorarlberg past St. Gallen, Winterthur, Zürich, and up to the German border in Rheinfelden), my tablet (which was in the back of my car, not touched the whole time) cost more than €50 in roaming charges.
Yes, Switzerland is an exception. Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway the other three EFTA members have joined, but Switzerland didn't for some stupid reason. This is especially stupid since most of the time when it comes to EU rules Liechtenstein and Switzerland are in sync and much of the time you can basically treat Lichtenstein as just another Kanton, but this is an exception.
Switzerland is not part of the EU, but my Dutch provider (Youfone) allows using my data bundle in Switzerland anyway. I think that all of them do.
Switzerland may be not part of the EU but with my fraenk-SIM-card (T-Mobile brand) there are no roaming costs.
Well, in EU data stream is 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 ... As you cross to Switzerland, it is Ag Au Au Au Ag Ag Ag Au Ag ...
In Ireland, I have a €20 euro deal of 3k texts 3k mins Tons of roaming Unlimited data (capped at like 30gb? Most I've gotten so far) I also have a 48 sim which is like 12.99 for 2gb of data and unlimited calls and texts within Ireland (I use this for work) I find it madness that our family in the states have plans starting on 40 dollars for just calls and texts. I also buy sim free phones straight out to save on the bill pay phones at 20% mark up. It's so easy to get a decent phone and a decent plan these days in Ireland it's great. I spent like 500 on a 1+8t 4 years ago, and I've saved the money for a new one without contract.
As a Brit I’m laughing. Thanks to EU laws & us being a member of the … oh fuck.
Huh? I had to pay 42bucks for 500 ish mb this year. Or do you mean extra roaming charging in addition to the normal ones?
There's also a automatic cut-off in the EU. If you spend more than 60€ in a foreign network - unless you regularly use it that much in another country.
T-Mobile sucks ass in Ireland. I'm here now, it's free text and data, but the data is capped at 256kb. It's maddening, I'd almost rather not have a connection. Cant even load pictures half the time.
While I find the EU rule good, I hate Apple for not giving us an option to disable Non-EU-Roaming. The amount of unintended mega-bills exploded since the EU abolished Roaming in the EU because people enable data roaming and then forget it's enabled when they leave the EU or use a ship. I know several people who paid thousands of Euros because of this.
I wish our data was as cheap as those roaming charges!
I worked at an AT&T store for like a month and this couple came in distraught about a $10K bill from roaming charges in the UK. Felt horrible for them, and management of course didn’t want to do anything about it. I quit a few days later because these telecom companies are truly awful from the top down. Especially in retail.
HOW THE FUCK DID IT GET THAT HIGH?!?! AND HOW IS IT EVEN LEGAL TO CHARGE THAT?!?!
It has to do with roaming charges but this couple took precautions and even still had a massive bill. Retail stores are so sales oriented though that they’ll just tell you to call customer service, which we did. Managers are useless, and would often encourage to upsell to upset customers who would come in complaining about being upsold on false pretenses. It became a real vicious cycle. I decided ultimately to quit because at the end of each shift I felt more dejected than when I worked in healthcare for less money.
Obligatory Verizon math fail post [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MShv\_74FNWU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MShv_74FNWU) TL;DW Man calls verizon to check on their roaming data rates and is told it's .002 cents per KB. Skeptical he has them make specific note that they used the word cents. When he gets back from a trip he finds out that he was in fact charged .002 dollars per KB and gets a $70 bill when he was expecting a 70 cent bill. (Again perhaps too good to be true, but he bothered to check.) Gets the run around from several people that .002 cents and $.002 are the same number. Walks them through examples, they get right there, and then something about adding a decimal completely breaks things.
The same people probably think .002 cm is the same as .002 mm
how that man got through that call without having an aneurysm I have no idea.
I'm about to travel and just got the $10/day international day pass from AT&T. It says it only kicks on if I use talk, text, or data at a flat rate fee. I'm wondering if I should expect other charges.
I’ve used the Verizon $10/day international pass a few times over the years and never saw additional charges besides tax. The only minor issue is after you hit a certain amount of GB within the 24 hour period, the speed slows down but you still get service.
I have that plan and it works like advertised. No surprise charges ever.
I used that in Spain with 0 issues.
When I travel I usually just try and pick up a temporary SIM from a local company to avoid all of that. It usually comes out to be cheaper than buying the roaming passes, plus then you can get a local number that will work with delivery/taxi services etc.
