Leave the phone at home when you go abroad (SMH)

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If you're smart, keep the phone at home

Jen Rosenberg Consumer Affairs

People travelling overseas with their mobile phones set to data roaming are in

for a nasty shock when they get home. Bills run into the thousands of dollars

even when the user has made few or no phone calls or has minimal internet use.

Slezak was cautious about setting his phone to data roaming on a recent

business trip to Dublin but the bill did not seem excessive so he did not think

twice about it when he went to a medical conference in Chicago last week.

A few days into the trip his service provider, Three, texted him to let him know

he had used more than $1000 worth of data. He tried unsuccessfully to contact

the company - it gave him a number which he said was only operating during

business hours in Australia. ''When I did finally get hold of them they told me

that my bill was now $2000 because it takes them 24-48 hours to get notification

of all the charges from the company that I'm actually using.''

Mobile phone operators say you are out of their hands when you travel because

you link in to networks in the country you visit, but no one can explain why the

prices are so much higher than comparable data usage for a local user, or for

the visiting user on their plan at home...

http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/gadgets/if-youre-smart-keep-the-phone-at-h\

ome-20110517-1eqrl.html