Attempted to avoid roaming fees by not answering - failed !

HarryD

Hi,

Recently due to my excessive phone bills I attempted to avoid roaming fees when abroad by not answering my phone.
However when I got my bill I found that for any call that was diverted to my voicemail when I was abroad, I was charged ~2.50EUR for the caller connecting to my voicemail followed by ~1.50EUR if they didn't hang up before the beep.
Hanging up after the beep (even 2 seconds) yielded the second charge.
This was also the case for calls diverted to voicemail when the phone was off.
Naturally I feel this is a total rip-off.
This was a country outside Europe.
Anyone know if this is right ?

If so the only way to avoid it is not to switch on my phone when abroad,
so that the last registered network is my home network.
I would like to receive SMS's when abroad, but it seems I can't do it without been charged for voicemail diverts.
Maybe I can turn off voicemail diverts before leaving home...

Any thoughts ?

HD

Paulw

Yeah, turn off all diverts when roaming.

You didn't mention what network you are subscribed to nor if you're prepaid or bill pay.

No harm you contacting the operator and ask about roaming fees and conditions.

Del2005

On most mobile company websites it tells you to cancell all diverts when abroad as you are making 2 international calls, as you described.

So just cancel all diverts before you leave, as I think you get charged to send the cancel divert when abroad. Or you can set up to default to answer machine and just get txt messages to let you know someone called you, you may need to do some digging on this to make sure it doesn't make international calls.

HarryD

Thanks for the replies guys.
I'm with meteor on one of their bill pay schemes.
Customer service have defended the charges.
It seems cancelling all diverts before roaming is the way to go..
I got hit hard, as I had lotsa calls during the week away.. ouch !

Also I activated WAP when abroad on the same trip.
Charge = 25EUR !!!

At least Dick Turpin wore a hat

Sam Vimes

HarryD wrote: »

Also I activated WAP when abroad on the same trip.
Charge = 25EUR !!!

the roaming divert call was right but that's not. what's their justification for €25 for a few KB?

brettmirl

I guess a lot of it comes down to what foreign network you weer roaming on.
If you look at the Meteor website it gives you the prefered network for each country. If you stick to those networks, you should save some money as opposed to just automatically going onto whatever network your phone picks up.

darc

Why take it with you in the first place?

Let someone know where you are staying for absolute emergencies and for all others leave a message saying you are away til xx date.

Hell - its a holiday away from the everyday trials & tribulations.

jimmycrackcorm

You should set divert all calls to voicemail. It should never leave the home country then. The normal divert attempts to roam to you and failing that will divert from the roaming network which is where the charging starts.

Sam Vimes

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

You should set divert all calls to voicemail. It should never leave the home country then. The normal divert attempts to roam to you and failing that will divert from the roaming network which is where the charging starts.

and make sure to do it before you leave or it'll still be a roaming divert......i think. divert all calls might be different. no harm doing it anyway

HarryD

OK, Thanks for the advice guys !

craichoe

Turn off diverts - Problem solved.

In fact Metoer point this out when you ask

helimachoptor

If you divert all calls (Call forward unconditional on some phones)
you will not receive any calls and will not incur charges for receiving calls as you will be unable to receive them as for want of a better term the call never leaves Ireland, with the other types of call diverts they do leave.

For voicemail your double charged (on VF anyway) You pay for receiving the call from the originator, then when its diverted the call is routed back to your voicemail in Ireland.