View Full Version : Using my virgin mobile overseas
aardvark
11-07-2008, 11:17
I've just had a fascinating conversation with 3 different people on 'The Team' who've told me that, despite what it says on the virginmobile website, if I divert all my calls to voicemail (before I go) I will be charged every time someone leaves a message on my voicemail while I'm abroad.
I understand that calling my voicemail from overseas will incur a charge BUT surely what they've told me can't be correct.
Even if my phone is switched off while I'm out of the country 'the system will know where you are' and I'll be charged for every voicemail left.
Anyone got any experience of this?
King Of Fools
11-07-2008, 11:30
You will not be charged for people leaving a Voicemail if you divert all calls before you leave the country.
Hmm, so virgin mobiles have a built in device that can track turned off phones??????
Excuse me whilst I wet myself laughing...
Seriously though no idea about virgin but every single other mobile company actually suggest that you divert your calls to voicemail if you don;t want to be charged overseas rates.. It's not the mobile that diverts the call but the comms centre and if you set the call to be transfered it'll never ever try to communicate with your mobile when receiving/diverting an incoming call.
Kymmy
---------- Post added at 11:35 ---------- Previous post was at 11:33 ----------
From virgins own website (http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/genericContent.do?contentId=before.you.go.howdoi.s m090)
Set your call diverts
When someone reaches your voicemail, you get charged the cost of sending the call to the country you're in, and then back to the UK even though they may not leave a message.
But you can get around this - just set your phone to 'divert all calls' to voicemail.
However, this does mean that you won't get any incoming calls
Kymmy
Raistlin
11-07-2008, 11:37
Actually (and I appreciate that this is off-topic) the majority of phones are trackable (to within a certain distance) when they're switched off ;)
The ultra paranoid might want to remove the battery :D
aardvark
11-07-2008, 11:39
I know that, you know that, the Virgin webteam know that ... but the guys on at 789 on 'The Team' certainly don't and, despite my protestations, insisted that any call made to my voicemail while I was abroad even though I'd set all calls to divert to it before I left would be charged ... because 'the call goes to my (switched off) mobile and then back to UK!!
Actually (and I appreciate that this is off-topic) the majority of phones are trackable (to within a certain distance) when they're switched off ;)
The ultra paranoid might want to remove the battery :D
Errrr, no!!!
Not unless you want to track the local oscilator on the standby circuit but then you'd have to be within about 2 meters to get any form of signal...
It's actually an urban myth that you can track a mobile phone that has been turned off, You can get specialised phones that appear to turn off (handy to give to your child who then thinks that by turning it off they're not being tracked by thier parents) but they don't actually turn off unless a code is inputted.
Kymmy ;)
chickendippers
11-07-2008, 12:20
When I was in America, I didn't set call divert, I just didn't answer any calls.
My friend left a voicemail, they were charged the international rate for making the call. I was not charged for him leaving a voicemail.
I was charged for checking my voicemail abroad.
AndyCambs
11-07-2008, 16:39
When I was in America, I didn't set call divert, I just didn't answer any calls.
My friend left a voicemail, they were charged the international rate for making the call. I was not charged for him leaving a voicemail.
I was charged for checking my voicemail abroad.
Don't you mean that your friends were charged the standard mobile rate in the UK, and you would have been charged extra had you answered it?
The phone company can't charge the caller a different rate for where you are - since there's no way that the person calling can be advised of the call charges.
You would be charged to retrieve your voicemails - as that's YOU calling from abroad back to UK.
I always have voicemail completely switched off. That way I can't get charged for someone leaving a voicemail. Though you do have to call Virgin Mobile to tell them you want to be able to switch voicemail off as by default it leaves it set on even when cancelling via the phone unless you ask VM to allow you to switch it on and off yourself.
I hate voicemail anyway - just a money making scam.
AndyCambs
12-07-2008, 21:58
Not sure how it is a scam -I don't get charged to listen to the voicemail, and most times it's my decision not to listen to the incoming message.
Not sure how it is a scam -I don't get charged to listen to the voicemail, and most times it's my decision not to listen to the incoming message.
The person calling you is charge as soon as they hit voicemail.
This is why landline providers offered 1571 free, they now instead of getting nothing when hitting a busy tone or not answered they get revenue. Same with mobile phone operators, instead of the caller hearing a busy tone, currently unavailable message, switched off message and not being charged, they get voicemail and get charged, now with many people simply not bothering to listen to their voicemail message as you say it's your choice to listen to them (I don't get charged to listen if I had it enabled) you may have to try several times and instead of it previously costing you nothing to keep trying it's costing 6 - 15p a pop. The telco you use to make the call earns a cut from the charge, the network the phone is on receives a cut.
Voicemail / 1571 is for the benefit of the telco, not the customer. A money making scam.
