All data services on Android off, still got charged roaming in Italy! Bastards!

[superboyac]

I'm super pissed.  Went to Italy, turned off every possible toggle that could result in data or voice charges on ATT.  Here is the recap...

My phone:
nexus 5
Android, Dirty Unicorn custom ROM
ATT service

settings:
Mobile Data toggle was OFF
Mobile networks--> Data Roaming setting was UNCHECKED (meaning off, not allowed)

I made a few calls using Google Voice while connected to the Hotel's free wifi.  I even checked the wifi statusbar symbol to see that the data was going through there and not the cell service.  Well, I come back home and all those calls were charged.  How do you figure?

I'm so pissed about this.  I want to blame ATT.  But technically speaking, it looks to me like it might be a Google/Android problem because my suspicion is either those toggles don't work or there's something very tricky about what those toggles actually do...like maybe it turns off web browsing but not voice calling or something idiotic like that.

I also just tried this back at home, I turned off Wifi, data mobile, everything and made a call...and the call went through!  WTF!?

[TaoPhoenix]

Wow, that's messed up!

[Shades]

None of the telco's are your friend. And the behavior you describe was rampant in Europe. Now there are laws in place to should prevent this...and all that the governments sacrificed was their customers net neutrality.

You (as customer) will pay going left or going right. And now the telco's have made it so that you (as customer) pay for both ways while only using one nowadays.

The only way to be sure is pulling the sim from the phone and then call through WiFi. My stock Lumia allows for this, at least.

[superboyac]

None of the telco's are your friend. And the behavior you describe was rampant in Europe. Now there are laws in place to should prevent this...and all that the governments sacrificed was their customers net neutrality.

You (as customer) will pay going left or going right. And now the telco's have made it so that you (as customer) pay for both ways while only using one nowadays.

The only way to be sure is pulling the sim from the phone and then call through WiFi. My stock Lumia allows for this, at least.

-Shades (May 17, 2014, 07:49 PM)

piece of s--- companies, whoever is responsible for this.  I did a quick search and didn't find anything, but somebody's gotta make an app that is a simple button on/off for preventing roaming charges somehow.  None of this figuring out which toggle does what...data sync, cell mobile data, data roaming, data wifi, etc.  very clear one button.

like this:
Charge me for data roaming: on/off.

I don't give a damn crap which service doesn't work.  I just don't want to get charged.  And it shouldn't have to take removing the damn sim card out.  just a toggle.  man, it makes me so angry how much money they've gotten out of this shit.  if someone who knows as much about computers got it like this, they must have made billions off of this nonsense by now.

[mwb1100]

I made a few calls using Google Voice while connected to the Hotel's free wifi.  I even checked the wifi statusbar symbol to see that the data was going through there and not the cell service.  Well, I come back home and all those calls were charged.  How do you figure?

-superboyac (May 17, 2014, 05:19 PM)

Did you get charged for data or for voice?  Google Voice sets up the call through TCP/IP (whether WiFi or mobile data), but the call is connected through the cellular carrier.  It's not VOIP.  

I assume that Google Voice does this specifically to avoid a conflict with the phone companies. Or it might be because VOIP over whatever data network a phone might have available is still pretty iffy.

[Deozaan]

Up until a few days ago you could make calls using Google Voice through data using an app (such as GrooVe IP). But Google just changed it so you can't hook into the service anymore. So now I need to figure out how to make calls again, because I've been using a phone with only WiFi service (no plan with a cellular carrier) to make calls since I'm almost always connected to a WiFi AP.

Maybe I'll have to start using Skype again.

[superboyac]

I made a few calls using Google Voice while connected to the Hotel's free wifi.  I even checked the wifi statusbar symbol to see that the data was going through there and not the cell service.  Well, I come back home and all those calls were charged.  How do you figure?

-superboyac (May 17, 2014, 05:19 PM)

Did you get charged for data or for voice?  Google Voice sets up the call through TCP/IP (whether WiFi or mobile data), but the call is connected through the cellular carrier.  It's not VOIP. 

I assume that Google Voice does this specifically to avoid a conflict with the phone companies. Or it might be because VOIP over whatever data network a phone might have available is still pretty iffy.

-mwb1100 (May 18, 2014, 12:47 AM)

oh really?!  I got charged for voice.  I was always under the impression that google voice would allow you to make calls thru wifi, as in the data gets charged through wifi.  You're saying it just places the call, but the rest is using the cell service?  Big deal!  I'm so underwhelmed now, I always thought gv was amazing.

[mwb1100]

You're saying it just places the call, but the rest is using the cell service?

-superboyac (May 19, 2014, 03:49 PM)

Yup. 

As Deozaan mentioned there were other apps that provided a VOIP integration with GV (in my limited tests, they didn't work all that well), but it seems Google cut them off recently.

What I use GV for is to have a single phone number that gets forwarded to several different phones (my home phone land line, a cell phone at work that I keep at my desk, and my actual cell phone).  I get rings to all those phones when someone dials my GV number. Also, when I dial out of my cell phones, I can have things set up to dial out as my GV number (or not - you can configure it to ask on each call).

This works OK, but I'm not entirely convinced that the complexity is worth the small value I get out of it.

The thing I do like about GV is that I have a phone number that I can use with whatever cell phone and whatever plan - I can change phones or SIMs on a whim and never have to worry about making sure the porting process will go smoothly.

[superboyac]

You're saying it just places the call, but the rest is using the cell service?

-superboyac (May 19, 2014, 03:49 PM)

Yup. 

As Deozaan mentioned there were other apps that provided a VOIP integration with GV (in my limited tests, they didn't work all that well), but it seems Google cut them off recently.

What I use GV for is to have a single phone number that gets forwarded to several different phones (my home phone land line, a cell phone at work that I keep at my desk, and my actual cell phone).  I get rings to all those phones when someone dials my GV number. Also, when I dial out of my cell phones, I can have things set up to dial out as my GV number (or not - you can configure it to ask on each call).

This works OK, but I'm not entirely convinced that the complexity is worth the small value I get out of it.

The thing I do like about GV is that I have a phone number that I can use with whatever cell phone and whatever plan - I can change phones or SIMs on a whim and never have to worry about making sure the porting process will go smoothly.

-mwb1100 (May 19, 2014, 04:11 PM)

All this time I've been thinking it's possible to make calls using wifi.  Now I find out it's practically impossible!
SKype doesn't really count, but it's ok I guess.

I'm still pissed about this.