topic Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion in Pay Monthly

Travel Bolt-on confusion

RicWalLar — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 15:14:10 GMT

I'm travelling to USA for just over 3 weeks My tariff doesn't include Travel Inclusive so I need the Travel Bolt-on for which I'm charged £6 per day when I use it. I wanted to check how it works so went into my local O2 shop, but they were no help at all (subsequent call to Customer Service confirmed they gave me completely wrong information). I wanted to ensure the £6 charge covers calls made to phones within USA (eg for booking a restaurant table). The shop said it wasn't included & would cost me £2/minute but Customer Service confirmed what I believed & how I read the terms: it is included. After all, it says on the Terms (emphasis added):

"O2 Travel is the perfect way to stay connected in selected destinations outside our Europe and O2 Travel Inclusive Zones. It costs £6 a day, and that gets you all the data you need, plus unlimited minutes and texts, both where you are and back to the UK.

There's no upper usage limit on data, but data speeds might vary. These allowances won't affect your standard UK allowances. Voicemail (901) is included."

So I've added the Travel Bolt-on to my account.

But Customer Service also said I have 5GB of data already available as a bolt-on to my tariff. But there is absolutely nowhere I can see this and I knew nothing about it. So now I don't know (I was getting a bit confused & didn't ask) whether I'll get this phantom 5GB usage before any £6 charge kicks in! I would think that I should do, though if I make a voice call or text I guess that would trigger the £6. Confused? Moi?

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

MI5 — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 15:24:49 GMT

@RicWalLar

UK data is irrelevant when using the travel bolton.

You pay the daily charge even if you use 1mb.

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

RicWalLar — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 16:33:02 GMT

I've just found what the "5GB bolt-on" probably was, more confusion. I bet Customer Support was confusing the "5G Access Bolt-on" with the idea of having 5GB of data allowance! There's nothing else it could be.

But the main thing is, phone calls & texts are included in the £6 daily charge. That's another confusing thing: it says on the Daily Allowances terms: "Daily Allowances will apply for 24 hours from (i) the first use of any data; (ii) the first voice call you make back to the UK or within your destination , including voicemail (901) retrieval and voice calls; or (iii) the first text message sent back to the UK, whilst in your selected destination."

But it also says under "O2 Travel FAQs - How does O2 Travel work?: For £6 a day you’ll get all the data you need, plus unlimited minutes and texts to use within your travel destination and back to the UK.You'll only be charged on the days you use O2 Travel. The daily charge will apply from midnight to midnight, local time (based on the capital city of the country you're in), and won't be triggered by receiving calls or texts."

So in California I'll be 4 hours behind Washington DC. If I use data on Monday at say 19:55 PDT that's 23:55 EDT (in DC). So I'll be charged £6 for that usage on Monday. But if I use it at say 20:05 PDT that's 00:05 EDT, Tuesday in DC, so presumably I'll get another £6 charge even if I don't use it again on Tuesday. Just checking. Maybe the answer is to not use it after 8 in the evening in California.

And someone on the website development side should maybe rectify a typo in links on https://www.o2.co.uk/help/pay-monthly/using-your-phone-abroad pointing to Travel & Data Roaming Bolt-ons which come up with an error message because they're pointing to "..international/data-aboard" instead of "...abroad". Who to tell?

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

MI5 — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 16:42:35 GMT

@RicWalLar

You can find a thousand grammatical and spelling errors if you look long enough.

Not worth the effort of reporting tbh....

Your daily charge starts where you are and runs for 24 hours, so crossing time zones won't matter.

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

RicWalLar — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 17:32:21 GMT

Thanks. Of course many websites have loads of typos (and some terrible grammar) but that one creating a duff link limits access to important information. You’d hope an organisation like Telefonica would be better than that, but that’s wishful thinking.

So if midnight in Washington DC is irrelevant then why do they make reference to the daily charge being based on midnight in the country’s capital city? Simple question.

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

pgn — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 18:37:58 GMT

It used to be midnight to midnight, but now the clock starts counting down 24hrs from when your first chargeable activity triggers it: making a call, sending an SMS, accessing a website on cellular data (not counting hotel or other free WiFi, note!), or receiving a call that is passed onto Voicemail, if you use it, @RicWalLar. Receiving SMS is free. Note also you may need to connect to a network that shows as Forbidden, when out of range of the default O2 Roaming Partners T-Mobile or AT&T - this is permissible when roaming.

may help. The IMEI lookup tool on the link is a bit out of date, but it gives you the gist of what you should have enabled.

Enjoy the trip!

