£6 per MB - [-Censored-]!

[#1]

My wife is visiting the USA. It seems she blew her smart cap within seconds of switching her phone on. 32MB of data (that's MB not GB).

I just checked the roaming rates, and it says £6 per MB.

It's even £1.30 to answer a phone call.

[#2]

Get a local SIM at a shop; simples.
If you planned & bought a card from these guys beforehand, all would be dandy.
https://www.uk2abroad.com/

[#3]

I have a question that maybe someone here can answer from experience (I can't work it out from the help pages)

The data charge is shown as over six times the smart-cap limit. What will we actually be charged for - the smart-cap or the amount shown in the history?

[#4]

Good advice regarding local SIMs. I have done that in the distant past - more recently our deals (before Plusnet) have been reasonable.

I must admit we didn't think to check (too many other things to sort out). We have travelled a lot, and never seen charges like that before.

Lesson learned - we'll be changing our phone contracts shortly...

[#5]

After re-reading all the help pages and terms and conditions, I think I can now answer my own question.

The smart-cap does not stop data charges exceeding the smart-cap limit.

There is a separate data-cap that limits the charge to £40 (and you can't change that).

So be warned - if you travel to a band-2 country disable data roaming before you leave the UK. If not then switching your phone on will cost you £40 before you have time to disable data roaming.

Or better yet - get a better phone contract! (that's what we'll be doing).

[#6]

My daughter uses WhatsApp with her phone connected to the hotels WiFi because I think it's free 

I had to come into the 21st Century lol 🤔🤔🤔

[#7 · Accepted solution]

Yes, WhatsApp, Messenger, Skype, various VoIP apps etc are all better than actual phone calls if you have WiFi.

I have no idea why charges of £6/MB are considered appropriate - it is presumably to catch people out and make a large profit. (and lose a customer).

Three for example charge 1p per MB - that is 1/600th as much as Plusnet!  And that is only after your inclusive allowance is used up.

[#8]

I’m not in the office today but just to clarify / correct things. The smart cap does absolutely stop you from incurring out of plan data charges. It just doesn’t prevent bolt on charges or one off payments as you’d be consciously buying a bolt on or making a one off payment as opposed to accidentally going over your allowance.

So for example if you have a smart cap at £5, and you incur £10 in out of plan data charges for roaming then you’ll see a smart cap adjustment credit on the next bill to cover anything over the smart cap. 

If that makes sense?

[#9]

Thanks Gandalf, that's what I'd have hoped. However, the terms and conditions are confusing, and introduce a data-cap (which is what my wife's charges show) rather than stopping at the much lower smart-cap.

I should have expected Plusnet would have some way of making the billing more complex and confusing by charging one amount then refunding part of it.

And how is £6/MB arrived at anyway?

[#10]

I think the data roaming cap is like an extra buffer. Unlike a smart cap, when you reach it you can’t just pay it off to carry on using out of plan data. You’ll need to wait until the next billing date, or (where possible) increase the data roaming cap, alternatively you can buy a bolt on if you’re in a Roam Like At Home (RLAH) destination. If you’ve not read this article already, there’s more detail here https://www.plus.net/help/mobile/roaming-and-international-calls/

I can see how showing the full charge could be confusing, but if we didn’t do that, then the usage shown in the portal wouldn’t be accurate. I recognise it would be helpful to show a credit alongside it however, though things should be clearer when the actual bill generates.

I can’t really comment on our out of plan prices as it’d be a commercial decision, but I’d also recommend buying a local SIM when either staying in a country for a prolonged period of time or outside of a RLAH ‘destination’. It’s what I did when I travelled to China and NZ some years ago. 

[#11]

Yes, I can see the thinking behind that. However, when switching a phone on it will make connection with whatever apps are automatically loaded - e.g. Google, FaceBook, Messenger, WhatsApp etc. In my wife's case that amounted to 32MB - which in this day and age is not a lot of data.

At £6/MB that amounts to a charge of £192! So the data-cap which limits the charge at £40 will be triggered instantly - which in effect means that there is a £40 charge for switching you phone on in a band 2 country.

The smart-cap will limit that (depending on the smart-cap limit) but only through the confusing charge and rebate system that Plusnet are fond of using.

Regarding the accuracy of the usage charge shown on the billing history - it shows 32MB and £40 (less VAT) with a data-cap note, rather than £192. Apparently that isn't the amount that will be billed, so how is it more accurate than showing a charge of whatever the smart-cap is with a smart-cap note?

So with the data-cap of  £40 which is only 6.6MB of data there is no chance of actually having a data connection in a band 2 country since bolt-ons aren't even available.

So the only purpose of allowing any data connection in a band 2 country is to instantly use up the smart-cap charge.

[#12]

Not quite. We don't charge the full amount beyond the smart cap then rebate it. We just wouldn't charge anything above the smart cap in the first instance, so there'd be nothing for us to refund back. 

The maximum you can set a smart cap is £30 so assuming it is set at that, then that'd be the maximum you'd be charged in one go for out of plan services. The data roaming cap doesn't come into play at that point. 

As an example, let's say the smart cap is £30 and data roaming cap is £40. You reach the smart cap, make a £30 payment to reset it, then reach the smart cap again. Even if you pay it off manually, this time because you'd have reached the £40 data roaming cap within the billing period, you still won't be able to roam outside of a RLAH destination until your next billing period or you increase the data roaming cap where possible. 

I do however understand that £6 per MB is fairly pricey which is why it may be economical to buy a SIM from a local provider if you're going overseas either for a long period of time (4+ months) or outside of a RLAH destination.

[#13]

It may well be that the bill will be for the smart-cap amount - £5 in this case - but it isn't that clear in the online account.

The usage breakdown shows:

23-Jul-2022

44xxxxxxxxxx

Data Roaming Originating - Zone 2

32 mb

£33.33

The £33.33 is the £40 data-cap without VAT. The 32MB is above the 6.6MB that the data-cap payment covers.Why doesn't it cap the price at the smart-cap limit rather than the higher data-cap limit?

The Usage summary page shows:

    Usage outside of plan: £5.00
    OUT OF PLAN USAGE
    £33.33      907 MB    Data
    Youʼve £0.00 left on your Smart Cap

So that shows £5 and £33.33.

Also the data there is 907MB - which would be £5442!

Anyway I'm happy that we will only be charged the £5 smart-cap.

My final point is that the way the data-cap is designed is actually far worse than providing no data connection at all. The data-cap only allows 6.6MB in an entire charging period - and that will use up all of your smart-cap. I don't know how to use a modern smart-phone and not instantly use that.

[#14]

@corringham wrote:
My final point is that the way the data-cap is designed is actually far worse than providing no data connection at all. The data-cap only allows 6.6MB in an entire charging period - and that will use up all of your smart-cap. I don't know how to use a modern smart-phone and not instantly use that.

How's providing some data worse than providing none at all? 

[#15]

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How's providing some data worse than providing none at all? 

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Because you can't do anything useful with 6.6MB (app handshakes will use that as soon as you switch your phone on) and it costs the full smart-cap amount.