Roaming charges whilst data roaming turned off

bcracknell · ‎09-12-2023

I was on holiday in the US last month and had data roaming turned off before I even left the UK. At no point did I turn my data roaming on. Three texted me randomly at 3 points during my trip saying hello and welcome to the USA, outlining the costs associated with using my phone whilst in the USA. These texts were not telling me I was using my data, just letting me know I could. I've just received my bill to find I've been charged 3x £5 plus VAT for roaming services whilst in the USA. I can see on my bill that these supposed usages were really tiny amounts of data, <10MB. When I tried to dispute these charges, stating that I had my date roaming turned off the entire time, I was told there was no way the system could be incorrect. However, clearly, the system is wrong if I can be charged tiny amounts of data usage whilst my data roaming is turned off. Please can you advise what I can do in this situation?

JonathanB · ‎11-02-2023

I do recall something similar happening a number of years ago, it might have been on the iPhone 4 or 5 and I was with a different provider then, but essentially the software was failing to turn data roaming off or activate flight mode till after some other checks were ran after powering back on.

There's also historically been issues with iPhone's Wi-Fi assist feature bypassing data roaming settings, and using mobile data to prop up weaker Wi-Fi speeds. This tended to be particularly common when users were on hotel Wi-Fi as these tend to be speed limited.

We've got a few examples passed over now, so we'll let you all know as soon as we figure out the root cause. It still seems to universally be an iPhone issue, so I do suspect that there's a setting triggering this, or a software bug.

Mod tip! The author of a post can hit 'Accept as Solution', to highlight a reply that helped solved their query.

Gurj · ‎11-02-2023

Interesting.

How are you determining you have been charged?

Based on "Current Period Roaming Data Usage" count?

apadley1337 · ‎11-02-2023

I get an SMS from Three telling me Ive been charged. Its sent immediately after the phone is powered on while roaming. I can then check my account and see the tiny amount of data.

bronxboy · ‎11-09-2023

I was in New York City last month. I am on PAYG so I do not get charged the daily roaming fee. I have my mobile data switched off as WIFI hotspots are plentiful in NYC. When I do need to use mobile data, I manually turn it on, then turn it off when done.

Between 7 October and 14 October, each day sometimes a bit before 00:00 and sometimes a bit after 00:00 (UK TIME i assume) my usage shows that small amounts of data - as little as 7 KB and as much as 865 KB - did come off my data allocation. 1000% sure I was on WIFI only at those times.

So I fully understand why people are getting charged - total rip off !

I have also noticed here in UK, if I remove a 3 SIM, put in another SIM (say O2) for a few minutes - then re-insert the original 3 SIM, a small amount of data (12 kb) will be used.

FYI - I use a iPhone.

Good luck trying to get a credit - perhaps this needs to be sent to someone like Martin Lewis - tends to be pretty good at getting awareness for rip offs like this.

apadley1337 · ‎11-09-2023

To be fair, I've had a good experience from 3 in refunding the charges. They can't really deny them - a 1KB data charge is not something a person can really do. On that note, I do travel a lot and can't be fighting 3 every time I go overseas, so have decided to leave as my contract is up; they can't run a service in this state - it's not fit for purpose.

Gurj · ‎11-12-2023

I agree. I travel a lot too so if this isn't fixed by my next renewal it will be the same for me and my family.

Mmm · ‎11-14-2023

I started having the same issue in September 2023 as well. Also on iPhone, I get a text message on random days (not every day, sometimes it's every other, sometimes it's once in 4 days). The text message usually comes at night, but also arrived at midday one day. Mobile data and roaming are both switched off on my iPhone. I have contacted customer service about this problem twice by now. Both times they offered £10 voucher against my bill. That's all lovely but very temporary solution that doesn't solve anything. I have also been advised for my spending cap to be set to 0 which obviously prevents from any phone calls being made in case of a possible emergency. And another solution offered was to remove the sim card from my mobile device whilst being abroad - outrageous! They of course also ensured me it will not happen again because they put a note on my account that I shouldn't be charged, LOL! I am travelling with my partner who has exactly the same phone and same configuration as myself and is also a Three customer yet doesn't have this issue, why that is a mystery. I don't think the billing customer service quite understands it is a technical issue and most likely suspects I am secretly using mobile data despite me stressing multiple times that I have them switched off. I have requested to speak to a technical support, I highly doubt it will change a thing for me. Good luck to you all, I might be leaving Three if this continues.

Gurj · ‎11-14-2023

Out of interest does your partner have WiFi Calling turned off while you have it turned on?
Just wondering if we can narrow this down to s setting we can use to avoid the charge.

It's also possible (perhaps likely) that this is just an issue with Apple software and how it manages network access.

Mmm · ‎11-14-2023

We have just checked and we had wifi calling both on. I have now switched it off and will see if it'll make any difference. Needless to say none of the three different customer service people I spoke to today were able to resolve (or even understand) my issue.

My partner has iOS 17.0.1 and I am still on iOS 16.7.2 - upgrading now.

apadley1337 · ‎11-14-2023

In my case, had wifi calling on one phone and off on the other. Had issue on both.