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

RicWalLar — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 19:41:17 GMT

Thanks pgn, so they leave outdated stuff on the website (midnight in the country’s capital)? Not impressed. In fact, every interaction I’ve had has left me significantly unimpressed which is rather shameful on their part. Just today there have been 5 different issues that have been incorrect. Is that normal?

I’m now wondering about buying one of these USA SIM cards. For around £30 it seems I can get 21 days unlimited data, calls & texts. That’s equal to 5 days on O2 Travel. Is there a catch (apart from having to change the card in the phone)?

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

MI5 — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 19:42:16 GMT

@RicWalLar wrote:
So if midnight in Washington DC is irrelevant then why do they make reference to the daily charge being based on midnight in the country’s capital city? Simple question.

More nonsense on the website @RicWalLar

As I said, it runs for 24 hours from when you invoked the charge.

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

MI5 — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 19:44:49 GMT

@RicWalLar wrote:
I’m now wondering about buying one of these USA SIM cards. For around £30 it seems I can get 21 days unlimited data, calls & texts. That’s equal to 5 days on O2 Travel. Is there a catch (apart from having to change the card in the phone)?

Definitely the way forward, but use whatsapp or similar to call home as rates from the USA will be expensive from a US sim

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

RicWalLar — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 20:06:53 GMT

Yeah, thanks, it seems to be a no-brainer to go down the USA SIM route, don't know why I hadn't thought of it before, but I'm very old 😉 I use WhatsApp mostly anyway for anything overseas (& the grandchildren) so hopefully a different SIM won't create issues on that score.

Ironically whilst typing this I received an email from O2 saying my Travel Bolt-on is activated. Hmmm. Maybe I'll remove it before I travel, though if the O2 SIM stays in an envelope during the trip I shouldn't risk any charges!

Sort of hoping there's a mobile signal through Death Valley & the Nevada desert! Not banking on it though. 😎

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

MI5 — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 20:44:02 GMT

I worked in Death Valley in the 90's and we had a good (analogue) phone signal then.

That was carrying a brick attached to a battery the size of a suitcase though

No guarantees that technology hasn't "improved" since though @RicWalLar

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

jonsie — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 20:49:12 GMT

I always had a good signal in Death Valleyand travelling down through Nevada and Arizona and back to California.

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

RicWalLar — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 21:08:13 GMT

Thanks. I remember the brick phones, had my first in 1986. Anyway, it’s just in case. Satnav might be useful for Grand Canyon > Furnace Creek > Reno but not that many opportunities for getting lost, I think. 🌅

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

Oxonian — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 18:38:19 GMT

@RicWalLar wrote:

Ironically whilst typing this I received an email from O2 saying my Travel Bolt-on is activated. Hmmm. Maybe I'll remove it before I travel, though if the O2 SIM stays in an envelope during the trip I shouldn't risk any charges!

There is a suggestion @RicWalLar in some posts on this community that it is also important to make sure that voicemail is turned off. 👍

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

pgn — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 18:47:33 GMT

@Oxonian wrote:
There is a suggestion @RicWalLar in some posts on this community that it is also important to make sure that voicemail is turned off. 👍

True, @Oxonian - and mentioned in passing further up the thread - Voicemail, the scourge of many a trip into areas where the "free to activate" O2 Travel is the sole "value proposition" offering available.

Free to activate before you leave Blighty's shores, that is, otherwise the SMS to enroll in O2 Travel costs you, as covered elsewhere earlier this week 😖

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

Oxonian — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 17:25:27 GMT

Thanks @pgn, it was not clear whether your advice had actually registered with @RicWalLar or not. 👍

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

RicWalLar — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 18:17:39 GMT

Thanks for the voicemail tip, I’ll make sure it’s turned off. I never get any voicemail messages anyway, but Sod’s Law and all that 🙄

Still weighing up the £6/day or USA SIM options. Tricky.

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

RicWalLar — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 21:06:51 GMT

The thing is: most data use will be on WiFi when at hotels or niece’s home in Reno, so out of 25 days it probably won’t be that many. And for satnav I’ve downloaded offline Google maps which I guess will work OK. But changing to USA SIM means potential issues if any credit card authorisations are needed (texts to normal UK number obviously won’t appear). And hassle of telling people and WhatsApp of the temporary number. And for the same ~£30 cost I get 5 days at £6 but what, if anything, do I need to do (apart from deactivating voicemail) to prevent accidentally triggering the charge? Presumably I just need to turn off roaming until and unless I choose to use it.

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

MI5 — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 21:16:59 GMT

@RicWalLar

In theory, turning off data roaming should leave you able to receive any calls or texts which will be free, however, your phone may use data in some circumstances, so keep data off completely.

Re: Travel Bolt-on confusion

RicWalLar — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 21:27:10 GMT

👍