Cellphone Roaming Caution

Prior to cruising on Silhouette last month I put my iPhone on airplane mode. I'd thought that was enough to prevent roaming charges but today I got my AT&T bill and had an additional $70.14. I clarified with AT&T and found that I should have disabled Cellular Data and Data Roaming under Settings --> Cellular.

Entirely my fault so I eat it. Just thought I'd mention it here for anyone else not as cell savvy as their grandkids. :)

Whoever you spoke to at AT&T wireless is incorrect. Airplane mode turns off all electronic communications on your phone. Once you are in airplane mode, you can enable wifi, but that will not activate data over cellular or have any effect on the data roaming setting. If airplane mode left electronic communications on, it would be a violation of FAA rules and probably FCC rules as well.

I would challenge those charges.

Had you ever taken out of AM for any reason even for a second or two, either on board or on land?

That might have triggered the charges as well.

bon voyage

Had you ever taken out of AM for any reason even for a second or two, either on board or on land?

 

That might have triggered the charges as well.

 

bon voyage

That could explain it. I took it out of AM to check on the kids when we were in San Juan and St Thomas for about an hour total. Had to rib them since it was sunny and 79 while it snowed at home. Then I put it back in AM. Figured since they are US possessions I'd be safe.

Still seems a bit high, though.

ah....so it was your mistake. If you ever do that again, make sure data over cellular is disabled, find an internet cafe and use wifi.

That could explain it. I took it out of AM to check on the kids when we were in San Juan and St Thomas for about an hour total. Had to rib them since it was sunny and 79 while it snowed at home. Then I put it back in AM. Figured since they are US possessions I'd be safe.

 

Still seems a bit high, though.

Yes, as stated, airplane mode will shut off all cellular communication. But I always have data roaming shut off on my phone in addition to airplane mode for this very reason. Your apps want to connect to the internet and update as soon as it becomes available and will do this if data becomes available, even without you knowing. As a roaming charge, this runs around $2 a megabyte (as a point of comparison, if I run over data at home my carrier charges $20 per gigabyte, which is $0.02 per megabyte). A few emails downloading could easily rack up the charge you received.

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Actually this happened to me with Verizon Travel Pass too. It is $10/day using your home plan so a good deal internationally if you use when out and about and using cellular data. On our recent trip we never took our phones off of airplane mode and used WiFi Calling. On a couple of occasions my phone somehow got switched off airplane mode - still don't know how- and I got charged $10 for that day even for one text. I did dispute this with Verizon and they did rebate me for some (not all) charges.

ah....so it was your mistake. If you ever do that again, make sure data over cellular is disabled, find an internet cafe and use wifi.

Actually, I just disabled AM as a test now and it totally disabled Cellular. So the moral of the story may be to just forget we have kids while we're cruising. :D

San Juan and St Thomas are in the AT&T service area and you should not have been charged, at least with my plan I'm not. I have used my phone there multiple times.

San Juan and St Thomas are in the AT&T service area and you should not have been charged, at least with my plan I'm not. I have used my phone there multiple times.

Except I was still onboard.

Except I was still onboard.

As long as you were docked it doesn't matter. I believe the ship is required to disable their system while in port.

As long as you were docked it doesn't matter. I believe the ship is required to disable their system while in port.

Definitely docked in St Thomas but during approach in San Juan. Cruising in Europe next year so the darn thing stays home and I'll take the old digital camera.

Just a heads up for anyone reading this thread who has Verizon. Verizon does NOT cover St. Thomas. We found that out the hard way with a $100+ phone bill (thankfully they cut the charges by half when we called about it). It does cover most of Puerto Rico including San Juan, but not all of it (or there isn't coverage over all of it - don't recall which it was).

It is true, when you are in port it should not matter if you are on the ship or off the ship. They are supposed to turn off their roaming service while in port.

It is true, when you are in port it should not matter if you are on the ship or off the ship. They are supposed to turn off their roaming service while in port.[/quot]

But that would mean a complaint to X {{{shudder}}}. Then there's still the question of whether it should have been off in San Juan since we weren't fully docked yet. Live and learn. Comes out of my beer money, though. :loudcry:

Airplane mode turns off all cellular, only WiFi works

That could explain it. I took it out of AM to check on the kids when we were in San Juan and St Thomas for about an hour total. Had to rib them since it was sunny and 79 while it snowed at home. Then I put it back in AM. Figured since they are US possessions I'd be safe.

 

Still seems a bit high, though.

