Beware using your net card in the Bahamas, $3700 bill

[marci22]

Good advice. I plan on having Verizon put it all in an email. They tell me that we will switch our blackberry to a global data plan for the week we're on the ship. At $64.99 per month, it should amount to about $16 for one week cruise. We are supposed to be able to use the internet and email functions without incurring the additional charges from the cellular at sea folks. But if we use it as a phone, it's subject to the $2.49 per minute, I'm told. I definitely don't want any unwelcome surprises once I get back!

 

Putting it all in an email is good advice. When we purchased an international plan for traveling, I asked specific questions by email and they were answered.

 

Once out of the country, I had another question about something and they answered my email at Verizon very promptly.

 

If you say 'someone told me on the phone' they just don't care.

[dougp26364]

I don't have a Blackberry. I have a Verizon global phone that is capable of operation on both GSM and CDMA systems. Before I go out of the US, I call Verizon and tell them what countries I'll be visiting. They send me an email with the price per minute for each country and, in those cases, for the cruise ship. I pay a pro-rated $5 per month to lower the per minute rate a little. I pay not a single solitary cent more than the $5 and per minute charges.

 

I also get the free courtesy text messages when I am in a new roaming area.

 

According to the email they sent me in November, The Bahamas is $1.99 per minute roaming. The ship is $2.49 per minute.

 

Is that "International Package" just for Blackberries?

 

I'm not certain but, it took us a couple of calls to get the complete picture. What you'll need to do is call Verizon and ask for an expert on international plans. The reps they had at the store weren't well informed on the international plans but, they did give us a phone number that got us on the right track.

 

The thing you have to remember is that calling is sometimes only a portion of your bill. If you have a data package, your phone can be downloading updates all the time. While you might have unlimited data in the states you might not have unlimited data internationally. That can kill you on your bill and I suspect it's why some people will take the battery out of their phone. They don't know how to shut off the automatic data downloads.

 

Verizon had more than one package for international service. It's important that they understand what sort of plan you have and what your expectations are for your international service. As mentioned earlier in this thread, there is a plan that can be added and removed that runs less than $70/month. That plan greatly limits your potential liablity.

[seaofwonder]

.55

 

My bad....it was .50/minute on the last NCL cruise.

[madforcruising]

My bad....it was .50/minute on the last NCL cruise.

 

It used to be .50/min on RCI as well but they raised it to .55/min.

[wraithe]

I'm trying to figure this one out. Verizon's aircard, even the global card, is just a cell phone dial up connection. So even if you connected to the Cellular at Sea tower-2.49 per minute x 300 minutes is still only about $750.00. BUT if you left the aircard on (didn't disconnect from the internet), are you being charged per minute for phone use or are you being charged for downloads like email and computer updates which go on in the background (the per kb part of Cellular at Sea)? We have a fairly large Verizon corporate account and they have always informed me that the air cards are merely cell phones and incur cell phone charges, while the Blackberries automatically pull DATA and hence the kb charge. Am I wrong???

 

Yep, you're right and wrong. While the air card connects to the tower just like a cell phone, it charges by that amount of data transferred.

[wraithe]

While on vacation in Mexico, a man let his son watch Wall-E over the internet through his mobile internet card. Total cost - $62,000. He fought with the cell phone company and they lowered it to $17,000. He called Clark Howard and Clark Howard got them to clear the debt all together.

 

http://www.switched.com/2009/04/27/us-man-gets-62k-bill-for-wall-e-download-in-mexico/

 

Remember to be careful with your cell phone bill!

 

This kind of drives me nuts, but I'm trying real hard to see both sides. So, Clark intervend and because the man was an idiot and had to let his son watch a movie over international broadband, everyone else who used Verizon has to pay extra due to to their loss of $62K. You can bet your butt that the Mexican phone company didn't give up any money. Verizon just ate what they were charged. On the other hand, I really think that the cell phone companies should have a pop up or recording, "you are currently roaming, your normal charges do not apply." While I don't know the logistics, it just seems that it would be easy to program the phone or card to have a big pop up that automatically comes up when off the parent network.

