iPad Data Danger while traveling

[CT4ME]

A Warning for those of you who travel with the iPad.
'got back from a driving trip to Mexico a few days ago... we took the iPad, but never even took it out of the suitcase, as we had WiFi to a netbook.
'I turned the iPad on today and have a little message on the screen saying something about excess data usage and to call AT&T. My SIM card was de-activated.
After being on hold *forever* I'm told that my bill for data usage on the iPad was $287! For 14MB of data! This was an iPad that was "sleeping" in my suitcase, with the screen never even turned on. Apparently, data roaming was turned on, and the default is to use it for International Data services. Apparently, notifications and "push" content come through, along with automatic program updates.
This happened in spite of us telling AT&T that we specifically DID NOT want to use International Data (for the iPad), while in Mexico. We DID, however, have our iPhone activated for voice & TXT while on the trip.
My complaint is that there was NO warning on the screen confirming that I wanted to use International Data. The only warning came AFTER they determined that I had used a large amount of data... 14MB! That's about the size of 3 typical pictures from a digital camera.
Ultimately, after numerous phone calls, and hours of being on hold or hung-up on, they activated a $30 minimal International data plan and made it retroactive to before the trip. That wasn't good enough for the Wife, so after several more calls and "speaking with several supervisors", she got the whole thing removed.
What a pain, and a waste of most of a Sunday. Be warned... TURN OFF DATA ROAMING before venturing across a border.

 

[dukeblue219]

Interesting. I understand how that could happen with a phone, and i am not surprised it used data while asleep. But what gets me is that the iPad data plan is more of a month to month, prepaid situation. You can't accidentally go over the monthly limit and theres no "bill." So, i just assumed that when you went international it would just not work rather than running up charges on some account. Or do you have an iPad attached to your regular cellular account?

 

[CT4ME]

Yup... Pad and Phone are on same account, not prepaid. What was frustrating was that they asked us if we wanted to use International Data on the iPad (while activating it for the iPhone)... we said no, thinking it would preclude us from accidentally using any expensive data. Wrong.
We'll see a news item, someday soon, with the headlines "AT&T fined for bilking millions from traveling consumers"

 

[BillTIZ]

I leave the 3G side of the iPad turned off.
I turn off the Wifi side while traveling. I only turn on the wifi when I have a known wifi capability in hotels or resturants. I turn on the 3G when I need it.

When flying, 3G and wifi is off, gps works fine, saves battery life.
I do not leave the iPad in "sleep" mode unless I am home.

I just returned from a trip through Canada to Alaska and return with no extra charges for the iPad data service. Hotels with wifi are a wonderful thing.

 

[denverpilot]

The default setting is data roaming off, I believe. Did you turn it on?

I'd never leave that setting on without adult supervision. Mostly because telecom companies aren't run by respectful adults.

 

[wsuffa]

Mostly because telecom companies aren't run by respectful adults.

Verizon is just as bad. I'll relate the story (about their supposed "grandfathering" of old plans if you buy an unsubsidized phone) in a couple of days, depending on the outcome of an internal escalation.

 

[Sac Arrow]

The default setting is data roaming off, I believe. Did you turn it on?

I'd never leave that setting on without adult supervision. Mostly because telecom companies aren't run by respectful adults.

I never disable data roaming off unless its an absolute emergency when I'm outside of the country.

Only an issue with my iPhone however, I did not subscribe to a data plan on the iPad. I'm not paying for two.

 

[JGoodish]

Ultimately, after numerous phone calls, and hours of being on hold or hung-up on, they activated a $30 minimal International data plan and made it retroactive to before the trip. That wasn't good enough for the Wife, so after several more calls and "speaking with several supervisors", she got the whole thing removed.
What a pain, and a waste of most of a Sunday. Be warned... TURN OFF DATA ROAMING before venturing across a border.

As others have mentioned, the iOS default for data roaming on the iPad is "Off." Apple specifically warns about data roaming charges if this setting is enabled. You must have enabled it at some point.

And, yes, push services like ActiveSync typically use cellular data regardless of WiFi status.


JKG

 

[JGoodish]

Verizon is just as bad. I'll relate the story (about their supposed "grandfathering" of old plans if you buy an unsubsidized phone) in a couple of days, depending on the outcome of an internal escalation.