I am considerate to my callers and don't have voicemail as it is unfair to expect them to be charged for not been able to get hold of me.
aardvark
13-07-2008, 08:13
I've just had a fascinating conversation with 3 different people on 'The Team' who've told me that, despite what it says on the virginmobile website, if I divert all my calls to voicemail (before I go) I will be charged every time someone leaves a message on my voicemail while I'm abroad.
I understand that calling my voicemail from overseas will incur a charge BUT surely what they've told me can't be correct.
Even if my phone is switched off while I'm out of the country 'the system will know where you are' and I'll be charged for every voicemail left.
In this particular instance, Voicemail is not a 'scam' but an essential means of controlling the cost of using my phone. If I'm abroad without all calls diverted to voicemail or with voicemail switched off, I'm charged for every call I receive when my phone's switched on.
If I divert all calls to voicemail before I leave, I can control what I pay - I can choose to (or not to) access my voicemail box and to return peoples calls if I wish. If I choose not to, I should not be charged anything.
The information that 'The Team' appears to be giving seems to be taking away control from the user by removing the option to control costs and actively encouraging people to either leave their phone at home or to take calls, at great expense, while they're abroad. This, if anything, is the scam!
No. I always have voicemail switched off at home and abroad.
When abroad I only answer the calls I want to answer. I don't answer the calls I don't want to answer - therefore I control what I am charged.
The wisest choice is to ensure you have no voicemail and only take the calls you want to.
1571 / Voicemail as always been a scam to make extra money, simply because it doesn't cost the caller anything to be told the phone is off or unavailable or you didn't get to the phone in time, yet with voicemail / 1571 active it does cost the caller in these istances - it was simply a money making scam plain and simple.
aardvark
13-07-2008, 14:27
1571 / Voicemail as always been a scam to make extra money, simply because it doesn't cost the caller anything to be told the phone is off or unavailable or you didn't get to the phone in time, yet with voicemail / 1571 active it does cost the caller in these istances - it was simply a money making scam plain and simple.
We'll probably have to agree to disagree on this Bex. I find voicemail extremely useful. In my work, I have to keep in touch with lots of different people some of whom will be calling to give me my next assignment. The nature of my job means that I'm often unable to answer my mobile calls for long periods. No answer means no job and my next day's pay would be lost.
But we digress and probably should get back to the original topic - the cost of using voicemail abroad.
I always thought it was only if you called up your voice mail from abroad that you get charged.
If you just leave the voice messages sitting there you won't get charged.
That's what I thought.
chickendippers
16-07-2008, 09:50
Don't you mean that your friends were charged the standard mobile rate in the UK, and you would have been charged extra had you answered it?
That's what I thought, but my friend claimed the message cost him an arm and a leg. He might have just be saying that because he thought it cost him extra to call me whilst roaming anyway.
aardvark
12-08-2008, 09:13
I've just had a fascinating conversation with 3 different people on 'The Team' who've told me that, despite what it says on the virginmobile website, if I divert all my calls to voicemail (before I go) I will be charged every time someone leaves a message on my voicemail while I'm abroad.
I understand that calling my voicemail from overseas will incur a charge BUT surely what they've told me can't be correct.
Even if my phone is switched off while I'm out of the country 'the system will know where you are' and I'll be charged for every voicemail left.
Anyone got any experience of this?
Just returned from Africa and, as I expected, wasn't charged for callers leaving a message on my voicemail simply for making the call back to UK to access it -for which I used an African SIMcard (it's cheaper).
Well done Virginmobile web team for getting the facts right.
:td: to 'The Team' on 789 who gave me incorrect and misleading information.
I couldn't make any calls with my VM mobile on a recent holiday. Checked with 789 and was told I didn't need to do anything, it would just work. I have had the contract for almost 2 years now.
I was on a Med cruise from Southampton.
As we left the English Channel I got a nice text from VM welcoming me to the USA ( it was an American ship) with all the tariff details. The same thing happened at Gibraltar, France, Italy, Sardinia, Portugal etc.
I did receive a couple of calls and could text perfectly but I could not make any outgoing calls. Tried altering the number prefix to +44 after ditching the 0 but it made no difference. I either got 'invalid number' or a voice message telling me that 'no connection could be made, contact your service provider'.
I had a maximum signal most of the time as well.:(
Contacted VM on my return and was advised to try adding 001144 instead of +44.:confused:
I've just had a fascinating conversation with 3 different people on 'The Team' who've told me that, despite what it says on the virginmobile website, if I divert all my calls to voicemail (before I go) I will be charged every time someone leaves a message on my voicemail while I'm abroad.
I understand that calling my voicemail from overseas will incur a charge BUT surely what they've told me can't be correct.
Even if my phone is switched off while I'm out of the country 'the system will know where you are' and I'll be charged for every voicemail left.
