Got a $1000 international data roaming bill

[msi1995]

HELP

I recently took free offer and dumped my old blackberry pearl and replaced with Blackberry Curve 8330 from T-Mobile. (Ended up agreeing to 2year contract for same) I have been a long time t-mobile customer (5+ years) and over3 year blackberry user.

I travel internationally a lot and have had $19.99 unlimited data and $19.99 international e-mail service all along. In past 3 years using PEARL- I have never paid a cent for data roaming. I have read the news, checked the scores, used google maps and so on.

On my first trip with Curve to Ireland and Bahamas, I received over $1000 data roaming bill. about 50% of charges are almost hourly $.078 cent type.

I called the T-mobile and they just stonewalled me in saying - this is the charge we recceived from overseas carrier. If you did not pay in past - you were lucky. There is nothing we can do ( or you can do as I see you just signed a two year contract).

I never complain, never go after pennies. Never asked for $1 refund when T-mobile would send me a SMS welcoming me to to a country and charging me for it.

Another thing - when I received Curve - I was forced to sewitch over to new unlimited web [plan which cost me $24.99 (up from $19.99) for same service as before. I believe they said that curve can not work without it.

Any way I can recover this money from T-mobile. Any suggestions? Anyway to dump the contract and take my $500 a month business to some other carrier.

Thank you for reading and for your help

[rjgreen3]

Just pay early termination fee and move on. I t is their lost in the long run! I do like their service; but T-Mo has a lot of BS with them!

[Artemis68]

You shouldn't have been forced to switch over to the 24.99 plan. You can keep the 19.99 plan if you talk to Retentions. Regular CSR won't do anything.

And I agree, if you travel often, don't go with T-Mobile. They don't have ANY data options for you. I would just pay the ETF and sell the Curve to help make up for some of the cost.

[Shake]

I am not sure what the deal is with these data charges. I have about 100 executives where I work who travel overseas and never get charged per KB for data. They pay the 19.99 add on for international and that's it. They have a BES plan with T-Mobile.

How is your browser configured? Options -> Advanced Options -> Browser? Default Browser should be Internet Browser. If you go through T-Zones for all of your web surfing while overseas, then it will definitely charge you for roaming.

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[tarek307]

Never EVER use roaming, always when you goto a country get their sim card from their carrier, its usually very cheap, & load it with a prepaid card

[Shake]

I don't see why you can't use data roaming packages. That's why it's an UNLIMITED international roaming data add-on. The one glitch I am aware of is T-Zones.

As far as roaming voice charges go, that's a whole different story.

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[mattglobal]

Originally Posted by Artemis68

You shouldn't have been forced to switch over to the 24.99 plan. You can keep the 19.99 plan if you talk to Retentions. Regular CSR won't do anything.

And I agree, if you travel often, don't go with T-Mobile. They don't have ANY data options for you. I would just pay the ETF and sell the Curve to help make up for some of the cost.

I've had T-Mobile since 2006, and I've had their international plan since 2007 and have spent extended stays in Europe and Asia ever year since then and I have never, ever been charged a dime for international data. I got back from Tokyo two weeks ago and my statement came in with plenty of voice charges from my time in Japan but not data charges again.

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[dragonsamus]

The OP posted they had the $19.99 unlimited international email plan. Does that cover data? If not that is probably where the extra charges came from.

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[mattglobal]

Originally Posted by dragonsamus

The OP posted they had the $19.99 unlimited international email plan. Does that cover data? If not that is probably where the extra charges came from.

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Some at T-Mobile say that it does, other say that it doesn't. My plan says it covers email and doesn't say anything about data, but all my data has been covered. Generally, T-Mobile has been very inconsistent on this.

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[Artemis68]

Originally Posted by mattglobal

I've had T-Mobile since 2006, and I've had their international plan since 2007 and have spent extended stays in Europe and Asia ever year since then and I have never, ever been charged a dime for international data. I got back from Tokyo two weeks ago and my statement came in with plenty of voice charges from my time in Japan but not data charges again.

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Yes I think that for people like you, who have been with tmobile for years and have kept the 19.99 data plan, should stay. It doesn't sound like you'll ever be charged. Which is awesome.

However, for other people, including me, who haven't been with tmobile as long are going to get screwed with roaming charges. I've come across them myself. It seems to be something that affects newer customers (who added the plan later).

