By Remember that story about the guy who went abroad, thought he turned data roaming off and somehow racked up $100+ in data charges? Yeah, we know… it could have been worse, right? And it is… kind of.
T-Mobile sent an official response to Engadget and it seems that yes, you CAN turn off Data Roaming BUT… and this is a BIG BUT (I like them and I cannot lie)… applications you download from the market can essentially override this option. You know those little warnings indicating to what you’re allowing this application access? Yeah, that’ll do it.
If you ask me, there NEEDS to be options to cut these connections off regardless. I’m sure plenty of you are with me. I’m not exactly a globetrotter so it’s unlikely to burn me, but can you blame me for tryin’ to look after a travellin’ man?
Here is T-Mobile’s response that was posted on Engadget:
T-Mobile is committed to delivering the best experience in wireless to our customers. If a T-Mobile customer would like to use their T-Mobile G1 while outside the country, they should contact Customer Care before they leave to ask that the WorldClass feature be added to their service at no additional charge. If they choose, customers can also disable data roaming on the G1. This can be done by going through the following steps: Home Screen > Menu > Settings > Wireless Controls > Mobile Networks > Data Roaming.
Some third party applications available for download on Android Market require access to the internet and have the ability to turn on data roaming when in use. Customers are informed whether an application will use this feature prior to downloading, but should also be aware when traveling outside the country.
[Via Engadget Mobile]
I recently went on an international trip with my G1. I didn’t plan on making any calls and didn’t want any charges, so I kept my phone in airplane mode. This completely turns off the radio so no data could possibly be used. Of course, if your are like the guy who had problems and plan on using the voice part of your phone but not the data, this doesn’t really help much.
Hahaha I hope I’m not the only one that caught that joke you slipped in!
I’m pickin up what your putting down LMAO
-Jeff McCune
So what are the 3rd party apps that are getting around the Data Roaming on/off switch???
I haven’t used this phone as it’s not available where I live but don’t these phones need an access point for data calls? Can’t you just set up a new data profile with dummy settings and switch to this when roaming?