Anyone got any experience of this?
Perhaps T-Mobile's network is set up to charge when you have your phone switched on but also have 'Call Divert all calls to voicemail' activated.
I switched my voicemail off specifically because of this.
Because once I went abroad using a T-Mobile sim card and when I diverted all calls to voicemail,I had £30 because i hadn't made any calls at that point and just an hour after, recieved a voicemail lasting approx a minute and a half and before i called voicemail, my balance showed £28.11
I couldn't make any calls with my VM mobile on a recent holiday. Checked with 789 and was told I didn't need to do anything, it would just work. I have had the contract for almost 2 years now.
I was on a Med cruise from Southampton.
As we left the English Channel I got a nice text from VM welcoming me to the USA ( it was an American ship) with all the tariff details. The same thing happened at Gibraltar, France, Italy, Sardinia, Portugal etc.
I did receive a couple of calls and could text perfectly but I could not make any outgoing calls. Tried altering the number prefix to +44 after ditching the 0 but it made no difference. I either got 'invalid number' or a voice message telling me that 'no connection could be made, contact your service provider'.
I had a maximum signal most of the time as well.:(
Contacted VM on my return and was advised to try adding 001144 instead of +44.:confused:
Maybe being an American ship and somehow they've set up their own mini-network they have it set up that you must use 011 - the USA code for making international calls and not 00 the European and many parts of the rest of the world access code. Could be the phone didn't realise that +44 needed to be converted into 011 and not 00 as I've heard this happen a few times with people in the USA.
chickendippers
02-09-2008, 22:47
The + should automatically be converted into the appropriate international dialling code for the region that you're in. I had no problems making calls in Greece at Easter.
Maybe being an American ship and somehow they've set up their own mini-network they have it set up that you must use 011 - the USA code for making international calls and not 00 the European and many parts of the rest of the world access code. Could be the phone didn't realise that +44 needed to be converted into 011 and not 00 as I've heard this happen a few times with people in the USA.
That doesn't explain why it didn't work on all of the European networks, I got the welcome text message every time I went into a different country, but could not dial out in any of them.
The only time I was on the American network was when we were at sea.
One of the calls I received was whilst at sea on the ships own network.
A bit of a bozo question here. Phone is a Nokia N73, when I enter a number direct from the keypad and press the */+ button it always enters a * so if I dial +44 it comes up on the screen as *44, could this be the cause of the problem, if so how do I get the keypad to enter a +.:dunce:
The + should automatically be converted into the appropriate international dialling code for the region that you're in. I had no problems making calls in Greece at Easter.
It should be automatically converted, however in the USA for some reason it doesn't always work - why? I don't know, I just know it's a known issue.
Greece is in Europe which uses 00 and not in the USA where the problem arises from time to time. That's why when in Greece you didn't have a problem, because Greece hasn't suddenly become part of the USA and uses their system.
I've never had a problem and my numbers have always been entered in +44, +34 etc format ever since owning a mobile phone back in the dark ages, but then I've not bothered going to the USA.
---------- Post added at 23:34 ---------- Previous post was at 23:33 ----------
That doesn't explain why it didn't work on all of the European networks, I got the welcome text message every time I went into a different country, but could not dial out in any of them.
The only time I was on the American network was when we were at sea.
One of the calls I received was whilst at sea on the ships own network.
A bit of a bozo question here. Phone is a Nokia N73, when I enter a number direct from the keypad and press the */+ button it always enters a * so if I dial +44 it comes up on the screen as *44, could this be the cause of the problem, if so how do I get the keypad to enter a +.:dunce:
That could well be the reason.
Misread your post at first, thought it was just using the 'USA' ship where there was the issue.
You need to either press * twice quickly or hold the * down until the + symbol comes up.
You would have been dialling *44.... and not +44.....
Just tried, its press it twice quickly, strange thing is though, I didn't alter any of the numbers in my address book, just left them with the UK codes intact and was able to send texts to lots of different people.:confused:
It was my first ever cruise, it was awful, so bad in fact that I am going on the same ship in 7 weeks time for an 11 day cruise to the Canary Islands. ;):cool::cleader:
Tried to rep you for the */+ tip but IE has been playing up big time since the last update, will see if Safari lets me through, thanks anyway.:tu:
Jim.
Nokia phones can always be a bit strange with numbers.
Depending on how your phone book is set up, if you have someone with +44 at the start and the network just sends you 07, the name won't come up (and vice versa)
Nokia phones can always be a bit strange with numbers.
Depending on how your phone book is set up, if you have someone with +44 at the start and the network just sends you 07, the name won't come up (and vice versa)
Luckily this has never been an issue with all my Nokia phones.