Don't know if Verizon has changes for the better in the last few years, but my attempts at escalation with them on the phone were always fruitless. They always had scripted responses, or would simply refuse to negotiate any point where they didn't have an "approved" answer. Ask for the supervisor? "I am the supervisor." Great. I wasted several hours on the phone with them before I gave up and decided to write a hardcopy letter to an address I found on their website. It worked. I received a hardcopy letter in response apologizing for the problem and agreeing to fix it. Unfortunately for them, I was already a former customer by the time I received their response. Really ticked me off when I realized that the customer service stonewalling was so highly orchestrated.


JKG

 

[denverpilot]

Verizon is just as bad. I'll relate the story (about their supposed "grandfathering" of old plans if you buy an unsubsidized phone) in a couple of days, depending on the outcome of an internal escalation.

They announced earlier this year that no further grandfathering would be done on new contracts, I thought. You either stay month-to-month and buy unlocked full price hardware, or you're getting a new style limited data contract. No other options.

Unless you have a recording of an employee offering you otherwise, or something in writing, say bye bye to your grandfathered unlimited data plan.

They're all going this way now, even long time holdout, Sprint.

 

[JGoodish]

They're all going this way now, even long time holdout, Sprint.

In my estimation, the carriers really have no choice. With data use growing substantially and the resulting required investments in network, some type of limit was inevitable. The real crock, in my opinion, is the new "data share" plans, which require the bulk of your investment to be in things that you may not need (unlimited talk and text) in order to "share" the same data pool that you used to get with just a single line. In the case of Verzion, not only do they REQUIRE the share plan from everyone, but they provide LESS DATA allocation than the competition. In essence, a clever way to affect a huge price increase on data plans.


JKG

 

[Baron2PG]

I do not pay for a seperate data connection for the IPAD; serious waste of money. My DROID 4G phone can create a local WIFI link to the IPAD when I need to download email, file a flight plan, or check the airplane blogs (PS. This is now free). Once done, I turn the link back off. No problems with the IPAD sucking up unecessary MB or having an open internet door for someone to hack into my files. No monthly expense for a IPAD data plan. When home I sync the IPAD to the computer to update the necessary apps and such.

 

[denverpilot]

In the case of Verzion, not only do they REQUIRE the share plan from everyone, but they provide LESS DATA allocation than the competition. In essence, a clever way to affect a huge price increase on data plans.

To quote a now infamous Presidential debate line, "I don't know what you're talking about."

We had 2GB of data on three devices prior to the switch to a shared plan, and we paid more for it.

Now we have 6GB of shared data at a lower price. And with a wife who doesn't use nearly as much data as I do, and no worries about which device is nearing its limit, the shared VZ plan works great here.

As far as the carriers whining about higher and higher data usage, it's a sham. They sunk their fiber costs well over a decade ago, and dense wave-division multiplexing means they just turn up another "color" of light on the long haul paths when they need more bandwidth. I haven't talked to anyone in the industry saying their already buried fiber isn't enough yet; there's piles and piles of dark fiber in most routes.

It isn't costing them what it once did, to turn up additional bandwidth. Their heavy CapEx was a long time ago.

In the case of Global Crossing, they did the standard thing... Bury the fiber, run the oceanic fiber, run out of cash, file bankruptcy and screw the shareholders, emerge from bankruptcy with a new company name that owns the infrastructure at pennies on the dollar, profit. All from an unmanned broom closet in the Bahamas for tax purposes. (I have photos of "Corporate HQ".)

Same story as Iridium. Except Iridium is U.S. owned for ease of Military contracts. NSA is always all over GX for their "foreign" ownership.

AT&T and VZ play similar games with Divisions with different names and legal entities. Their cellular Divisions eat the tower/equipment costs while they spin off new names to handle things like 4G deployments. Their strategists know how to structure the many business names while they all operate SSID they were one entity in the Marketing space.

 

[JGoodish]

To quote a now infamous Presidential debate line, "I don't know what you're talking about."

We had 2GB of data on three devices prior to the switch to a shared plan, and we paid more for it.

How? Before, you would have had 2GB per device; the only way the shared plans are a win is for tablets. But, I can't buy a shared data plan if I don't have a smartphone (which I don't). No one needs a smartphone for voice, and you can't "share" the data plan without one. In Verizon's case, you basically can't have a new cell phone without it being a smartphone, either. The result is a giant, hidden increase per GB in the data plan rates. Their goal is to force people into Cadillac plans that they probably don't need.

