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#948807 by Kraken
19 Feb 2019, 10:44
I was in the USA last week for a few days and data roaming was turned OFF on my iPhone from before I left Manchester until after I got back to the UK.

Just logged into my O2 account and noticed that the iPhone consumed about 3kb of roaming data per day when in the USA. The total charge for the few days / few kb of data was only 8p in total, so I am not bothered in the slightest.

Does anyone know if this is normal iPhone behaviour? You would have thought that OFF should mean just that in the data roaming settings. Given the tiny amount of daily data, it was clearly nothing email / social media related, almost as though the phone was "checking in" on a daily basis.
#948814 by joeyc
19 Feb 2019, 13:08
Kraken wrote:Does anyone know if this is normal iPhone behaviour? You would have thought that OFF should mean just that in the data roaming settings. Given the tiny amount of daily data, it was clearly nothing email / social media related, almost as though the phone was "checking in" on a daily basis.


No, that is really odd.... I think you were right about the 'checking in' given the amount of data consumed.. almost like a handshake protocol for something. That said, off does mean off..

I have read about delayed posting of data usage charges to people's accounts that can be up to 72hrs from when the phone was actually using data.. I don't know if that may answer the question?

I would definitely follow this up with O2 if I were you... If you do get a response please do post it up, I am very curious.
#948818 by mdhayes
19 Feb 2019, 14:43
happened to me on vodafone, the phone was on airplane mode the whole holiday but was using data. Vodafone blamed apple and apple blamed vodafone. I had a video showing it using data while airplane mode was on and eventually vodafone refunded the charges.
#948819 by Kraken
19 Feb 2019, 16:08
Have contacted O2 via live chat. I was clearly chatting to someone in an offshore contact centre - I suspect from the name & phrases used in the chat he had a rather strong Indian accent.

Got fob-off response 1. "You need to turn the phone to manual network selection so you can ensure it only tries to connect to O2". Informed him that O2's network presence in the USA was news to me...

Fob-off answer 2. "You must have turned roaming data on yourself". Err, no. If I had the phone would have eaten a lot of data fast as my emails & social media updated.

"Aah, OK, I need to look at your account then"... [bang head against brick wall]. Security check done then placed on chat-hold for 10mins. What he came back with was;
"Thank you for waiting, Kraken. When ever you visit any country a network switch takes place between partner countries, so it happens for fractions of seconds. That is why you have been charged. Do not worry, I will go ahead and add a credit of £0.5 and this will be adjusted in your next bill."

Not sure I believe it 100%, but it does seem plausible given the tiny amounts of data used. As I said in the original post it almost seemed this was a quick hand-shake of some kind.
#948820 by mitchja
19 Feb 2019, 17:52
I don't know the answer sorry, but as a side-note; don't O2 include data / roaming in the US then?

I know EE, Vodafone and Three all do on selected plans now.

I can just use my iPhone as normal in the US being on EE as all the roaming calls/texts and data are included in my allowances.
#948821 by tontybear
19 Feb 2019, 19:09
James it depends on the package you have.

On my previous pay monthly package it was a £4.99 a day bolt on - O2 Travel - that you activated (once) online onto your account otherwise it was roaming charges. Different rates for paygo packages.

I previously tried turning airplane mode on and roaming off and try just using wifi in shops and museums and the hotel etc but it was a pain in the butt so I bit the bullet and paid for the package.

On my current package it is included - to do with a combo of the cost, type (sim only excluded) and data allowance (more than 4 gig) - so my 8 days of usage in NYC last month that would have cost £40 was free for me on my £20 a month (inc VAT) plan ...
#948822 by Kraken
19 Feb 2019, 19:29
I'm on O2 SIM only (but on a 12mth contract, that has actually expired now, so is on a rolling 30 day contract). My tariff gets me 20GB of 4G data & unlimited minutes & texts for £20 a month.

TBH, I don't find using wifi only a problem in the USA as you are rarely far away from a free wifi network, so Skype works fine for cheap calls to UK landlines & WhatsApp lets me call friends for free. Back in June I was in Orlando for a week and only racked up £6.80 worth of data charges, just quickly flicking data on when not in range of wifi, ordering an Uber, then turning it off as soon as I was in the cab. The £6.80 was much cheaper for me than paying for the daily O2 bolt-on.

Obviously - at the moment - when in France where I have a 2nd home everything is included as if in the UK. I only queried the small US data charge as I know 100% mobile roaming was off for the duration of the trip I've just done to Orlando.
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