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Roaming Charges

Adoptionmsw

By Adoptionmsw,
in Holland America Line

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Adoptionmsw

Adoptionmsw

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Just returned from a one week Caribbean cruise on the Westerdam. I brought my smart phone on board because I didn't want it to "cook" in the car in the parking lot. I never turned it on during the cruise. When we returned to Ft. Lauderdale and I powered it up, there were two messages from Verizon, each noting $20 in roaming charges. I called Verizon and they tell me the charge is from HAL and that some app on my phone must have been "working" even though the phone was turned off. I know it wasn't e-mail because they all downloaded just after I turned it on. I have text messages blocked. I have yet to call HAL about this, but I'm steamed about it. Verizon says it's up to HAL to reverse the charges. Anyone else have this experience?:mad:

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Boytjie

Boytjie

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Verizon claims I should have totally powered it down. I just left it turned off (in airplane mode which I thought was enough). Who knew? I wish HAL had posted instructions somewhere.

 

In that case it was your fault, not HALs.

 

My iphone's "airplane" mode is not good enough for taking off or landing on a plane - I have to power it off.

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kjw869

kjw869

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Verizon claims I should have totally powered it down. I just left it turned off (in airplane mode which I thought was enough). Who knew? I wish HAL had posted instructions somewhere.

 

I had the same thing happen to me last month. I had my phone in Airplane Mode on a day we were at sea on the Noordam in January. The problem with this Samsung phone, is when it's plugged in to charge, it comes on.

 

But that wasn't the problem. I called AT&T and was told I should have switched off the roaming feature. It was my mistake for not doing this, not HAL's.

 

AT&T wiped off the $32 roaming charges and credited my account.

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Adoptionmsw

Adoptionmsw

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AT&T certainly treated you better than Verizon is treating me. I'm going to call them again and see what I can do. I pay them through my credit card so I do have the option of disputing the charge once it hits the credit card. :)

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Adoptionmsw

Adoptionmsw

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This sounds like your fault, not HAL's. And there is info in various locations- on board for sure, and prior to boarding, about costs to access the Internet and cell towers.

 

I was fully aware of the costs to access the internet and the cell towers and had no interest in doing so. HAL did a good job of explaining that. What I'm not happy about is the fact that I did not use my phone or even turn it on during the cruise and still got billed for over $40.

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absolutboy20

absolutboy20

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I needed to leave my phone on for work issues in emergencies but I did have data roaming off which obviously avoided the unfortunate issue you're experiencing. I would take it up with Verizon, as I don't think you'll get anywhere with HAL on this one.

 

I will say this, AT&T is pretty good about reversing charges when it comes to these kinds of mistakes, and I was pleasantly surprised that throughout our cruise, AT&T would send a free text messages indicating that you are no longer in their "in network" and data roaming charges voice rate of $2.XX would apply depending upon what island or network you were on, as well as indicating the data charge of $19.97 per mb.

 

One interesting thing I noticed with the on board cell service is that the provider would change depending upon our location at sea, so sometimes the provider would show "At Sea" other times another carrier I never heard of, etc. So it looks like whomever the provider of the satellite phone service is, they get their satellite link from different sources.

 

BTW, just be glad it was $40.00. I've heard horror stories of bills in the hundreds of dollars because the phone kept connecting to check e-mail, update apps, etc.

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Boytjie

Boytjie

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Upon boarding. Power the phone down. Remove the battery and lock it in the safe. That will avoid any problems in the future.

 

You cannot take an iphones battery out (easily). Best to follow smartphone instructions and switch roaming off or figure out how to really power it down.

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Candy

Candy

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If you turn off roaming, how can anyone call you for a business emergency?

 

I use my iPhone4 as an alarm clock, and I'd hate to have to pay for surprise charges just because I power it on.

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Boytjie

Boytjie

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If you turn off roaming, how can anyone call you for a business emergency?

 

I use my iPhone4 as an alarm clock, and I'd hate to have to pay for surprise charges just because I power it on.

 

I may have gotten this on CC regarding iphones and roanming charges:

 

What can you do to minimize your international data charges?

 

If you want to place calls but not use data:

Turn Data Roaming "OFF". By default, the setting for international data roaming will be in the "OFF" position. Turning "OFF" data roaming blocks email, browsing, visual voicemail and downloads, but it will not block text or picture/video messages.

 

To turn data roaming "ON/OFF", tap on

Settings>General>Network>Data Roaming

 

When abroad, international roaming rates apply when you send text or picture/video messages.

 

To access audible voicemail when data roaming is "OFF", tap on

Phone>Voicemail (International roaming voice rates apply.)

Utilize Wi-Fi instead of 3G/GPRS/EDGE– - Wi-Fi is available in many international airports, hotels and restaurants to browse the Web or check email.

 

 

If you want to use data but not receive email automatically:

Turn Fetch New Data “OFF”– - Check email and sync contacts and calendars manually instead of having the data pushed to your iPhone automatically. This way you can control the flow of data coming to your iPhone.

 

To turn off the Auto-Check functionality tap on

Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars>Fetch New Data, Change Push to “OFF” and select option Fetch Manually

 

Utilize Wi-Fi instead of 3G/GPRS/EDGE to download and manually check email: Wi-Fi is available in many international airports, hotels and restaurants.

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iflyrc5

iflyrc5

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On my Samsung with AT&T I put it in airplane mode and deactivated the data mode and had no issues. I could still use the camera and when were in an area (usually a bar on shore) with Wifi I could receive and (sometimes) send email.

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