You're viewing an article in iPO's historic archive vault. Here, we've preserved the comments and how the site looked along with the article. Use this link to view the article on our current site: Blocking Exorbitant International Roaming Charges on iPhone

News

Blocking Exorbitant International Roaming Charges on iPhone

Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 4:35 PM - by

Some U.S. users of the iPhone have taken their iPhone to a foreign country, were delighted to find out that they could roam with it, and then received truly enormous bills after the trip. There is a way to avoid that.

The trick is to call AT&T at 1-800-335-4685, according to Macs Only and ask for an International Roaming agent. They can block the iPhone for both data and voice calls. Unfortunately, both must be blocked. This turns out to be especially useful for those traveling in border areas near Canada or Mexico, on land or at sea, where it's possible to end up roaming via a foreign country cell tower.

Roaming charges can add up in a hurry at US$22/hour. Some unwary users have found themselves facing US$5,000 phone bills. In some cases, as in the author's, Mr. Bill Fox, modest accidental charges have been dropped by AT&T, but it's better to be aware of the potential problem and have the iPhone number blocked for international roaming before traveling in the twilight zones.

3 comments from the community.

You can post your own below.

+ show options

Your current settings, click to change: Sort Oldest First, Show Guest Posts, Hide Community Stats

Sir Harry Flashman said:

member since 08 Feb 2007 with 792 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Sep 10, 2007 5:16 pm

Great tip. Living in San Diego I often visit friends who live in Imperial Beach which is right on the border with Mexico. I will probably buy an iPhone in late October or early November.

Quote this post ↓

shrink said:

member since 26 Aug 2007 with 5 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Sep 11, 2007 1:09 am

Well, this really shows just how badly the deal with ATYT sucks! I have no such problems traveling with my Blackberry. I won't be getting an iPhone until I can unlock it and use it with T-Mobile!

Quote this post ↓

daemon said:

member since 17 May 2007 with 344 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Sep 11, 2007 10:23 am

shrink wrote:
Well, this really shows just how badly the deal with ATYT sucks! I have no such problems traveling with my Blackberry. I won't be getting an iPhone until I can unlock it and use it with T-Mobile!

Didn't you hear, you can already do that.

Quote this post ↓

Post Your Comments

  Remember Me

Not a member? Register now. You can post comments without logging in, but they'll show up as a "guest" post.


Please enter the word exactly as you see it in the image above. Registered users aren't prompted for this. Having trouble reading the image get a new one.