2 Messages
Cellular data and roaming was off but still got charged international day pass
Travelled outside the country and I made sure I turned off my cellular data and all apps on cellular data was turned off as well. Roaming was turned off before I left in US. I got to the foreign airport and of course turned my phone on to connect to wifi at the airport. When i came back in the US I had a lot of international day pass charges on my bill even if my cellular data and roaming was off. And I was even carrying a pocket wifi connected on my phones. ATT agent and manager insisted I had my data on to be charged the international day pass. They even advised me to call ATT international customer service while at the foreign country to put an international block pass on my phone (weird). In the end nothing was resolved and still did not answer WHY people would automaticaly be charged international day pass even if the CELLULAR DATA feature on the phone was off. I feel bad for the people getting charged and not checking the breakdown of their bill. Imagine getting charged $60 for 17 text messages that went through my phone in 6days. No one will be able to try to help you or even give you an accurate answer. They will just insist you have your cellular data on. Even if I have explained I travel a lot and this happens every single time. I have to keep asking them the same question. I get the same answer. They think people are stupid not to turn their cellular data off. ATT charges automatic international day pass even if you have cellular data off. Guys beware and pay attention to your bill when you travel outside the country. I speak in behalf of travellers who experienced the same problem and did not get any issues resolved. It would not matter how long you have been customer at ATT. I have been with them 20years and have 2 sets of family plan with 9 phones in total. $60 charge is nothing compared to my monthly bill for how many years. Fix your service! Stop overcharging people. When I received notification on my phone of the international day pass I knew this would cause another issue with the bill (IT HAPPENED LAST YEAR!). I responded NO to the text notification and my response came back as error. There is no way to turn the international day pass off unless you call ATT international while you are out travelling. What a hassle! Do your due diligence and check other provider if people encountered this problem while travelling. Otherwise, it’s time to give your business somewhere else.
Accepted Solution
MicCheck
ACE - Expert
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14.4K Messages
10 months ago
If you (or an employee) turned IDP on, it's on forever until you remove it. Connecting to a foreign cellular provider to send texts activated the plan. It kind of stinks in your situation, but the charges are legit.
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dwill05
ACE - Master
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11K Messages
10 months ago
Cell data off and roaming off does not stop phones from connecting to networks. It stops data, but doesn’t stop phones from connecting to towers for voice service of SMS/MMS text. Texts aren’t counted as cellular data, and aren’t blocked when you turn data off. If you want to make sure that you don’t connect to any cell towers, put the phone in airplane mode and leave it there. You can turn Bluetooth and WiFi back on.
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hkxzly24
2 Messages
10 months ago
Celllular data OFF
Roaming OFF
Airplane mode ON
Phone OFF
——————————-
Pocket Wifi ON
Wifi in the area ON
Cellular data OFF
Roaming OFF
Airplane mode OFF
Phone ON
ATT still charged IDP
——————————--
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dwill05
ACE - Master
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11K Messages
10 months ago
@hkxzly24 Don’t know what you’re trying to say. If you have airplane mode off, you can still connect to foreign networks for voice and text.
You need to have airplane mode ON, and leave it on.
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ATTHelp
Community Support
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232.9K Messages
10 months ago
Hello @hkxzly24.
Thank you for joining the Community Forums! This is a great question. We'd be more than happy to take a closer look into your concerns.
If you have used the international day pass with Wi-Fi activated you will be charged $10 per line and $5 for additional lines.
If you have still been overcharged for the unused services please get back to us, we will review the bill.
To make sure you don't use any data while travelling, use airplane mode to make sure there is no cellular network at all.
There are also certain apps that have permission to use your cellular data in the background. These also trigger charges.
If you have made any calls/messages from a cellular network, these will also count towards the charges.
Wi-Fi can be used to ensure the calls are directed solely over a wireless connection, and they don't get charged to your AT&T account.
Disabling mobile data will not allow any data to be transferred over the wireless network, though Wi-Fi access, voice function, and standard text messaging are still allowed. Here’s how to enable/disable the device.
Please feel free to reach back out if you have any further questions! Have a great day!
Thank you for contacting AT&T Community Forums.
MatG, AT&T Community Specialist
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MicCheck
ACE - Expert
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14.4K Messages
10 months ago
The key info is from the first post:
No settings in the phone can prevent you from typing and sending a text message. If you put the phone in airplane mode, at least it wouldn't actually do anything.
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BobTheBuilder123
2 Messages
7 days ago
That is very convenient for AT&T to profit from iPhone not really turning there data off when it is meant to be off. AT&T knows every customer that travels out of there country. There should be a customer support text that goes out and alerts the traveler that they will be charged in this manner because of the iPhone they are using and do XYZ to avoid any additional charges.
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dwill05
ACE - Master
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11K Messages
7 days ago
The only way that AT&T knows that someone goes out of the country is if that person’s phone connects to a foreign carrier and AT&T gets notified and charged by the foreign carrier. People who leave their phones in Airplane Mode don’t get charged and AT&T has no way of knowing they are outside of the U.S. Also, if you don’t have IDP enabled on your account, they DO send a text asking if you want to add IDP as soon as you connect, so it’s not like people aren’t warned before they rack up big international charges. As far as the iPhone not stopping all connections when you turn data roaming off, you need to talk to Apple about that. They wrote the software and settings menus on their phones. AT&T had nothing to do with it. People are responsible for knowing how their phones work, not AT&T. As far as profit goes, who knows how much AT&T actually makes? They get charged by the foreign carrier. Maybe if all you do is get a couple of texts over a two week vacation overseas, and AT&T gets $120 from you, then yeah probably. But since there aren’t any limits, you could be a texting/talking machine and a data hog over a 30 day period, and still get charged only $120, and I’m sure their cost is much higher.
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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118.4K Messages
7 days ago
@BobTheBuilder123
So it's a defect on your phone?
It's controlled by using airplane mode.
I'm sure there's hundreds of thousands of people who travel outside the country and managed to control their phone, or who managed to not have defective phones and don't have this problem
Both my mother and my son have traveled outside of the country while using AT&T, neither of them had a problem. Neither of them incurred charges they did not expect
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BobTheBuilder123
2 Messages
7 days ago
Knowledge is power. Those who know and those who find out later. Bummer is costs for those who do not know the real story with their phones. Airplane mode is the ticket to shut it down completely. Turning off data is just a "Oh just kidding it is really not off". Sure glad off means off when I turn off my stove top. I would hate to have it turn on when I opened the oven door. LOL
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