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my sister went to goa with her uk contact for 3 weeks , when she got back she was hit with a £500 phone bill WTF is that all about ,
she talked to her provider and said that india was not the EU ,and did not have to notify her if ther was exess charges being applied ,any one els had this rip off charge to your phone ?

No but I have to say if I were going somewhere like that I would take the trouble to find out what the charges would be , or turn the phone off!

BikerGran wrote:No but I have to say if I were going somewhere like that I would take the trouble to find out what the charges would be , or turn the phone off!

I just wouldn't take my phone!

Sorry Joe but I have to agree with BG on this one.

My missus works for one of the big 4 and gets calls about this all of the time. People just don't want to take responsibility for their own actions and would rather blame someone else. It's the same in all walks of life and phones and phone charges are just the same.

Either use the phone for emergencies only or, as has already been said, don't take it. (Why do you need a phone when on holiday anyway?)

Immediate action drill for waking up in a foreign country:

a. Figure out how you got there.
b. TURN ROAMING OFF ON PHONE
c. TURN MAILBOX/ANSWERPHONE OFF ON PHONE.
d. Buy cheap local handset and sim and top up, use local international tariff
e. Get out of bed.

In that order, usually.
A cheap local fone and sim costs about 30 quid with credit. A 10 minute roaming session on an Iphone with a 5 minute phonecall home and a couple of texts probably costs the same... with your fone people can txt you normally and you reply via the zulufone...

Kwackerz wrote:Immediate action drill for waking up in a foreign country:

a. Figure out how you got there.
b. TURN ROAMING OFF ON PHONE
c. TURN MAILBOX/ANSWERPHONE OFF ON PHONE.
d. Buy cheap local handset and sim and top up, use local international tariff
e. Get out of bed.

In that order, usually.
A cheap local fone and sim costs about 30 quid with credit. A 10 minute roaming session on an Iphone with a 5 minute phonecall home and a couple of texts probably costs the same...

Until one of the locals decides he likes it more than you and 'borrows' it.

I dont get my phone stolen by locals. They get shot.

Kwackerz wrote:I dont get my phone stolen by locals. They get shot.

We're not all as lucky as you mate.

Not since I had to hand my SLR back in to the armoury anyway.

Yes the advice of the others an what to do in future is all good. When I'm away, phone goes into "Flight mode" so I've still got my calendar, alarm clock, music etc but calls are not possible.
If you have a laptop with you and internet connection, skype is the answer.

... but back to the original post - yes it is a ridiculous rip-off.

I have to say, (maybe I have just been lucky) I don't eem to have experienced this problem.

When I was in the USA and the Carribean a few years ago, I was on the phone at least twice a day as the father in law had just been diagnosed terminally ill and we were also phoning my daughter, and my total phone bill for the 15 days we were away came to less than £15 which I thought was pretty good. I budgeted for about £50 on top of my normal call charges, and so I thought I got away lightly.

Then back in January/February I was on the Independence of the Seas floating around the Med for 18 nights, and i was making calls back and forth as well as texts, and i was receiving calls from work which were being received via the Bahamas, and again my total call costs were only around £10 over and above my normal tarrif costs.

To be fair, I have been with the same firm for many years, but I have (says I touching wood) never expeerienced major problems with call costs overseas, but then again I never use the internet facilities, I only have it set on phone, texts, camera and Bluetooth for the car.

Just heads up flight mode does not turn off data etc on all phones especially blackberry you have to do it specifically and smartphones can still receive updates etc if you don't for which you can be charged

flatlander wrote:Just heads up flight mode does not turn off data etc on all phones especially blackberry you have to do it specifically and smartphones can still receive updates etc if you don't for which you can be charged

My understanding is that flight mode turns off the radios - otherwise what's the point

thwe point is you still get the joy of paying for stuff you didnt know you were using if you sdon'r believe me try ther o2 help pages for blackberry oh