I was in France skiing last week and decided to activate Orange's £3/30MB per day data plan which you only get charged if you use it on any particular day. The only reason for not having it as the default plan is that by signing up to it you automatically waive the 50 Euro cap on the month's charges so you have to watch that you don't go over the 30MB because after that they start charging at the daft roaming rate (£3.07 per MB in Europe). However, I inadvertently started streaming a podcast which I thought I had already downloaded via wifi and managed to download about 60MB before I realised. This wouldn't have been a problem had Orange texted me a warning I had reached the limit as they had said they would do when I asked before signing up, however I didn't receive any texts.
Went online this morning to check the bill and there is a charge for £107 for data.
However, it all ended well because when I rang them they waived the charge as I hadn't received warning texts. Actually, with hindsight perhaps it's a good job they didn't send texts because if they are not real time then I could easily have racked up the charge before I got a text.

I got charged £99 for data in spain in 2010... I took out a 40mb package for a week for £8 i think it was. but i didnt realise how much my phone was using in the background and i ended up using absolutely tonnes of data

The problem I had was that I am very conscious of data roaming charges, and would normally leave data roaming off, and then switch it on very sparingly for a few urgent issues, perhaps emails and a quick burst of Google maps when lost. However, on this occasion I was lulled into a false sense of security because 30MB is enough for a typical day's usage as long as you stay away from obvious hogs (such as streaming media), so as a result I turned roaming on and left it on.

Yeah i had exactly the same thoughts.. I had 40mb for a week and i was only using it very lightly, i was cautious and i even had a data counter running. but i didnt realise something was eating all the data! Also not only did orange not text me to say im running out, they let is go over and over to the tune of £99!!

As it happens, I was monitoring the data usage from the Settings/Usage option, however I got caught out by the unexpected download. When I was talking to the Orange man who kindly refunded it, he said "there is an option on an iPhone to monitor your usage". I said "Oh is there, I will look at that and be careful in the future !"

There is a great free app now for iPhone and android called Onavo. It compresses your data by up to 86%!

I used 14MB the other day on exchange email, but it compressed my actual usage down to just over 2.2MB!

I suspect that might need a JB on an iPhone ?

can you imagine getting the warning text whilst downloading over hsdpa.

it's be about £2/second.

data roaming charges are theft.

I agree. Ridiculously out of proportion. If only they would make them half way reasonable and people would start using roaming as a matter of course, and then the network operators would get legitimate revenue. The only revenue they get at the moment is by "accidents" (but pretty lucrative at that).

Orange never refunded me and yeah my bro uses Onavo, its great and no jailbreak needed. he did 70mb of browsing and it only used 22mb of his data. That's cool!

That's good news, I'll look at it. Only problem is that the very sort of things that will blow through the bandwidth are probably already compressed (media files).

I always buy a PAYG sim in the country i'm traveling in.. 10-20 quid lasts ages and you can carry on using Facebook, Tweet & email like you do back home..

Not always as easy as it sounds though, there are often local regulations and id issues (I know, I've tried), and if it's a micro sim forget it.

Well said and common sense. Very easy to do certainly in Spain and Portugal.

that all depends on where you are going.
if you have an unlocked phone it should be asy, if your phone is locked then its worht the effort to get it unlocked.
in the case of micro sims, you can get hold of a sim card cutter.

Idf you want to make sure that you dont get bill shock, get a pay as you go sim card in the UK, put a small amount of credit on it, using a credit card whilst in the UK, do some research on data roaming packages/costs from each main provider.
I was in Holland late last summer, and at that time vodafone charged my pay as you go sim £2.00 per day for data with a usuage limit of 25mb per day ( up to midnight)
using a different browser such as opera mini and turnig off all data when not in use will keep you well within this limit - and you should still have plenty left for maps/navigation and e-mails.
also if sending pictures use an app to reduce the photo size, and send it via e-mail.

If you can get a local sim, then things may be cheaper, again do some research on whats available where you are going.

If you are taking a smart phone, as above get it unlocked if its not already unlocked, and place its sim card in a standard ( ie non smart phone) , this way you will still be contactable on a UK number, if you have a micro sim you can get an adaptor to use a micro sim in a normal phone.

Im going to Spain this year, all I want is data.... would u recommend a local SIM like a Vodafone ES, movistar etc or would u buy a special roaming SIM

It's official app on the app store also available on Android, it just uses proxy apn so does compression on server

This is what Opera Mini is for. It saves 90%, more if you turn off images.

I've got one of those Truphone roaming SIMs, but the data isn't that cheap for Spain (£1.50 per MB), so not recommended for that.

Saw this article the other day - might be cheaper for Spain:
http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/...ooks-like.html

Yeah i have heard of those. Are there any other brands of Roaming SIM? Or would it just be better to pick up a Vodafone ES, Movistar or Orange Spain SIM card? I lived in Spain for 3 years so I'm fluent in Spanish, went onto the Vodafone ES site and they do 300mb data for €10. Seems a little steep to me.

[quote=ajh94;56960466]
they do 300mb data for €10. Seems a little steep to me.[/QUOTE


Still 100 times cheaper than roaming !!

Did you look at the link I posted - the Holiday SIM gives you 1000MB plus calls and texts. It's not the same as the Truphone one.

Yeah just looked at that, all I want is data but that seems like the best option dont u think? 1GB for just £29 is great + calls and texts. do u think thats probably the best option?

Well the guy that wrote the piece seems to use a lot of data if you read the other pieces on that site, so I'd guess so.

I'm going to try it when I go to Spain later in the year.

Yeah me too, looks good!