Just like Mums everywhere, I've apparently been to Iceland?

[Anonymous]

On the 3rd of May this year, I boarded a ferry in Portsmouth and 24 hours later docked in Bilbao, Spain. Whilst onboard I had no mobile phone connection. No data access.

I checked my bill when I got home this weekend and I've been billed £40 for "Non-EU browse and download" on the exact date I was on a boat, country code "ISL". 

Has anyone else had this happen?

I've had an online chat with O2 twice now. The second time they had no record of my first query about this. This time again they said they will investgate it.

I'm quite loath to pay £40 on my bill and wait for them to investgate when I'm on a £27-a-month contract!

[jonsie]

The phone must have connected to the ships network even if the phone is in sleep mode, apps will continually update. I would be asking customer service on 202 nicely if they will refund the charges even though strictly speaking it isn't an O2 fault. You can check charges here using the drop box for ships and ferries.

http://travelabroad.o2-uktech.com/coverage.php

If ou still have a grievance after speaking to them, you might want to consider an official complaint. Let us know how you get on.

O2 | How to complain

[Anonymous]

Certainly, if a customer is getting charged non-EU rates for an EU country this is something that I can feed back on.

However, we would need to actually see this on the bill so if the OP has been getting charged non-EU rates (ie. your bill doesn't show £1.99 charge for every day it was used) then I would advise sending @Toby a PM with your number and a link to this thread so it can be looked at.

[adamtemp64]

@opium agreed but isl is the iso code for iceland. From the op post

The ferry / cruise networks should have their own code on the bill

[Anonymous]

They usually have agreements with a host country however - normally Norway. So, essentially, you are using the host countries network.

I do think it would be better if billing systems could reflect this however - such as:

£1.99 - O2 Travel - ISL(cruise)

And I don't imagine it would be impossible; we can see the mast in which the sim card was connected to so a database of masts used on cruises would make it easy to identify.

[adamtemp64]

@opium agreed but lets hope the op gets a result.

Adam

[Anonymous]

I've been told in the online chat that I will be contacted within 5 days. I'll come back to you all.

It was Brittany Ferries (french flag), sailing UK to Spain around the bay of Biscay.

I am aware of the data usage feature of my android, but it was a midday sailing and arrival, so I can't narrow it down by hours of the day. If I couldn't even access my pop3 email in the middle of the voyage, I don't see how any apps managed a connection. That's not to say they didn't do their best polling the ferry's mobile data for connections that never succeeded.

Knowing how low the O2 travel allowance is on data, I put a Spanish sim card in upon arrival. I didn't swap back until we returned to Portsmouth, which may be why I didn't have a second charge on the return journey.

[adamtemp64]

@pugwash2 I do hope you get this sorted.

Just in future either turn the phone off before you leave the uk or ensure all data is off.

[Anonymous]

I think I'll stick the spanish sim card in before I board!

[adamtemp64]

but they may still do the data charge . just turn it off before you board the ferry then swap the sim when spanish soil .

[Cleoriff]

Just a query guys? This business re 'turning your phone off before you board the ferry to avoid being charged for data you don't use' seems a bit outlandish to me! This is a 24 hr journey and a bit grim if you can't text or phone your family or friends while aboard? (Let alone take pictures...should you wish to!) I would certainly want to have some sort of contact. You could be having friends making a journey to pick you up etc etc.

I agree that this doesnt seem to be clear cut at all, and its a wonder there aren't more complaints from folk using ferries. (Just saying)