Our plan cover's USA, Canada & Mexico. San Juan and St Thomas are part of the USA. Never been charged by Tmobile

I'm still curious how one accumulates $70 of charges for data roaming in such a short time ? Are a bunch of apps running with unimpeded update routines? I set my phone to only allow updates upon my acknowledgement. I have an Android phone.

I'm still curious how one accumulates $70 of charges for data roaming in such a short time ? Are a bunch of apps running with unimpeded update routines? I set my phone to only allow updates upon my acknowledgement. I have an Android phone.

Don't have much on the iPhone and nothing updates unimpeded. I did send some pictures to the kids and they sent some back.

Actually this happened to me with Verizon Travel Pass too. It is $10/day using your home plan so a good deal internationally if you use when out and about and using cellular data. On our recent trip we never took our phones off of airplane mode and used WiFi Calling. On a couple of occasions my phone somehow got switched off airplane mode - still don't know how- and I got charged $10 for that day even for one text. I did dispute this with Verizon and they did rebate me for some (not all) charges.

Thanks for the warning. We’ve used VZ Travel Pass during several European trips without incident, but given your experience, we’ll double check airplane mode status regardless of use.

Just a heads up for anyone reading this thread who has Verizon. Verizon does NOT cover St. Thomas. We found that out the hard way with a $100+ phone bill (thankfully they cut the charges by half when we called about it). It does cover most of Puerto Rico including San Juan, but not all of it (or there isn't coverage over all of it - don't recall which it was).

 

It is true, when you are in port it should not matter if you are on the ship or off the ship. They are supposed to turn off their roaming service while in port.

We have VERIZON and used it all the time touring around Puerto Rico with a rental car. We were never charged extra. This was in 2016 and I checked with VERIZON before we left. We were not charged anything in St. Thomas either.

We switched over to T-Mobile a year or so ago. Their plans include unlimited international texting & data in most countries. It's great to be able to skype and text without worrying about charges. It has to be done in port though because we'd still get roaming charges if we used it while at sea.

We switched over to T-Mobile a year or so ago. Their plans include unlimited international texting & data in most countries. It's great to be able to skype and text without worrying about charges. It has to be done in port though because we'd still get roaming charges if we used it while at sea.

I imagine they all have plans like that. But my cell needs are very basic so my plan is very basic. The rep this morning said something about a "cruise plan". I might look into that before our next trip.

Just a heads up for anyone reading this thread who has Verizon. Verizon does NOT cover St. Thomas. We found that out the hard way with a $100+ phone bill (thankfully they cut the charges by half when we called about it). It does cover most of Puerto Rico including San Juan, but not all of it (or there isn't coverage over all of it - don't recall which it was).

 

It is true, when you are in port it should not matter if you are on the ship or off the ship. They are supposed to turn off their roaming service while in port.

I certainly don't doubt your experience, phoenix_dream, but we had no problems using our Verizon domestic talk, text and data in St. Thomas last July 2017 when we sailed the Equinox. I checked before we left on the cruise to be sure I had clarification. I also looked at a PDF available on their website under international plans that lists all services and pricing by country - it shows USVI as domestic. Perhaps the included coverage is plan specific, I don't know.

Even though I purchase international coverage for our phones when we travel to Europe or Australia/NZ, I always turn off cellular data, especially on the ship. I'll only use wi-fi for data.

Actually this happened to me with Verizon Travel Pass too. It is $10/day using your home plan so a good deal internationally if you use when out and about and using cellular data. On our recent trip we never took our phones off of airplane mode and used WiFi Calling. On a couple of occasions my phone somehow got switched off airplane mode - still don't know how- and I got charged $10 for that day even for one text. I did dispute this with Verizon and they did rebate me for some (not all) charges.

I got charged $7 last August on a European cruise.. It was my fault. I was using my $10 a day travel pass and forgot to turn data roaming back off and put it back in Airplane Mode right away when I returned to the ship. A little while after leaving port I looked at my phone and noticed Cellular at Sea was on and quickly turned off data roaming put it in Airplane mode. It was only a few minutes but got hit with a $7 charge. In December I made sure to change my settings at the departure time. I set a reminder alarm on my phone for the scheduled departure time..

I'm still curious how one accumulates $70 of charges for data roaming in such a short time ? Are a bunch of apps running with unimpeded update routines? I set my phone to only allow updates upon my acknowledgement. I have an Android phone.

They contacted the kids. They were not in Airplane Mode and they were not in port since San Juan and St. Thomas are included in all AT&T plans.