Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Vodafone has apologised for a "technical error" that left customers abroad facing thousands of pounds in roaming fees over the weekend.
It seems the issue was with an upgrade to Vodafone's customer account database. Consequently, customers in Europe and the US faced steep charges for data usage, with some people reporting bills as high as £9,000.
One customer got in touch with The Reg on Sunday to report they'd been hit for over £1,200 while in Prague. "Also services are being cut so [I] can't make phone calls when abroad and now [have] no data on phone. So [I'm] having to rely on Wi-Fi hotspots or buy a [second] local SIM card," he said.
Another sent us a screenshot of a bill for nearly £7,000. "Vodafone have cocked up on roaming this weekend. Lots of people getting disconnected and huge bills, me included," he said.
A number of folk also took to Twitter to complain over the weekend.
A spokesman for Vodafone said: "We are very sorry that yesterday, some customers could not use data or calling services when roaming abroad. This was due to a technical error, which we have now fixed. Any affected customer should restart their phone to ensure that services are resumed.
"As a result of the issue, some customers are receiving billing messages in error; we are working through these as an urgent priority and removing any errors from customer accounts. Customers will not be charged and do not need to worry about contacting us as we are proactively checking accounts and fixing any issues."
(Score: 5, Funny) by FatPhil on Tuesday October 15 2019, @07:26AM (7 children)
If I call my sister at home in the UK, even whilst I am roaming in Estonia (I still have my Finnish phone contract), for a nice long chat, it will cost me ~1e.
If my sister returns the favour, it will cost her 136e (and I pay nothing to receive calls even when roaming).
She keeps saying "get a modern phone and install some app so we can talk" to me, and I say "get a phone that can do phone and a contract that does phone sensibly". Why can a backward shitty ex-soviet state have an IT infrastructure/market 100x more efficient than the country that brought us Alexander Graham Bell?
When I was in the UK last month, I did a fair bit of data roaming, calling, and SMSing - my bill was no higher than normal - that means that the operators owning the infrastructure can provide the services cheaply (when sold to other operators), they just deliberate keep their prices high for their customers.
This isn't an "oops we made a mistake", this is a "shit they found us out".
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday October 15 2019, @08:49AM (2 children)
The UK are very insular (see brexit). They don't consider phoning estonia to be a valid use case.
That said, it looks like the standard pay monthly vodafone charge is
20p/minute UK to estonia
55p/minute UK to UK
On PAYG it's
19p/minu UK to estonia (and other EU countries)
30p/minute UK to UK (inc mobile)
https://www.vodafone.co.uk/cs/groups/public/documents/document/vfcon100095.pdf [vodafone.co.uk]
The EU has got rid of roaming charges hence you get your home price whether you are in finland, sweden, or in UK. I wouldn't be surprised if inter-EU calls are capped too given that it's cheaper to phone cyprus from the UK than to phone your neighbour!
Someone with a UK deal gets the same price, be it in UK, Finland, or Sweden.
However most people in the UK I believe have 'call bundles' which mean unlimited UK minutes, which also applies when roaming (so can phone from estonia to the UK for free), which seems like a workaround for the EU rules.
After the end of the month, the UK will be out of the EU, and we can revert to sky high call costs. Yeay!
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday October 15 2019, @09:02AM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday October 15 2019, @01:47PM
19p a minute to the EU, 55p to Isle of Man, and £2 a minute out of EU. Does feel like that 19 / 19.5p a minute is an EU mandated cap.
To charge 136e for an hour would be calling a non-eu number.
https://www.o2.co.uk/help/account-and-billing/calling-abroad-standard-rates [o2.co.uk]
(Score: 2) by OrugTor on Tuesday October 15 2019, @04:22PM (1 child)
From Wikipedia:
Estonia is a developed country with an advanced, high-income economy that has been among the fastest-growing in the EU.[14] The country ranks very high in the Human Development Index,[7] and performs favourably in measurements of economic freedom, civil liberties, education,[15] and press freedom (third in the world in 2012 and 2007).[16] Estonian citizens are provided with universal health care,[17] free education,[18] and the longest-paid maternity leave in the OECD.[19] One of the world's most digitally advanced societies,[20] in 2005, Estonia became the first state to hold elections over the Internet, and in 2014, the first state to provide e-residency.
"backward shitty" seems a little harsh.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday October 16 2019, @07:25AM
It's called rhetoric. 29 years ago it was part of the Soviet Union, and all the taxis were shittly old hand-me-down ladas with half of their doors held on with tape or twisted coat-hangers. (Yes, that's first hand experience.)
There are some US mail order places that refuse to ship to Estonia because "it's part of Russia". (Yes, that's first hand experience too.)
Congratulations on unwittingly spotting the extra implication in my post, namely how it is possible to make progress and advance, and as you say even compete at the highest levels, even if you were a shitty occupied vassel only 3 decades ago. We were fucked up - we fixed ourselves through positivity of vision, and gritty determination behind our actions. There's a lesson there that other "advanced" countries that don't quite live up to their self-image could learn from.
I've been calling the UK a "backward country" since 1993 when I first lived in Finland. It's *gone more backwards* since then. For a shitty eastern european state to be shitting on them is shameful. I don't care, I left the fuckhole ages ago.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday October 15 2019, @06:40PM (1 child)
Sounds like AT&T's british cousin.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday October 16 2019, @07:27AM
AT&T and the baby bells was one of the last examples I remember of the US government actually attempting to rein in business that was getting too big. Plenty of intervention when it comes to bailing out since then, but no reining in.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 15 2019, @10:16PM
I've gotten a 3 figure data roaming bill from them before, about 2/3 of that was really their fault. Their customer service sent a sub-contracted debt collector to pound on my door when I refused to pay. This organization is run by some real fuckers. I've stayed away from them ever since.