Will I be charged per day if I turn roaming off?

[Mander]

I'm traveling to the US next week and my understanding from chatting to a Three representative is that I will be charged £5 per day for using my phone for *anything* while I'm there, even if I'm only sending a text and not using mobile data. But does this only apply if I have international roaming turned on? In other words, if I turn roaming off before I leave will I only pay the per-text rates?

[Pwcomp]

Put the phone into airplane mode. You will get a charge of £5 everyday.  Either get a data esim or just use wi-fi.   3 are really robbing us now.  

[Mander]

I am confused though about whether it is possible to use text messaging that doesn't access my allowance, since my current contract has unlimited calls and texts. Is it possible to do that? I understand that if I use only WiFi I won't be charged, but what I'm trying to figure out is how or if it is possible to use my phone to send a single text to say my flight has landed without paying £5 because I have access my allowance.

[JonathanB]

Hi @Mander,

Although the texts are unlimited, we'd still consider that an allowance, so it would trigger the charge. The only solution I'm aware of is to use a 3rd party messaging app over Wi-Fi data, if available upon landing.

Hope this clears things up, and I hope you enjoy your trip. 

JonathanB

[JonathanB]

Hi @Mander,

Happy to help clear this up. As long as you don't access your allowances, you won't trigger the daily charge. This does include your allowances for calls, texts, and data though. Here's the US roaming rates, any of the actions described as "comes out of your allowance" triggers the charge.

So if you leave data roaming off, and only receive calls and texts, and make use of Wi-Fi for your data needs then you won't need to pay anything for that particular day. You may wish to use 3rd party messenger apps over Wi-Fi to reduce the need to send texts.

Just to clarify, I assume you're referring to "data roaming" in your phone settings, I wouldn't recommend switching "International Roaming" off from My3 or through customer services. This would stop you from connecting to mobile networks abroad whatsoever.

Hope this helps,
JonathanB