Teen excess phone charges whilst travelling

[OzKiwiJJ]

I have a business owned mobile, enabled for international roaming for calls - I travel a lot for business. When on holidays, mostly cruising, I use ship Wi-Fi package on-board and free Wi-Fi when ashore.

 

Our office managers instruction "NEVER ENABLE DATA ROAMING". I did once when OS (on land) and got a $145 data bill for a single connection. I did not break the rule again :)

 

OP, you should be safe as long as you (or your teen) follow our office manager's rule. Safer still to enable 'flight mode' on-board.

 

On some phones you also have to turn Mobile Data off or they still do background downloads. I got caught out a couple of years ago on a trip to Singapore after buying a new phone. It wasn't a huge amount, only $26, but I complained to Optus and they took the charge off my account. Since then I make sure I have Mobile Data off and haven't had a problem. However my phone is put into flight mode once the ship looks ready to depart port.

Edited February 8, 2016 by OzKiwiJJ

[gogo65]

If global roaming is activated get it deactivated. That way it will not even search for the maritime signal.

It will remain in sos mode the whole time, except for when she is on land in an Australian port, where it will automatically pick up your providers signal.

 

If you can't deactivate keep in airplane mode and use wifi whenever available.

 

I just got off radiance of the seas, I turned on international roaming every second day to ensure that there were no urgent messages. My provider Optus, sent me a message to say that maritime rates were free to receive texts and each text was $1 to send. $4/minute to make and receive calls and $15.50/MB of data.

[Aussieflyer]

Edit - Apologies - just saw the original posting date. They will be on board and sailing now

 

 

A travel sim is not going to be very useful IMO. As soon as the ship loses mobile coverage for Australia it will pick up Satellite at Sea (or similar) which is very expensive. As well, travel sims tend to be more expensive for use in Australia. They come into their own for calling/texting Australia from an overseas country covered by it. As well as soon as an Australian rings or texts back they will pay international call fees as the numbers are overseas ones (mine is a UK one - a +44 prefix).

If you can convince your daughter to only use the phone on land, it will be better. I suppose how happy she will be with this will depend on the number of consecutive sea days.

And I agree, comments about taking it off her or insisting she leave the phone at home do not help the discussion at all.

Edited February 9, 2016 by Aussieflyer

[Newby58]

Just a follow up. The tips from CC worked. No extra charges on our Telstra bill. Thankyou!

[OzKiwiJJ]

That's good news, Newby58. Hope you had a great cruise. :)

[Newby58]

In the safe out of port and free range in port. Such good advice. Everyone was happy. Had a great cruise too! Booked the next one...

[Newby58]

This same daughter is traveling to Greece and Italy in April with school. I got her a prepaid SIM card. Thanks for that advice.

[GUT2407]

In the safe out of port and free range in port. Such good advice. Everyone was happy. Had a great cruise too! Booked the next one...

 

 

That's great, and yes cruising can be addictive.

[Newby58]

Yep

[timtam2]

Glad it went well

Fortunately, when I cruised with my teens, mobile phones did not have the broad functionality they do today. I know it would have been the cause of massive arguments if they did- I understood your problem!

Edited March 28, 2016 by timtam2

[myfuzzy]

Hmmmm. Who is the parent here? And who is paying for her cruise?

 

OMG, I was just going to post the same thing. Why don't you make her earn the money to pay the bill beforehand, you will get roaming charges and other charges away from home. I would say have 1000 your currency on hand, this way she can yak to her hearts content. But with that being said....why doesn't she just stay home is her "phone" is more important than a family vacation. Yes, I have three grown children.

[Newby58]

Glad it went well

Fortunately, when I cruised with my teens, mobile phones did not have the broad functionality they do today. I know it would have been the cause of massive arguments if they did- I understood your problem!

 

 

Thanks timtam2. My daughter is essentially an only child, only because her 5 siblings have flown the coup and now have their own families. Yes, she was a "late baby". Social media is important to her and I understand that. She may be spoiled, however, she is not a spoiled brat. I am proud of the person she is.

[Newby58]

OMG, I was just going to post the same thing. Why don't you make her earn the money to pay the bill beforehand, you will get roaming charges and other charges away from home. I would say have 1000 your currency on hand, this way she can yak to her hearts content. But with that being said....why doesn't she just stay home is her "phone" is more important than a family vacation. Yes, I have three grown children.