As far as the carriers whining about higher and higher data usage, it's a sham. They sunk their fiber costs well over a decade ago, and dense wave-division multiplexing means they just turn up another "color" of light on the long haul paths when they need more bandwidth. I haven't talked to anyone in the industry saying their already buried fiber isn't enough yet; there's piles and piles of dark fiber in most routes.

If back haul was the only problem, and bandwidth was free, you'd have a good point. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. Towers are usually leased, but equipment isn't cheap (fiber is cheap) and towers have to be retrofitted in order to provide decent coverage. Major metro sites may have fiber, but many, many other sites do not, and even those that do require expensive optical upgrades to increase capacity. There is also a greater OpEx that accompanies an expanded network.

Don't get me wrong, the carriers are making some nice margins on wireless, but the idea that it's the cash cow that traditional wireline became for them isn't the case at this point. Traditional wireline revenues have been dropping for years, while wireless has experienced substantial and continuing growth, which is why the big carriers have been selling off wireline assets and shifting investment to wireless. Move into more rural areas or smaller cities, and you discover that they have a long way to go.

In the case of Global Crossing, they did the standard thing... Bury the fiber, run the oceanic fiber, run out of cash, file bankruptcy and screw the shareholders, emerge from bankruptcy with a new company name that owns the infrastructure at pennies on the dollar, profit. All from an unmanned broom closet in the Bahamas for tax purposes. (I have photos of "Corporate HQ".)

Global Crossing was bought by Level3, but I remember them and their predecessor, Frontier. A lot of these guys did huge debt-inducing buildouts and then the dot-com bubble burst and their easy revenue dried up.

Offshore incorporation for tax purposes is common. Garmin is one such corporation, even though their real headquarters is in Kansas.

I worked for Verizon for nearly 10 years (starting in the Bell Atlantic days), in management. They were screwed up in a lot of ways, but one thing that I never witnessed was unethical or questionable business behavior from the top. They always had a great network, but invested heavily to get there, and invested continuously to both expand it and maintain their competitive edge. With that being said, I did not consider them to be a consumer-focused company, and that's a bit hard to swallow with them charging more for less when compared with the competition.


JKG

 

[wsuffa]

They announced earlier this year that no further grandfathering would be done on new contracts, I thought. You either stay month-to-month and buy unlocked full price hardware, or you're getting a new style limited data contract. No other options.

Unless you have a recording of an employee offering you otherwise, or something in writing, say bye bye to your grandfathered unlimited data plan.

They're all going this way now, even long time holdout, Sprint.

THat's correct - after being assured that the existing plans (voice, data, and hotspot) would remain intact if I bought a full price (non-subsidized) replacement phone - and three separate reps confirmed that - I went ahead and bought a new phone (new/refurb). No subsidy, no contract renewal, just replace phone. I'm on month-to-month and have been so for 18+ months (and would have been even longer but it was a better deal to do a 1 year contract last time I got a phone.... that option no longer exists). I don't do contracts.

So... when I switched the activation from old phone to new, the voice plan and unlimited data transferred over - the hotspot feature did NOT transfer. No way to add it back online, no way for reps to add it back, and since I had activated the new phone there was no way to cancel the activation and get it back (within 5 minutes of activating the new phone). Back when I started the hotspot feature it was all they offered... the "supervisor" told me (incorrectly) that the original hotspot feature was a "promotion" and they were unable to restore it. I had to switch to a new tiered plan if I want the hotspot feature. (Based on the FCC ruling, I can potentially do a 5 GB plan and use a third party tethering program, but the FCC ruling excludes unlimited data plans).

In order to get it back, they have to appeal to some administrative office that takes "a few business days" to render an answer. So, I'm out until then. So, I've taken a TMo prepay plan that gives me unlimited tethering, unlimited data and a nominal amount of voice (if I want it) for half the price of what I would pay Verizon if the tethering feature carried over. TMo is not the long-term solution because of coverage and inferior international roaming, but it's a temporary solution. ATT and Sprint are potential options.

So, the data plans apparently DO NOT all transfer over as VZ has publicly stated - even if you bring/buy an unsubsidized phone.

I'll continue to fight them, and I am considering alternatives. It's one thing to tell me up front and let me decide (I would have chosen another option had they been honest), it's entirely another to have things come down the way they did.

I do want to give them a chance to live up to their word via the appeal process, so I'm not roasting them at this point.