Discussion: Cell phone geography

It appears that a certain cellular telephone provider needs to learn some basic geography.

Earlier this month while driving U.S. Interstate Highway 10 through west Texas, my cell phone suddenly displayed the text message "Welcome abroad", along with a bunch of data on international rate plans.

Later, when I got my bill, the sneaky (deleted)s tried to charge me $155 for data roaming in Mexico, despite the fact that I never left the USA.

After wasting time on the phone with them, I did manage to get them to delete the charges. But you would surely think that with the thousands of vehicles per day that drive I-10, they could prevent this issue if they wanted to. I wonder how much easy money they make from people who just pay their bill and don't look at the charge detail!

Isn't....West Texas basically Mexico anyway?

You got a handshake from an across-the-border tower... it's a free-ish market, just choose a provider that has fewer towers and you'll be all set.

solar flares?

That happens here in Germany when our cellphone picks up a tower from a bordering country. The data rates are not that astounding though.

There's always 'Data roaming: Off'

Wouldn't it be easier to just not roam in West Texas?

Happens all the time when I'm in Detroit. Pick up the Canadian towers and not the
American ones. I know it's going to happen and just plan on spending time arguing with the carrier later.

Also happens in Niagara Falls NY/Ontario - you have to be careful and watch that "roaming" icon.

Like Cristina said, you should be able to turn roaming off.

(MIke's might have been left on since his trip to the COCs/Nationals; mine was...)

Sure, I can turn it off. I usually do when I'm travelling outside the country. But why should I have to do that when I don't go outside the country? GPS technology is good enough, the phone company should be able to identify anomalous tower bounces.

I keep it off all the time. Prevents any problems. I don't need data roaming more than 99% of the time, so it makes sense for off to be the default anyway.

But the phone company doesn't actually care where you were physically, they care which network/tower you connected to. If you are standing in the US, but using a foreign tower, why shouldn't you be charged for it?