I say if you roam a LOT and are looking at tmo for a carrier, it's not a good choice for newcomers.

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[msi1995]

Originally Posted by dragonsamus

The OP posted they had the $19.99 unlimited international email plan. Does that cover data? If not that is probably where the extra charges came from.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

When I purchased my first Blackberry (Pearl) - I was told that it covers unlimited data while international roaming.

I never paid for international roaming data ever before when I was using Pearl. Generally I am out of the country for 80 to 100 days a year. Mostly short trips. So I have huge amount of proof to show that I have never paid for international data.

Curve which I have received has Web2Go browser. Internet browser is a option but it does not work properly. Also the home page can not be changed from web2go.

IS WEB2GO a standard browser for Tmobile Curve?
There are charges on every hour for internet access (round the clock) for 0.0488 mb $0.73 and as high as $139.16.

Some of the entries in the bill (very few) such as - RIM Blackberr 2.2 mb (-) no charge. (I suppose that was covered by international service.)

Looks like my option is to either throw away Curve and get a Pearl and at some suitable moment in future say goodbye to T-Mobile. I do not mind what is fair and reasonable and what I agree to. But this incident make me feel as if I have been raped by T-Mobile.

What are the fees to break the contract legally and without distrying your credit rating?

[mattglobal]

Originally Posted by Artemis68

Yes I think that for people like you, who have been with tmobile for years and have kept the 19.99 data plan, should stay. It doesn't sound like you'll ever be charged. Which is awesome.

However, for other people, including me, who haven't been with tmobile as long are going to get screwed with roaming charges. I've come across them myself. It seems to be something that affects newer customers (who added the plan later).

I say if you roam a LOT and are looking at tmo for a carrier, it's not a good choice for newcomers.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Another thing, I have no intentions of ever taking an upgrade ever again. I'm eligible for one now but I'm sure that if I did, they would switch me to their new plans and that would be the end of unlimited international data for me. I'll stick with eBay for my new phones.

Originally Posted by msi1995

When I purchased my first Blackberry (Pearl) - I was told that it covers unlimited data while international roaming.

I never paid for international roaming data ever before when I was using Pearl. Generally I am out of the country for 80 to 100 days a year. Mostly short trips. So I have huge amount of proof to show that I have never paid for international data.

What are the fees to break the contract legally and without distrying your credit rating?

First, as long as you pay your bill / have been paying your bill, nothing will happen when you pay the $200 ETF. It will show as a closed account on your credit report.

Second, you were misled when you got your BBs. You need a data plan to cover data, period. It's not an all-inclusive thing when you get a BlackBerry, you have to pay for the services seperately. That International Email plan thing you had should have only covered e-mail, not data plus email.

It sounds like you hit some kind of loophole previously, and whatever country you visited when this happened closed it, sticking it to you. Good luck getting out of this sticky situation

[redman12]

Originally Posted by msi1995

When I purchased my first Blackberry (Pearl) - I was told that it covers unlimited data while international roaming.

I never paid for international roaming data ever before when I was using Pearl. Generally I am out of the country for 80 to 100 days a year. Mostly short trips. So I have huge amount of proof to show that I have never paid for international data.

Curve which I have received has Web2Go browser. Internet browser is a option but it does not work properly. Also the home page can not be changed from web2go.

IS WEB2GO a standard browser for Tmobile Curve?
There are charges on every hour for internet access (round the clock) for 0.0488 mb $0.73 and as high as $139.16.

Some of the entries in the bill (very few) such as - RIM Blackberr 2.2 mb (-) no charge. (I suppose that was covered by international service.)

Looks like my option is to either throw away Curve and get a Pearl and at some suitable moment in future say goodbye to T-Mobile. I do not mind what is fair and reasonable and what I agree to. But this incident make me feel as if I have been raped by T-Mobile.

What are the fees to break the contract legally and without distrying your credit rating?

You should be telling this to Customer Service and explain the situation... If it doesn't work, talk to supervisor, don't give up until you get what you deserve. It has nothing to do with the phone, Curve or pearl. It does not change your plan.

[stillsmyelin]

Okay...I'm thinking that if your regular browser doesn't work for some reason and you have to go in through your Tzones/Web2go browser, this means that your phone could be defective from the manufacturer. If this is the case, call and get some troubleshooting done and make sure this isn't something that calls for a replacement phone..