Turn off data connectivity when overseas
- Thread starter ricohflex
- Start date
There is nothing wrong with the iPhone, but always something wrong with the users ignorance. Not sure how to use a smartphone properly & what's data roaming about, telcos are most happy to 'welcome' you with open arms.
Here're some preventive measures you may consider when at overseas. By default, Data Roaming is turned off on most phones, still it's recommended to:
1. removed your SIM card & keeps the wi-fi on if you want to connect most hotels have free wi-fi, if you must contact home get a local SIM card instead.
2. or bring two phones, one regular & the other smartphone but without SIM card (use wi-fi in case you want to connect).
3. or contact telco to disconnect your gprs connection (making call is still possible) before you leave for overseas, you can resume connection once you're back.
Be smart, happy travel!
i don't see any part of the link that says that iphone was used to incur those data charges...
The default on android is to disallow data when roaming. I feel that's the way it should be for all smart phones considering that the vast majority of users are not willing to pay for it and wouldn't know / remember to turn it off.
i really get nervous about this in Singapore when very near to Johor eg Sg Buloh area along the beach , Punggol, Sembawang etc etc .... service provider sometimes switch automatically to Malaysian provider
a smart phone :
"A smartphone is a mobile phone that offers more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary basic feature phone"
doesn't mean that it has to be smarter than the user, if the users don't know how to disable the option.
if there is no option, that's fair enough, the product is retarded.
if there is an option, and the people don't know how to use it, then that's a user problem.
put into context of photography, most of my photos are taken with a gnd filter. there is an option to attach a filter holder to it (with the inclusion of a filter tread on the lens itself). does this mean that i should demand that the lens comes in a manner such that the gnd is on permanently? no! i only want the option.
if it comes without the filter on by default, and i don't know how to get it on, then that's my problem what.
I'm more nervous that my girl will call me and start questioning why i'm at oversea. :bsmilie:
This needn't to be nerve racking, you should MANUALLY select your service provider under 'network selection', this way when you lost connection with your service provider, it'll prompt you to search for another one, just ignore it & no auto connect to any unknown telco, therefore no roaming charges.
where did u go man!? :bigeyes:
AFAIK, for data roaming in HK and TW, Starhub has a daily data charges cap at around $15 per day so you can surf to your hearts' content. I am not sure about other countries.
Also, IIRC, Singtel also have such data charges cap for some countries.
under iOS 3 already quite easy to turn off data roaming or cellular data lei.
just go: settings, general, network. U can turn on/off cellular data or data roaming there. :think:
I don't think that's a good analogy. A better analogy would be the camera that shoots in adobe rgb out of the box. Sure you can change it to srgb yourself but given that the vast majority of photographers shoot in srgb wouldn't you expect the camera maker to make that setting the default? This is the closest I can think of but it isn't a really good analogy because the user that forgets to change it to srgb will not lose $$$.
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6628238&postcount=13
there is actually a data roaming on/off switch on 3Gs actually.
i don't think there is a close enough analogy in photography, so all analogies would be flawed.
maybe we shouldn't do any analogies for this. :bsmilie:
in any case, at least there is an option, right?
I think this is one aspect where a "smartphone" should actually be smart. If a specific phone maker/OS is incapable of warning users about data roaming and making sure there is a specific willingness to data roam, it's not being smart.
I also know iPhone users who were at raffles place and their phone switched to the indonesian telco and they were on data roaming - while in singapore!!! So are you saying these users should always use 2 phones, etc?
A smartphone is one that allows more advance computing as pointed out by nightmare.
Every individual has a different usage pattern or different need. Some ppl enabled data roaming by default simply because they need the connectivity. Example are executives using blackberry for mail even when they are overseas.
Machines are machines. The operations and functions are still very much at the discretion of the user. In fact, more advance machines really means giving user the flexibility in controlling the device.
For example, take a typical compact camera. Full manual control is not available to the user most of the time whereas a DSLR offers exactly that. (though you may argue that nowadays there are compact camera that offers manual, but that is besides the point).
Often user expects more advance machine to take care of many aspects of operations. But then, such expectation usually far exceeds what modern technology can achieve. A smartphone cannot guess or predict when a user needs 3G connectivity. It is smart in some other ways, like allowing a user to view documents on the phone, read/send emails etc. That is what the phone is smart at.
Despite such reports hitting the national papers, yet there you still read news like that coming up. It is amazing isn't it? There is this potential pitfall and yet people does not exercise due diligence.
To chunk up huge bills because of 3G data connectivity takes a lot of roaming data usage. I can attest to it not because I ran into such situation before. But because I have forgotten to disabled my 3G data connectivity after using it. And that is bearing in mind my facebook/twitter/gmail widget running in the background syncing every hour. That happens for quite a few days. When the bill came data charges were only 100 plus.
For those with bills in excess of thousands, I tend to think users willfully use apps that utilizes 3G data connectivity. They are unaware that the apps actually pulls the data from the internet (3G data) dynamically and then claim innocence when the bill came.
Hence it is not so much of smartphone not being smart in the first place. But rather a lack of understanding of the apps operation.
Last edited:
These huge bills are most likely from using google map. My bro came back from a short trip to HK to find a $500 bill for data usage.. I checked with him and he said he only used google maps to find his way back to the hotel one night..= ="
Similar threads