Just tried, its press it twice quickly, strange thing is though, I didn't alter any of the numbers in my address book, just left them with the UK codes intact and was able to send texts to lots of different people.:confused:
It was my first ever cruise, it was awful, so bad in fact that I am going on the same ship in 7 weeks time for an 11 day cruise to the Canary Islands. ;):cool::cleader:
Tried to rep you for the */+ tip but IE has been playing up big time since the last update, will see if Safari lets me through, thanks anyway.:tu:
Jim.
i think a text message does the +44 automatically
AndyCambs
03-09-2008, 23:07
Maybe being an American ship and somehow they've set up their own mini-network they have it set up that you must use 011 - the USA code for making international calls and not 00 the European and many parts of the rest of the world access code. Could be the phone didn't realise that +44 needed to be converted into 011 and not 00 as I've heard this happen a few times with people in the USA.
Probably INMARSAT and you wouldn't want to make calls at that cost!
---------- Post added at 23:07 ---------- Previous post was at 23:06 ----------
It should be automatically converted, however in the USA for some reason it doesn't always work - why? I don't know, I just know it's a known issue.
Greece is in Europe which uses 00 and not in the USA where the problem arises from time to time. That's why when in Greece you didn't have a problem, because Greece hasn't suddenly become part of the USA and uses their system.
I've never had a problem and my numbers have always been entered in +44, +34 etc format ever since owning a mobile phone back in the dark ages, but then I've not bothered going to the USA.
---------- Post added at 23:34 ---------- Previous post was at 23:33 ----------
That could well be the reason.
Misread your post at first, thought it was just using the 'USA' ship where there was the issue.
You need to either press * twice quickly or hold the * down until the + symbol comes up.
You would have been dialling *44.... and not +44.....
I've always held down the zero button to get a +
Probably INMARSAT and you wouldn't want to make calls at that cost!
---------- Post added at 23:07 ---------- Previous post was at 23:06 ----------
I've always held down the zero button to get a +
On board cost was £1 per minute so I didn't bother, only 38p on all the European ones though.
Holding down the 0 button on my N73 fires up the browser and takes me to Virgin 'Bites'
Jim.
Probably INMARSAT and you wouldn't want to make calls at that cost!
---------- Post added at 23:07 ---------- Previous post was at 23:06 ----------
I've always held down the zero button to get a +
On my phones it's either hold down the * until it changes into + or press * twice fairly quickly until it changes into a +.
AndyCambs
02-03-2009, 15:55
Update
You do now get charged for unanswered calls abroad which divert to the answerphone - both an incoming and an outgoing call cost:
Set your call diverts
When someone reaches your voicemail, you get charged the cost of sending the call to the country you're in, and then back to the UK even though they may not leave a message.
But you can get around this - just set your phone to 'divert all calls' to voicemail.
However, this does mean that you won't get any incoming calls.
Update
You do now get charged for unanswered calls abroad which divert to the answerphone - both an incoming and an outgoing call cost:
Or just set your phone not to divert any calls
Or just set your phone not to divert any calls
Yeah, that is the best way.
AndyCambs
02-03-2009, 16:29
I just copied what was on the Virgin Mobile website.
I just checked - and T-Mobile also charge for incoming and outgoing calls even if you don't answer when abroad, and the caller doesn't leave a message.
Orange don't appear to charge for unanswered calls.
O2 don't appear to charge and I don't believe that Vodafone do either.
It just seems to be T-mobile and Virgin
I just copied what was on the Virgin Mobile website.
I just checked - and T-Mobile also charge for incoming and outgoing calls even if you don't answer when abroad, and the caller doesn't leave a message.
Orange don't appear to charge for unanswered calls.
O2 don't appear to charge and I don't believe that Vodafone do either.
It just seems to be T-mobile and Virgin
It depends on how the divert has been set-up.
If it the forced divert where you don't have the option to switch it off, then the divert is done from 'home', if you have the option to switch divert on and off, then when you switch it on then you will be charged for two legs when the voicemail kicks in.
AndyCambs
02-03-2009, 19:56
It depends on how the divert has been set-up.
If it the forced divert where you don't have the option to switch it off, then the divert is done from 'home', if you have the option to switch divert on and off, then when you switch it on then you will be charged for two legs when the voicemail kicks in.
Therefore as I said - divert all calls to voicemail before departing, or risk getting a charge.
I think it's a little naughty to charge twice for an unanswered call.
Therefore as I said - divert all calls to voicemail before departing, or risk getting a charge.
I think it's a little naughty to charge twice for an unanswered call.
I'd rather have no divert at all. Therefore if I don't answer the call I don't get charged at all, if the phone is out of reception area or switched off, I don't get charged and if I do decide to answer a call I only get charged for receiving the call, not a double charge.
I hate voicemail anyway, just a way to scam money extra out of callers.
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