efbasham
join:2007-02-06
Santa Clara, CA
1 edit | If you got a surprise $450 bill for your iphone from canada.
I think you'd be a little more concerned about roaming charges, expecially since att lets iphone users run all the data they can possibly do on the little screen, while other carriers charge BY THE BYTE for data.
You might think you're watching a streaming video for free in canada only to find out you PAID $250 to watch a half hour of CNN or something.
Personally, IMHO, I think any carrier who is a roaming carrier must A) send a FREE text message to a roaming set describing their pricing model for data/voice and time of day and B) require a yes/no response (again free) before roaming begins to be charged at their rates.
Some people will pay $250 to watch cnn on their iphone in Canada. Some others will just turn around and go back to the USA where ATT gives it free. Having driven from seatac to Barrow,AK I know how prices change in Canada. I also took the top of the world highway and not the alcan so I know how few cellular outposts there are except around Dawson in the yukon territory.
Out there it was cheaper to pull over and setup my inmarsat phone for a long call or use my iridium 9505 for a short call at 0.99/min due to roaming. I even got a bill from the now bought-out carrier from "unknown, CA" and told them if they couldn't tell me where it was from, then they couldn't realistically charge me for it! It took the carrier 2 weeks to pinpoint where I made the call from on the offroad trip, and that was in Alaska (good ol usa!)
Bottom line - leave the usa and expect to pay. Think of your phone as the one in the hotel room. $4.50/min is out there in roaming agreements, especially for some gsm carriers. |
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