Poor old dad

[BMW]

Doesn't help in this case, but I do love my $49 LG Optimus Spirit, unlocked for $2 and then just buy a sim in-country.

Bugger buying on plans, being an older guy who probably has lower usage, the Aldi PAYG with 365 days of credit would probably be far more suitable.
https://www.aldimobile.com.au/plans#payg

Can't buy pre-paid sims in Japan. you know because terrorists might use them or something

 

[chrispy]

Exactly the same thing happened to me, my bill was $5200, the first time I took my iphone to the UK. I had not been downloading data at all but apparently the weather apps etc update constantly. I had not turned off global roaming!!!

I rang and complained and Telstra wiped the total bill with the warning that they would only do it once.

Hope that helps

Chris

 

[Olly]

She's been through it all with them. Wifi, Bluetooth, Hotspot and everything else is switched off and she doesn't have roaming. She rarely accesses the internet during the day (just for google maps when looking for a job site if lost) and uses her home wifi when she gets home. Other than that it's the usual calls and texts. I will mention what you've said though so she can check what social stuff she accesses and what the charges are etc. Thanks.

Olly

If the usage has changed but download charges have increased there have been two changes introduced by some of the telcos which may affect this:

1. Some social media sites used to be free but are now getting charged.
2. The way in which data charges are getting measured may have been charged resulting in much larger minimums measured.

There's also been stories about a system or apps fault which leaks data.

There are apps available which let you know about your usage- each telco should have one, and there are apps which are available for multiple telcos. I'd recommend that one of these be used.

Also make sure she knows how to switch wifi on and how to know when it's switched on.

 

[Rockstar]

Lucky old dad got off with a $350 bill. Data bill was actually around 5k. Happy days.

 

[geoffw]

A good outcome. Well done.

 

[Savanna100]

My kids understand the difference between texts being in a green box or a blue box. I didn't but I do now.

I'd be happy to have that particular thing explained to me too

 

[luckyone]

I'd be happy to have that particular thing explained to me too

A green box means the message has been sent as a standard sms and you will be charged your usual sms rates. The blue box will only come up when you send from one iPhone to another and have actually saved the other person's number as iPhone rather than mobile. This means that it's been sent as an iMessage, which means it is free cause you aren't technically sending an sms, but a message over Apple's network, so it doesn't come out of your sms limit but your data usage instead (I believe).

I hope that clears it up a bit.

 

[geoffw]

My daughter, before she lost her iPhone, could send SMS messages to my iPhone using an email address.

 

[BayView]

Can we turn this thread into an oldie bash?

I've got a million of 'em.

Oh, alright; we'll give 'em a break.

No; can't help myself - what 10 letter T word do oldies fear the most?

Terrorists or Technology?