Phone charges abroad

[Davezrx1100]

totally confused re a trip to Turkey, couldn't understand the O2 guys explanation, grateful for help.

So I used my data to send a necessary text from taxi on way to hotel and paid a fiver as per the daily charge.

I then switched data off and used hotel wi fi the whole time, but I got charged another fiver for a text sent via the hotel WiFi.

02 guy says I should have put my flight mode on and I wdnt pay anything, I'm totally lost.

My wife put her flight mode on to watch a movie on plane  and left it on  she has paid 6 x £5 charges.

What should I have done?

[gmarkj]

Text messages (unless you are using a very small range of phones) go via a mobile network. 

You were charged the daily roaming charge for both of those messages, regardless of you using anything else that day (minutes, texts or data).

More information on that in the guide below.

Guide: Roaming MegaGuide 

I would say the charges your wife incurred are also daily roaming charges, but why the phone caught those if it was on flight mode the full time I'm not sure.

[Cleoriff]

@Davezrx1100,

I can't understand why you were only charged £5.00 when the daily rate for O2 Travel is £6.00 per day?

See the Roaming megaguide posted by @gmarkj above. Turkey is not in the E.U that's why you are charged. O2 Travel gives you unlimited texts, unlimited calls and data for the daily rate of £6.

Now if you send ONE text, the daily rate would be triggered.

If the hotel Wifi isn't very strong then mobile data will kick in and again you will be charged.

Also, on the other hand, if you haven't applied for O2 Travel you will be charged at international rates. (Rest Of The World) All shown in the roaming megaguide above.

[Bambino]

@Davezrx1100 See this as well: Roaming in Turkey and Cyprus - O2 Community

[gmarkj]

Maybe it's before VAT @Cleoriff ?

Have you checked your bill to make sure it is a roaming charge and nothing else @Davezrx1100 ?

This guide shows how to get to the details of your bill so you can check what the charges are for.

Guide: How do I get to the 'Download Bill' page? 

[Davezrx1100]

Thanks for replies, apologies, it was the £6 daily roaming charge I paid twice for sending a text each time.

I thought if u were on hotel WiFi, texts were free like what's app?

My wife paid 5 days roaming charges, only thing we can think is she uploaded pictures to FB, would that cause the roaming charge to kick in too?

I have no idea why the O2 advisor was telling me to put my flight mode on when abroad, I thought you just switched data off and relied on WiFi, (and don't text!)

[Cleoriff · Accepted solution]

@Davezrx1100 

Problem is, we are customers like yourself and have no access to your account.

The best thing to do is contact O2 again. NOT, live chat.

Give O2 a call on 202 or 0344 809 0202.

Or you can message O2 on Facebook ( https://o2uk.co/O2CFB) , Twitter ( https://o2uk.co/O2CTW) or Instagram ( https://o2uk.co/O2CIG), hopefully they should be able to help.

[gmarkj]

Unless your phone can send texts over WiFi (and the list from o2 is REALLY small) then sending a message would go via a normal cellular connection.

Any use of calls, texts or data would cause the roaming charge - so if she was not connected to WiFi only when using FB she would get charged.

The reason to put flight mode on and then switch WiFi on again is to stop ANY cellular connections, so the phone cannot send messages intentionally (you using a messaging app) or unintentionally (iPhones and some Android register to services in the background).