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Question

USA- DATA ROAMING OFF BUT MOBILE DATA ON?

  • July 21, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 10 views

Hi. If travelling to the USA and only wanting the facility to call my family locally on their UK mobiles or USA landline numbers (in an emergency or if wifi signal is poor so can't use Whatsapp) DO I SET UP MY IDMOBILE ACCOUNT TO HAVE MOBILE DATA ON BUT ROAMING DATA OFF?

1 reply

Gemma M
iD Mobile Employee
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  • iD Mobile Employee
  • July 23, 2026

Hi ​@Suwww,

 

Thanks for your question.

 

Unfortunately, there's no way to separate roaming calls from roaming data. Even if you don't actively use mobile data, there can still be background data usage from your phone and apps, which may result in unexpected roaming data charges.

 

You can try reducing this by:

  • Turning Data Roaming off.
  • Manually disabling Mobile Data for individual apps in your phone's settings.
  • Turning off features such as Background App Refresh.

 

However, we can't guarantee this will completely prevent background data usage, as some system processes may still attempt to connect.

 

If your main intention is to make emergency calls only, we'd recommend being aware that there's still a risk of background data usage unless mobile data is completely disabled. Any chargeable calls and any roaming data used will both be subject to your bill cap and the applicable roaming charges.

 

Regards,

 

Gemma M

The iD Mobile Social Media Team