Roaming cost in USA

[daveeb]

So the rest of the family are going to the US in June. Two of them have pay monthly contracts with Tesco Mobile. I've been told (on TM live chat) that the home from home benefits don't apply in the US so you have to pay for roaming as you go and can't use your normal UK allowance. The adviser suggested raising the emergency cap amount to allow for this data (currently on £2.50 - the minimum).
Out of curiosity I looked up the Tesco Mobile roaming charges for the US and had to do a double take. £5 per Megabyte !!!
According to that a Gigabyte of data would cost around £5 grand.
I'm hoping it's a typo and they mean £5 per gig but has any Tesco Mobile user been to the US and if so how did you manage.
I guess they could get a payg sim card or two out there but they really want their existing numbers or a few apps may stop working.

[GrimUpNorth]

Last time I went to the USA I got a Three PAYG SIM for data etc while away and just set my Sky Mobile number to forward all calls to the Three SIM.

If I was going again I'd be tempted to try and eSim.

[daveeb]

Originally Posted by GrimUpNorth

Last time I went to the USA I got a Three PAYG SIM for data etc while away and just set my Sky Mobile number to forward all calls to the Three SIM.

If I was going again I'd be tempted to try and eSim.

Thanks Grim, so you got the sim over in the U.S ? and is the number forward thing just a setting on the Sky phone.

[Stephen]

I know some contracts do have roaming in the US included but its usually their most expensive plans and used to be available as an add on. Guessing Tesco don't have that.

It can be expensive to use in the US otherwise.

I get a free roaming bolt-on for the USA with my sim-only O2/Volt tariff (and 26 other countries, as 45 countries in their EU zone) - when I go to Northern Cyprus, I pay a £6 per day bolt on to use my normal allowances (10Gb data, unlimited calls and texts).

https://www.o2.co.uk/international/u...r-phone-abroad

Travelling in the O2 Europe Zone?

We’re the only major network that isn’t bringing back EU roaming charges for up to 25GB. Wherever you fancy going in our Europe Zone (40+ destinations), you’re free to call, text and use data just like you would in the UK, subject to a roaming limit.

What if I’m travelling outside the O2 Europe Zone?

If you're a Volt or Pay Monthly customer on selected O2 Refresh and sim only tariffs, you're eligible for the O2 Travel Inclusive Bolt On. It gives you unlimited minutes, texts and data roaming in 27 destinations outside Europe.

What if I don't have the O2 Travel Inclusive Bolt On or am travelling outside the O2 Travel Inclusive Zone?

If you’re on Pay Monthly, you can still get our full O2 Travel Bolt On for £6 a day in selected destinations. If you’re on Pay As You Go, you can get our O2 Travel Bolt On for £1.99 a day in selected destinations.

You'll be charged our standard rates if you don't have any of our O2 Travel Bolt Ons.

https://www.o2.co.uk/international/t...inclusive-zone

[daveeb]

Thanks all. Tesco don't do any kind of bolt on for data in the U.S. Looks like my only option is to get them to buy a local sim, not ideal but better than nothing. I think I'll be dumping Tesco Mobile in the near future, they don't seem to want people using their phones in the states.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by daveeb

Thanks all. Tesco don't do any kind of bolt on for data in the U.S. Looks like my only option is to get them to buy a local sim, not ideal but better than nothing. I think I'll be dumping Tesco Mobile in the near future, they don't seem to want people using their phones in the states.

Probably not worth changing if it's a one off holiday. I'd just take the advice given here.

[Itshim]

I bought a local sim , e mailed the number to every one ,hoping they left me alone !! Sorry just thought of what you are looking to do. I'd use free WiFi, in hotel , bar , cafe etc by giving a local sim number it's them that pay !!!

[Hom3r]

There was a story a few years back, a family went on holiday, but the teenage son decided he would rather play CoD on his computer that explore. he had a large update which he downloaded, the bill was about £7,500.

The provider said we want our money.

TBH i back the provider.

Although they should have been a cut off that the account holder could remove.

But at the end of the day, there will be a safe wifi connection.

[daveeb]

Originally Posted by Itshim

I bought a local sim , e mailed the number to every one ,hoping they left me alone !! Sorry just thought of what you are looking to do. I'd use free WiFi, in hotel , bar , cafe etc by giving a local sim number it's them that pay !!!

like your thinking. I suspect they'll possibly go down the e-sim route as all their phones are compatible, that way can do it beforehand.

---------- Post added at 20:49 ---------- Previous post was at 20:46 ----------

Originally Posted by Hom3r

There was a story a few years back, a family went on holiday, but the teenage son decided he would rather play CoD on his computer that explore. he had a large update which he downloaded, the bill was about £7,500.

The provider said we want our money.

TBH i back the provider.

Although they should have been a cut off that the account holder could remove.

But at the end of the day, there will be a safe wifi connection.

Don't think my entourage would be that stupid....but
Using Tesco's roaming prices £7500 would be getting off lightly. You would only get around a gig and a half. Not a time to be downloading a new game.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Hom3r

There was a story a few years back, a family went on holiday, but the teenage son decided he would rather play CoD on his computer that explore. he had a large update which he downloaded, the bill was about £7,500.

The provider said we want our money.

TBH i back the provider.

Although they should have been a cut off that the account holder could remove.

But at the end of the day, there will be a safe wifi connection.

When I worked in Director Complaints at Vodafone I got some stories and crazy bills. There was one guy who travelled with work and spent weeks in Northen parts of Russia. He got a bill of 18,784 after he got home. Said he wouldn't pay it but at the end of the day he used the phone. We had evidence on the system that he received SMS warning of costs in that country and that he removed the £100 limit that was originally placed on the account. However as a nice guy I offered to take £1000 off as goodwill and set him up a payment plan and put all bars back on the account and advised him to carefully read and take notice of any texts he received while abroad.

Similar used to happen on cruise ships a lot.