[scottbee]

This kind of drives me nuts, but I'm trying real hard to see both sides. So, Clark intervend and because the man was an idiot and had to let his son watch a movie over international broadband, everyone else who used Verizon has to pay extra due to to their loss of $62K. You can bet your butt that the Mexican phone company didn't give up any money. Verizon just ate what they were charged. On the other hand, I really think that the cell phone companies should have a pop up or recording, "you are currently roaming, your normal charges do not apply." While I don't know the logistics, it just seems that it would be easy to program the phone or card to have a big pop up that automatically comes up when off the parent network.

 

Yeah, I agree with you. The company bowed to pressure, even though it was the user's idiocy.

 

As for the warning, I get a text message saying just that as soon as I cross the border..

[ccletzgo]

This kind of drives me nuts, but I'm trying real hard to see both sides. So, Clark intervend and because the man was an idiot and had to let his son watch a movie over international broadband, everyone else who used Verizon has to pay extra due to to their loss of $62K. You can bet your butt that the Mexican phone company didn't give up any money. Verizon just ate what they were charged. On the other hand, I really think that the cell phone companies should have a pop up or recording, "you are currently roaming, your normal charges do not apply." While I don't know the logistics, it just seems that it would be easy to program the phone or card to have a big pop up that automatically comes up when off the parent network.

 

We just returned from our cruise and all of our phones received numerous messages from verizon stating we were roaming while in Mexico and then messages stating we were on cellular at sea and that the cost would be $2.49 A MIN for calls and .50 / .05 cents text sent / received.

Verizon does warn the user. Its obvious the user ignored the warnings...

 

The VS access manager warns you while using your broadband card also.

[wraithe]

Yeah, I agree with you. The company bowed to pressure, even though it was the user's idiocy.

 

As for the warning, I get a text message saying just that as soon as I cross the border..

 

We just returned from our cruise and all of our phones received numerous messages from verizon stating we were roaming while in Mexico and then messages stating we were on cellular at sea and that the cost would be $2.49 A MIN for calls and .50 / .05 cents text sent / received.

Verizon does warn the user. Its obvious the user ignored the warnings...

 

The VS access manager warns you while using your broadband card also.

 

Good point, I got the same messages on my Nov/Dec cruise, every time I started my phone in a new place, I got the welcome to xx/you're roaming warnings. In defense of the older posts in regard to roaming fees, don't think they did this a year ago. I'm not sure.

[RMLERL]

OP, I am a little confused. Are you saying that you didn't use the service that Verizon billed you? Or are you saying that you used the services, but just didn't expect the final bill to be so high??

If it is the latter, then Verizon is due there money and you should pay it.

If it is the former, then I am sure they will work with you.

As some one else said, this is a hard lesson to learn.

 

Yes, a hard lesson to learn. I will absolutely pay what is fair. We use our phones on the ship. We run a business and we have to be available. We used about 160,000 kb of data. Another poster said Seacellular charges $.002 per kb. The math is simple and the markup is ready for Clark Howard. Fair is double maybe triple. Love to have Verizon's margin in my business.

 

Remember I am only talking about my air card, not my phone. Verizon has always been fair with the phone charges.

[Jsme]

I noticed a lot of people mentioning Verizon Blackberry. Just be careful because not all Verizon Blackberrys have the compacity to have international calling. My blackberry which is with and was purchased at a Verizon company store does not have international calling. I can add the plan but my phone is not designed or does not have the right chip for interational calling. I purchased it because the sales person for the company store told me that it did have the abilities but after a trip out of the country and another visit to the store I was told that my blackberry does not have the abilities that only specific one have the abilities. We did add the international calling to my plan and they had to make the changes when we came back to the store. I told the salesperson if I had known this in the beginning I would have bought the tour edition.

[Candleonwater]

That's what I did for my recent trip to Jamaica, turned data roaming off... but it was on an older model of the iphone... haven't found that setting on the 3Gs... help?

 

I remember on one cruise, I hadn't turned my blackberry off, we had just returned to the cabin from the beach in Labadee when the phone rang. It was my brother calling from Disney to brag about the weather... so I had to point out that I was in the Caribbean... and then quickly got off the phone!

 

If the iPhone is in data roaming "off" then it doesn't need to be in airplane mode to keep data at bay. But if a call comes in and goes to voicemail while the phone is on, you pay for the call even if you don't listen to the message until you return home, so it makes sense to keep it in airplane mode unless you're actually using it.