I thought using my phone for data and calls in Europe was a simple transaction nowadays. I have a contract with a fair amount of data, calls and texts and I can use this just as I would at home in the UK. This makes so many things easier as we travel around Europe, we can google for local veggie restaurants, check the opening times of attractions and the weather and call home and we thank the EU for this convenience on a daily basis. But, on our recent trip to Spain and Portugal I found that on a ferry using your mobile phone gets more complicated and expensive mistakes can easily be made.
I was surprised to find I had a data signal on my mobile phone as we sailed out of Bilbao but naively assumed that connections had improved so much they could now reach out to the Bay of Biscay. I had switched my phone on to pick up the ship’s wi-fi but as I had a data signal I decided I didn’t need to go through the rigmarole of signing in to that. Then a text message pinged up telling me I had spent £4+ on data outside my allowance, then another text with a higher amount, then another and so on. There was no explanation as to how I had gone over my data allowance and I spent a few frantic minutes checking my phone account to see if I could clarify what I had done but as the text messages mounted up I [sensibly] switched the phone off for the rest of the ferry journey.
I switched my phone on again as we docked in to Portsmouth. The last text message I had received informed me I had spent £34+ on data outside my allowance. I checked my data usage again and couldn’t see how I had spent that, my data usage was well within the gigabytes I pay for on my contract.
I rang Three, my phone operator, as Mr BOTRA drove us away from the south coast to see what this £34 additional charge was about. The operator very efficiently informed me that with data roaming switched on [as it is quite safely all over Europe] when on a ferry or cruise ship my phone will automatically seek any connections. When the phone can’t find a two, three or four G network it will seek out a satellite marine mobile provider via the ship; this was the first I had heard about marine mobile. It seems these marine mobile providers are outside a normal data allowance contract and so are charged separately and those on Britanny Ferries that we were travelling on are very expensive charges [although they do warn you about these charges on their website].
It is some consolation that these data roaming charges, as this article suggests, have caught other people out as well as me, with some ending up with bills much more than the £34 I now had to pay.
Fortunately my story of ignorance has a happy ending for a frugal traveller as Three, noting that I have been a loyal customer for many years, refunded the £34 I owed for the few minutes my telephone was connected to the marine mobile satellite. They did this without me having to ask [I was still in shock] and quickly, so Three deserve a big thank you.
Next time I will just keep my phone switched off on a ferry and relax and enjoy the view.
Back on the road again 