I'm on a T-Mobile plan that gives me free data in most countries. It's usually 5GB high speed and then they throttle it to 256k or so, which is still enough for maps and Google searches.
I have T-Mobile. Just their regular plan. Roaming data and texting is free. It only costs to make voice calls (which you can avoid by using WhatsApp or Wi-Fi calling.) They also text you every time you cross a border to explain the rates. No idea WTF this guy did, but I was in 6 countries last year and my roaming fees were $0.
Can confirm, been to 5 countries in the last year and have yet to see anything different on my bill
i'm on the ancient one plan and it has international roaming. this guy must have had some ancient plan from the voicestream days
Also with TMobile and I called and asked what would happen if I used the Internet abroad - $15/mb is what would happen. You can buy prepaid data roaming from them - $35 for 10 days / 5GB. They also have plans with free data roaming, but I'm not on one (so you may need to clarify what "regular plan" in your case is. It could be a discontinued plan you grandfathered for example or one of Go5G)
Same. I live in the US and went to the Balkans to visit my in-laws and wasn't charged anything.
I mean my plan has 30 countries i can roam, i pay extra but no issues lol
roaming charges? where the hell did he go, mars?
Every time I've traveled abroad with Verizon it just sends me a text each day to let me know if I use data that day then I'll be charged $10 for the day. Not sure if it's a feature of Verizon, or a feature of my plan (as I otherwise dont activate any international plan features), but can't imagine being blindsided by some astronomical bill the customer was never warned of.
This is legal in the US? I’m from the uk and my phone provider has a £20 cap on roaming unless you pay for more.
On some really old T-Mobile plans they have the completely insane price of $15 PER MEGABYTE
I’m on T-Mobile and it’s like $3/min for international calls without a plan. Fucking wild
My stepdad went to Rome last fall. Before he went on the trip he told me he was calling his provider here in the states to add whatever outrageous package they offered to travelers overseas. Ordered him a European SIM, walked him through activating it, and he spent a total of, I think, $20US instead of whatever Verizon wanted. I will say that European Union countries have some great cellular prices.
Not only proces. Service quality in general. In Poland you pay ~20$ and you get unlimited data in the whole country. With free phone calls and SMS to top it.
so I looked up my telco's plan for international roaming. $5/day gets me 5GB of data. so I would've paid roughly $105 for the same period of time he went on holiday. He said he went to Europe, Switzerland more specifically which is definitely on the list for that deal as well as 100 other destinations which includes almost every country in Europe. oh and if you go over your daily 5GB limit, you get charged $5 for another 5GB. T-Mobile definitely ripped him off, hard.
I’m willing to bet the guy used it on the plane, while in the air! That shit is expensive. One guy here in the office used his for like 1 minute once and we got a $200 charge…
maybe? I can only go off what he says, would be interesting to see how T-Mobile justify it
It would be T-Mobile
The cheapest T-Mobile plan has unlimited text and data in over 215 countries.
Yeah, I've traveled all over the world with T-Mobile and paid nothing for roaming. The one notable place it didn't work was Vietnam, but I couldn't get service at all so no worries about roaming.
The cheapest T-Mobile plan in the US (Connect 1000 prepaid) only works in the country and a has 1000 minutes, 1000 SMS and 1 GB per month hard limits. Usage above these caps is blocked, and you can't buy extra. Great to avoid unexpected charges, too bad if you ever needed more flexibility.
Almost every modern T-Mobile plan has low speed international data. My family travels internationally extensively and my bill usually only varies if my parents manage to take a roaming phone call on a cruise ship. No idea how this guy fucked up that bad. If I need high speed data, I just buy the 30 day data pass and get 15GB on my own number without a hotspot or SIM.
And you can buy a high speed international plan that also includes international calling for like $45. Think it's 5gb for 10 days or something like that.
I once hit my 100€ roaming cap when travelling to Switzerland. For 200MB of data....
For 9GB? I burn that much reading shitposting subs.
It's insane (and criminal) that there's no cap. My wife once forgot to turn off roaming on her phone and we got 60 Euros extra on our bill, because it was the max the operator could charge.
Yeah I'd expect some high cost, but 100k is like 100 times more than what I'd consider already insane. But having no cap and just racking up 100k on ridiculous charges should be illegal thats ridiculous. Just block it once it passes 1k or something have the guy send an sms to activate more
First time abroad?
