data usage in the EU

[Anonymous]

2 questions here..

My account shows I have O2 travel as a free extra but it doesn't actually work. I've since paid/enrolled for the £1.99 pm travel extrato make it work.

secondly - on the same subject, O2 messaged me I had used 60% of my 1GB travel allowance for data..costing £30 approx, but my phone says i've used 250mb ? To confuse thiings even more, when i check my O2 account on line my current bill only shows approx 200mb used on the days before I signed up for the £1.99 pm travel extra.  Now maybe there are some charges outstanding - but why are O2 scaring me about usage..making me buy the travel option when in fact it says it was free..and I already had it showing on my O2 account as one of my extras ??

confused ?yesI am..

thanks

[PhoneDoc]

Hi there @Anonymous.

O2 Travel should be activated whenever you place a call, text, or turn on data roaming when abroad. You're then charged £1.99 for every day that you do this. Would you be able to give any more information about the issue you've experienced with O2 Travel? Are you still abroad right now, and what country?

Do you know the name of the travel bolt you are using now? Off the top of my head I'm not aware of any that provide 1GB of foreign data for £1.99/m. There is My Europe Extra, that costs around £2/month to receive calls for free within the EU, but this is a legacy tariff that isn't usually offered, and it won't provide you with a data allowance, just standard data rates.

As for the text messages you're receiving, if you have O2 Travel turned off (or have any other roaming plan enabled), you'll be charged at the standard rate per MB of data for whichever country you're in. This will be capped at £48. Without any more information, the only thing I can think is that text message is warning you that you're 60% there towards that £48 cap (the math seems to work out). 

As for your O2 bill, data usage is calculated on bills sporadically and does not update in real time. It may take a day or two for previous usage to be logged on your MyO2 account.

In the meantime, it does sound like you're getting charged standard rates per MB of data. This is 4.3p/mb in the EU. If you're not intending to use data, I would turn data roaming off in your handsets settings to avoid incurring extra charges. If you are reliant on data it may be worth getting in touch with CS again to see if they can help solve the issue with O2 Travel, or remove the £48 data cap.

Hope this helps

[Anonymous]

let me clarify -

i'm in France and didn't activate the travel option but simpy avoided using data...then was a time I needed to use data without any plan in place. I got a message from O2UK telling me firstly I had used 30% of my 1GB allowance costing me £13, then Igot another a few days later saying I'd used 60% of my 1GB allowance costing me £25. It also said the most I'd pay in one month would be £43. At this point I chose to activate the O2 travel service at £1.99 pm. having already incurred £25 of charges... However, when I look at my latest charges on O2, several days after, my data costs amount to just £5. this is prior to my activating the travel option. So my question was why was I told I'd spent £25 when in fact i've only incurred £5 of costs ?

Since the activation of my travel plan i've not incurred anymore data charges..so that bit is fine..it's before then that i'm confused about.

The data actually used, according to myO2 latest charges from the website was 150mb, not 600mb as I had been warned.

If I had known my data was only costing me such a small amount I wouldn't have bothered buying the travel bolt on ..but given the warnings I got of the costs mounting up, I did. Incidentaly, my own data usage as displayed on my actual phone was telling me I was only using 150mb of data too...although it said this might be different than my network provider. 

There seems to be an anomally in the O2 messaging which totally overstated the data I was using by 3x the actual amount i was using.

[Cleoriff]

Hi @Anonymous

It does seem very confusing and strange...However we are all customers like yourself and have no access to your account. To make any further comment would be guessing at the cause of the charges

The only people who can help you sort this out are customer services. They will be able to explain why/where/how  these charges occurred and make a refund if they identify your bill is incorrect.

I go to Spain frequently and on one occasion was overcharged. A call to CS sorted this immediately.

Best time to call is 8.00-8-30 am http://www.o2.co.uk/contactus  Best of luck

[Anonymous]

tbh, if it was an over charge I would ring CS, but as it's less than informed i'm more comfortable with that.

I've just tried to terminate my travel bolt on but apparently you can only do that after a week of use...

Another reason for dumping the travel bolt on is it is triggered even when you just make a call or send a text,making that cost £1.99 if you don't use anything else...I'm now connecting via wifi so must avoid making texts or calls until I can cancel the bolt on next week...otherwise i'll be billed the fixed daily charge of £1.99.

Like most things, it's a bit complex and not really explained when you look at the wording..(read the details ....)

Lesson learned anyway...read the small print.

[Cleoriff]

Hi @Anonymous I understand your initial confusion......it's only being a member of this forum that I understand the ins and outs of the changes to O2 Travel from 7/4/16. I always had O2 Travel activated before this date. I am a low data user and have access to wifi when abroad (as well as having the TuGo app) ....so it cost me virtually nothing.

After the changes I decided to opt out... as I didn't want the £1.99 triggered on the rare occasions I send texts or make a call. If you understand it clearly there is something for everyone with O2 Travel now..

Mind you... it will be even better after June 2017 when all travel charges are abolished (if we stay in the EU)

**Edited to add. If you have access to WiFi now, you should download the TuGo app. It gives you calls and texts free (or taken out of your OK allowances) http://www.o2.co.uk/apps/tu-go

[Anonymous]

i'm wondering if i have both the travel add on and TUGO on at the same time,which willbe applicable..? The idea of texting or calling now for fear of incurring the £1.99 daily charge is off putting, but if TUGO is on will this over-ride the add on ??  Unable to stop the add on until a week has passed I guess i'll sit it out and just use messenger or whatsap for now while i've got wifi.

When i'm out and about , and out of reach of wifi,and often a mobile signal, then calling/texting is a no go.. often i've used data roaming when i can get 3G , but roll on next year when this mess is all sorted out.

Just one additional 'moan' - having taken a package with O2 which included call/texts and 5GB of data it's annoying i'm actually still paying for that privilege even when outside the UK...so basically I'm paying twice...

[Cleoriff]

To be honest @Anonymous I am no expert with Tugo. I only added it to my account in January of this year. Now the real expert is @jonsie He uses it a lot. I will mention him and hope he will see this query. (He is currently packing up to move to Thailand as I write)

[MI5]

Firstly, there is no 1gb restriction on travel data (once activated) and secondly, Tu is completely independent, so you can use Tu over wifi without invoking the travel charge.

[Anonymous]

The warnings are meant to be for those without o2Travel.

I have had the same problem. I switched off o2Travel expecting low use. Used about 100MB or less in 3 days. Then got panicked by a warning that I had used 30% of my 1GB allowance. Bought back into o2Travel as a result. Turns out I was mis-sold the bolt-on: the warning was wrong.