 

 

She has a job and is still in school. I was pleased she came with us as I realise that as her independence grows, we will not have the same opportunities for quality family time.

Thanks for your input.

[Cabansail]

When she goes to Italy/Greece get her a local SIM. The phone packages in Europe are far better than those here. When I go to Ireland they complain that their phone packages are the most expensive in Europe and feel ripped off. I pay €20 pre-paid and get unlimited texts, unlimited calls within Ireland and 7Gb of data. Calls to the EU region were fairly cheap too. With some research you will find a SIM that will work for her trip and can probably have it posted to you ready before departure, that way you will know her number in advance.

 

When sailing from Perth to Sydney (clockwise) I found that I had Telstra coverage for about half the time when off the coast. I was able to tether my laptop. In the 21 days we were away I ended up using 5Gb at a cost of $40, including some facetime calls. Much more reasonable than the ships service.

[Mr&MrsCookie]

Take the phone off her for the cruise and give her nothing. Our generation survived without constant use of mobile communication technology and many of us can lock the phone away on a ship and not use it. She has to learn to separate herself from her phone at some point.

 

I never got my first mobile until I had a job where I could pay for it myself. You will be doing her a favour by taking it off her. She might actually enjoy the holiday more and do things she would not have done with her head buried in a phone screen.

 

Its like weening a baby off a dummy. It is a task that has to be done and must be done. Psychologists believe that younger generations will soon have disorders if they cannot separate themselves from technology.

 

Too funny:) . You don't have teenagers do you. Cannot separate a teenager from their phone.

[Newby58]

Too funny:) . You don't have teenagers do you. Cannot separate a teenager from their phone.

 

 

Thank you!!!!!!

[Newby58]

When she goes to Italy/Greece get her a local SIM. The phone packages in Europe are far better than those here. When I go to Ireland they complain that their phone packages are the most expensive in Europe and feel ripped off. I pay €20 pre-paid and get unlimited texts, unlimited calls within Ireland and 7Gb of data. Calls to the EU region were fairly cheap too. With some research you will find a SIM that will work for her trip and can probably have it posted to you ready before departure, that way you will know her number in advance.

 

When sailing from Perth to Sydney (clockwise) I found that I had Telstra coverage for about half the time when off the coast. I was able to tether my laptop. In the 21 days we were away I ended up using 5Gb at a cost of $40, including some facetime calls. Much more reasonable than the ships service.

 

 

Thank you, I will investigate this

[Aussieflyer]

I'm glad you had a great cruise Newby and everything worked out well.

 

I hope your daughter has an amazing trip to Italy and Greece and develops a love of travel that she will carry for the rest of her life (and who knows she may end up taking you on cruises too when she is older). It is a wonderful thing to be able to visit other places. I've travelled a lot but still have a real buzz when heading overseas.

[myfuzzy]

Wow, has the world changed since I and my children were young. It seems the younger they are the more control they have over their parents....YIKES.

[Newby58]

I'm glad you had a great cruise Newby and everything worked out well.

 

 

 

I hope your daughter has an amazing trip to Italy and Greece and develops a love of travel that she will carry for the rest of her life (and who knows she may end up taking you on cruises too when she is older). It is a wonderful thing to be able to visit other places. I've travelled a lot but still have a real buzz when heading overseas.

 

 

Thanks Aussieflyer. Would you believe that my daughter has already been to Turkey, (Istanbul), Gallipolli, London, Paris and Belgium with her school at the age of 14. She goes to a selective high school for the performing arts. . Now she is going to Greece and Italy at the age of 16. What a great start in life. She is a good girl and has a "good heart". She is also very grateful.

[zoncom]

Have her investigate at sea plans if she is addicted to her phone.She can pay. Then leave her phone in your possession at home. I have heard of thousands of dollars in bills for kids sneaking use of cabin phone.Make sure she is told of cabin phone charges or she will think its free. Make her responsible for any phone charges.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Wow, has the world changed since I and my children were young. It seems the younger they are the more control they have over their parents....YIKES.

 

That would be because some parents give away their control, they seem loathe to set boundaries and discipline their children when they transgress.

 

However teenagers have always pushed the boundaries - it's an essential part of growing up to become a confident, well-rounded person.

[Newby58]

Wow, has the world changed since I and my children were young. It seems the younger they are the more control they have over their parents....YIKES.

 

 

Compromise works better than control in my opinion.

[Newby58]

A win/win situation.

[Newby58]

In my experience with teenagers, you have to pick your battles.