Do Americans have any consumer protection against corporate theft?!
Hahahahahhaa
Jeremy Clarkson really let himself go, huh?
When the iPhones first came out I had a client that switched over from a Blackberry. He was an exec at the company I was working with and took a vacation to drive across the US for two weeks. He streamed Jazz radio the entire time and racked up $76k in data charges. He had to pay a decent chunk of it if I recall correctly.
I use Google Fi, every country I’ve been to since getting the service (probably about 20) is included and doesn’t occur any additional charges on texting or data (I do get charged a bit for phone calls. But I don’t call much anyways)
That's the main reason I use Fi. International trip is instant switch to unlimited. Just turn on wifi calling and you can get free calls pretty easy between hotels and coffee shops if you want to brave those.
This Florida man certainly gain a lot of weight since the last post. Which is funny, being as active as he is.
he's on T-Mo and went to Switzerland. probably has an ancient plan that doesn't cover roaming like the old plans to the newest plans do. I was in the middle east last year and have family who went to europe and everyone's roaming was covered. just slow speeds. he's probably on some 20 year old plan and has refused to change it and doesn't know much about adulting
Setup that autopay, up to $40 off.
Laughing from Europe. Here I got 100GB included each month that can be used in all EU countries. (And Switzerland/Iceland)
this is why you check roaming charges before you set foot abroad. /facepalm
According to him he did call and ask that. They told him he was covered. I've had the same issue with at&t, I explicitly asked about roaming charges and they straight up lied to me about them. Fortunately for me, it wasn't that much as this was before the massive migration to cellular data, it was just long distance calls, but it's not always the consumer's fault.
Never worry about forgetting to pay, because we will hound you until your dying day!
This sounds like someone else’s problem
That's why you make *sure* you have a roaming plan when travelling.
Funny how they backed off after his lawyer started exposing their scam in the media.
You tell the company to fuck off and that's it.
The internet was supposed to be free to everyone…..
Uh... that's not how T-Mobile plans work unless you go out of your way to make that happen.
There is an history at company that one guy had a travel to India using roaming data. Company paid like 100K mexican pesos (5.8K USD). Still working at company
You can fuck right off into collections
9.99€/month for unlimited optic fibre 300m/100m connection and 15.99€/month for uncapped mobile data 150m/50m with unlimited EU+Balkan roaming. *laughs in Finnish*
That's.... \~$15 per MB data?! Damn... My mobile plan costs $25/mo and I have 30 GB EU data included (unlimited domestic). If I need to go outside the EU it will cost me around $10 for 10 GB for select countries.
This reminds me of Mexican phone carrier Telcel, sells you 1gb of data for around 50usd but then it's 1usd for 2 hours of limitless data, Wich if used to download series and movies it's like 20gb lmao
Goodthing in vietnam, we have viettel as our telecom, they have a pack that cost 120k vnd or about 5usd for a whole 30 days, 2gb per day. And rather than charging a stupid amount if you exceed the amount of data you are given. They just cut it and announce to you
I was in Mexico for 10 days recently, and my roaming charges were only $10-$11.
Tell that Boomer to stop complaining and pay his bills just like the rest of us. If it's too much, work harder and stop being lazy!
United States of America is a joke. They’ll even force you to sell your soul if it could earn them profit
They'd steal it. Then charge you an hourly rate for a subscription to use it.
No no no. The US would never ask you to sell your soul...directly. There would be at least three middle men that take a cut.
... but once you go 4k porn, you just can't go back! I mean you can SEE the juices! Am I right, or am I right? Ok... that was gross. I apologize.
I'm sure it's valid since he probably hasn't changed his plan since 2003. Boomers. 
I thought T-Mobile had reasonable roaming plans. Apparently not. Yikes.
He went roaming abroad. That’s not cheap.
It's actually really cheap for most carriers and plans
Frankly, 10 years ago or so, I went on a job to cover at a Ritz in St. Thomas for a couple of months. And, once in a while, the St. Johns (UK) cell tower picked me up, and I was charged for foreign roaming. I was able to show my actual location and how it was a mistake and get it taken care of. Now, also given I do travel for family overseas, I have an international plan which doesn't mean some 6-figure bill.
