Hi ​@Norbert Bojte firstly I hope you had a lovely trip!

Had you been out at sea at all? When you’re at sea, we recommend you don’t use your phone, and put it in flight/airplane mode until you get to shore. This is because using your phone while at sea can be very expensive. Ferry and cruise operators often use their own phone network that’s operated via satellite. Connecting to a satellite network is much more expensive then connecting to a land operated network.

If not, may I ask what countries you had visited?

I have had the same issue with a £40 charge on my phone , I am trying to resolve this with ID mobile as I was asleep on an overnight ferry it was impossible for me to use it . To date still waiting for a call back after 4 requests 

Your phone sends and receives data packets even when you’re not using it. Depending on your app settings, packets are still sent and received over a data connection even when Wi-Fi is enabled.

Hi ​@Derek Kelson  as ​@WelshPaul  has advised, some apps will still use data in the background, even if you are not using it. When you’re at sea, we recommend you don’t use your phone, and put it in flight/airplane mode until you get to shore. 

My phone was on standby with no apps running, it can't possibly have used £45 worth. Also I was in EU waters not non EU, I should also have been asked if I wish to join that network due to the cost . Finally it's the 4th time I've done that crossing this year, no issues the 3 previous times. I'm just about to contact ID mobile for the 5th time, as they still haven't called me back . This is appalling service 

Have you seen the ferry rates? Do some research (preferably before travelling) instead of trying to play the blame game.

Ferry and cruise operators often use their own satellite-operated phone network, which is significantly more expensive than connecting to a land-based network. For instance, roaming on a ferry or cruise ship costs a whopping £9.60 per megabyte, not gigabyte! If you were charged £45, that’s the equivalent of transmitting or receiving just 4.69 megabytes of data.  

Next time, set your bill cap to zero and manually select your network instead of letting your phone automatically connect to the strongest signal.

Blame game , What's that meant to mean ?   Perhaps you can explain why I've done the same trip 3 times with no issues, and multiple times with my previous provider, again no issues .

It's a bit like some premium rate company automatically connecting to my phone and billing me without my permission . If there is any costs outside my contract I should be asked to authorise them . 

It’s possible that you changed a setting or installed or updated an app that used 4MB of background data this time. Who knows? It’s not for me to figure out.  

Just because you’ve gotten away with something once, twice, or thrice doesn’t mean you’ll never get stung in the future. Consider yourself lucky because, had you used just 1GB of data while connected to that network, your bill would have been £9,600, not the £45 you’re complaining about.

FYI - Someone over on the Vodafone forum got hit with £30,000 bill a few years back for streaming a film while onboard a cruise ship.

Hopefully someone from ID mobile will call me as requested, it's pretty appalling 

Hi there ​@Derek Kelson, connecting to the maritime network, even for a minute or so can incur a large charge. We do text you to let you know you’ve started using out of contract charges, however, because of how large the charges are, it’s sometimes too late by the text immediately comes, because the charges have already been racked up. These maritime network charges are listed on our website, and we do advise how to avoid them. It doesn’t matter if you’re in EU or non-EU sea’s I’m afraid, it’s all the same.

Therefore, to stop this from happening in the future, when out at sea, please turn off roaming, put your phone on airplane mode and/or set your bill cap to £0.00. This will ultimately stop it from being allowed to happen, which we’d always advise to do. 

If you’re awaiting a call back, then the team will be in touch with you as soon as possible to help/explain further.

Sorry about this ​@Derek Kelson.

Thanks,

Tyler

Thank you Tyler, I wasn't aware of this and it's never happened to me before over multiple ferry crossings . 

I never authorised connecting to this network and connecting me automatically without my permission is unacceptable.

I've asked now 5 times for someone to call me from ID Mobile and all I get is emails telling me to call the 0800 number which I've explained multiple times I can't do as I'm abroad, I'm starting to deeply regret leaving my previous network I'd been with for years with no issues. 

I also have a fault with my phone to resolve which I hope won't be as painful as this . 

Hi there ​@Derek Kelson, unfortunately, to connect to this network, your device must be set to automatic connection, meaning it’ll automatically connect to the nearest/best network available at the time, which would’ve been the maritime network. We wouldn’t contact you to ask if you’re happy to connect to an available network, the network would do it itself if you have all the features enabled.

In terms of it never happening before, it may have been that you had other settings on to stop it from happening for example. However, we can’t comment on why it didn’t happen before, and it’s obviously great that you weren’t charged previously, however, you’d have been correctly charged this time around for connecting.

Unfortunately, we don’t have a general customer service phone-line, so we don’t have a team that would just call you. If you wish to speak via the phone, you will indeed need to call the complaints team number that you were given (the 0800 number), when you’re available to when you’re back in the UK, if it’s a phone call you wish to discuss further on.

Thanks,

Tyler

Hi Tyler, I haven't changed any settings on my phone since I got it so I can't see what's different this time . I'd like an explanation how my phone could use £45 worth of data while on standby with no apps running . I also re iterate that at no time was I aware of this maritime network, and I have not agreed to join it . 

I've been told 4 times that someone would call me back, now you're telling me that you don't do that? 

I will be calling on my return , and I will be expecting this charge to be refunded and suggest for the future that you change the system so that people are asked for permission to join and made aware of the charges, not joined automatically and billed without permission. 

This whole experience has been awful for me, I suspect I will also be looking at alternatives when I get home if this isn't resolved to my satisfaction. 

Hi there ​@Derek Kelson, as mentioned above, permission wouldn’t be asked to join a network at anytime. If your phone is on automatic network selection, it’ll automatically pick up the nearest or strongest signal, therefore being the maritime network whilst out at sea. I appreciate you may not have been aware of the maritime network beforehand, however, this is stated on our website and is the same for all mobile networks, not just ours.

I completely understand your frustrations, and with not being aware of it, however, the charges only occur when connecting to the maritime network, which your phone must’ve done, even if just for a minute, which is enough time to rack up these charges with data. As mentioned, these can easily be avoided by turning off roaming, putting your phone into flight mode, or simply setting your bill cap to £0.00, which would stop extra charges from occuring at any time. This would always be the same advice given by ourselves at iD Mobile, and every other mobile network.

In terms of the call, I’m stating we don’t have a general customer service phone-line, so the team calling you will be the complaints team, which is the number we’ve also given you. But please do await their call, or call them when you’re back to discuss this further, and I hope they can help further.

In terms of changing the system, I don’t believe there’s anyway of changing it so that we request your permission to join a network, with us, or any mobile network. To stop this from happening, I have listed the three main ways to do so above, and simply setting your bill cap to £0.00 would stop this from happening in the future. If your phone is set to automatic network also, that will automatically choose the strongest network, so by all means turn off automatic network settings too.

I again completely appreciate your frustrations regarding this, however, the charges would be correct. However, I hope the complaints team can come to a resolution with yourself and potentially offer a gesture of goodwill, with the advice given above on how to stop this in the future.

Thanks,

Tyler