Connectivity / ‘Put phone on flight mode’ on NorthLink ferries, mobile company says after huge roaming bills
A MOBILE network has urged people to put their phones into flight mode on NorthLink ferries after some were left with huge roaming charges.
iD Mobile has said it would “strongly recommend” that its customers travelling on the ferry between Shetland, Aberdeen and Orkney should not use mobile data during the journey.
The company has advised passengers to “put it into flight mode until you get to shore”.
It comes after reports of several folk being left with huge bills after being billed for roaming charges – despite only making the short journey across the North Sea.
Joanne Williams’ teenage daughter was charged three times after three ferry trips earlier this year, racking up £150 worth of extra charges.
Williams – the billpayer for the contract – said she had been left puzzled by the huge increase, which left the fee “four times what it usually is”.
“I said to her ‘what have you been doing with your phone’, but then we looked at the dates and realised that was when she was on the boat,” Williams told Shetland News.
“I was looking at it, and it was saying that she was abroad at the time.”
Williams contacted iD Mobile to contest the charges, but the company first told her that her daughter “must have been out of the country”.
“They told me that I would need to speak to the operator of the cruise ship she was on,” Williams said.
“They just couldn’t understand she wasn’t on a cruise ship. I kept saying, ‘it’s public transport’.
Williams said iD Mobile more or less told the pair that they would just have to pay the bill, but she decided to fight it.
“She said she wasn’t given any notification to say she was on roaming charges,” Williams added.
Anecdotally, she said it seemed to be the “cheaper service providers” who were responsible for the roaming charges on NorthLink ferry crossings, adding that they “don’t seem to have the technology” or satellites to cover parts of the North Sea.
iD Mobile told Williams that her daughter should have had the phone in flight mode during the trip.
And when approached by Shetland News, the company gave the same advice.
“We’re advising this because roaming charges at sea can be very expensive,” iD Mobile said.
“If you’re going on a cruise, or taking a ferry on a journey like Dover to Calais, roaming charges could apply, even if you’re travelling between any of our ‘inclusive roaming’ countries.
“The reason for this is because ferry and cruise operators often use their own phone network that’s operated via satellite.
“Connecting to a satellite network is much more expensive than connecting to a land operated network, so that’s why your usage at sea isn’t included as part of your inclusive roaming allowance.”
iD Mobile added that customers should have their bill cap limit set to £0.00.
Williams was refunded for some – but not all – of the money after “a lot of faffing around” and “toing and froing”.
But she is worried that more people will be stung by the costs – including tourists, who may think the extra charges are just standard when travelling to Shetland.
“I think it’s a fairly new thing, because she’s had this mobile phone for years and it’s never happened before,” Williams said.
“It’s never happened to me, and I’m with Vodafone.
“I think some people just won’t know what the charge is, or might think that’s just what the boat charges, and pay it.”
And asked what Williams would do if her teenage daughter travels on the NorthLink ferry again, she joked it would be easier to contest the bill than ask her to turn her phone off overnight.
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