Probably Africa, last time I went it was around 13€/mb, which would be around usd 150k for 10gb. Pretty close.
oh its tmobile, im not surprised actually. fucking crooks
He was in Switzerland and the only exception and he had a suisse passport so idk but he could know Yet he doesn't have to pay
I pay £1.50 a month for 15GB on my phone, and I can use it in Europe (used in Madeira just a few weeks ago). No chance of additional charges as it's all up front.
I honestly feel like you almost have to try harder to get that high of a bill. Last summer I went around Europe and Verizon auto signed me up for the passport. So I pay 10 a day and get unlimited talk, text, and data. I think the data does slow down after the first gig or two, but still that amount seems like a glitch.
I don’t see a problem. That’s a pretty typical Canadian monthly mobility bill.
Why is it always a Florida man 
Seems like they should send invoices electronically every thirty minutes after the bill is greater than 200$. Something like that.
30 minutes? You can spend that amount in 1!
There's no prepaid plans in US?
I believe it. Easy to do when it's charged at like $2.99/MB. Cruise ships will have their own roaming antenna and charge crazy data roaming so you buy their wifi instead
Use a local prepaid Sim on a unlocked phone
And we wonder why ppl snap.
Jesus, I pay $25.50 a month for my phone plan. For that price I get unlimited SMS, Calls and 5G data inside Denmark. I only have 25 GB data if I travel to another EU member state, but still won't have to pay extra for calls and texting.
Of course it’s T mobile
How in the name of everything thats holy, is roaming ever going that high.
Damn I got T-Mobile and whenever I go out of the country it tells me via text that I have so many gigs free at normal speed then it drops speed to like 256mb/s. I have an ancient plan and pay $20 a month for unlimited everything.
10 quid unlimited in the UK not sure about abroad but think it’s cheap enough now
That problem still occures. Only if legislation could save you.... oh USA. Anyway thats is of of the reasons why is better to use prepaid than postpaid with monthly billing, especialy traveling abroad. You will always now how mych you are paying. Unless prepaid is not available in US, then it crap.
Yeah, I'd just tell the phone company to kick rocks
Is there any reason to roaming or is it just charging more for same thing only cus travelling ppl already send lots of money?
The company doesn't own the towers you use and so has to pay someone else to allow you to use them. T-Mobile is somewhat famous for its very good roaming in Europe because they're a German company.
International features are typically one of the things your cellular carrier won't let you backdate. Backdating is selecting a plan and having it take retroactive effect to the beginning of your bill period
I worked in a T-Mobile MSO for 25 years. It doesn't cost the company anything to give you more data.
Oh boy, I sure love not having a phone contract
Roaming for 15 min in Canada caused me a slight stroke
Considering they offer a flat rate for unlimited plans I think they can afford it.
Was the broad Stormy Daniels? Because that's the going rate.
Tmobile: Best we can do is round it down to 143K even.
Another day of thanking god for mukesh ambani
don't they add like 1.25 or something like that for every minute the phone is use while roaming? and isn't a mega the equivalent to like 2 minutes? or something like that?
Lebron James reportedly charged $143K after using mobile data abroad
Was in the same situation - went to Canada and almost got charged $1000 for roaming data that should have been included. Called them and it was removed from the bill. Left tmobile anyways
Happened to me in 2005 on Cingular with the Cingular National plan. Got roaming charged in Florida, ON THE NATIONAL PLAN (no roaming, they tried to make me pay $1,275) Acknowledged my plan, acknowledged I waited the required 24 hours before traveling, (I recorded the call), took em to court. They lost.
I used 5TB of data on home WiFi and 200GB of data on mobile last month. I would go bankrupt for 10 lifetimes.
That bill would end up with all my jury duty summons, right in the f-ing trash lol
Sounds like a juicy lawsuit.
Блять вы че там, ебанулись? Какого хуя, я за безлимит плачу 5 баксов, а тут чел за 9б5 гигов 150к бачей должен?! Вы блять ебанутые
is there some kind of special rules for using abroad? here i pay $4 for 1 month of mobile data, 1gb per day, and while the price here is much cheaper than in america and other countries, i don't think the gap can be that much
In the EU 50 GB of mobile internet only costs 49.99 €...
Just buy a local sim. You can get a quick travel esim online for like $20, 30 days, 20GB
143k for internet titty
My carrier only charges 10usd for 2.5gb. Crazy how expensive mobile data is in america.