iPhone's international GPRS charges

["David Farber" <dave () farber net>]

An old problem with cell phones and the very very high international roaming rates (actually a BIG ripoff) djf


-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Kirk [mailto:jeffkirk () gmail com]
Sent: Sat 10/20/2007 11:37 AM
To: David Farber
Subject: iPhone's international GPRS charges
 
Dave,

I know you've posted umpteen (fully deserved) rants about the iPhone, but
I'm not sure whether you've discussed the issue of outrageous GPRS data
charges while traveling abroad.  I've gone on several extended foreign trips
lately, and I've taken my iPhone for emergency use, in case a member of my
family needed to reach me; I left it on most of the time.  I used it for
exactly one voice call while abroad, lasting 90 seconds.  I didn't use it at
all to access the Internet or check e-mail except in wi-fi hotspots, and I
set my e-mail function so that downloads occur manually at my instigation,
not every 15 minutes.  And yet I've now been charged a total of $700 for
international GPRS use over the past three months.

Why?  As I was told by the (surprisingly helpful) AT&T rep I just spoke to,
the iPhone is programmed to periodically auto-access the Internet for ALL of
its functions, not just e-mail and Safari browsing.  Weather forecasts get
updated.  YouTube playlists are refreshed.  Stock prices are kept
up-to-date.  Even the built-in iPod somehow needs the Internet to function,
perhaps to check for new iTunes purchases.  When this occurs outside of a
wi-fi zone, it's done over a partner carrier's data network.  It is
impossible to turn off iPhone data access while traveling abroad, and
international data isn't included, of course, in AT&T's unlimited-data
iPhone plans.

The rep nicely erased all of the int'l data charges off my bill, but this is
a HUGE oversight (one of many, I know) in the design of the phone. Suffice
it to say I'm switching in the future to a plain-old quad-mode phone for
international use.

-jk

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