T-Mobile makes official comment on international roaming issue

[mogul]

I read the original article earlier this week when I arrived in London, exactly two minutes after I called T-mobile to have international roaming turned on. Needless to say, I've spent an unhappy week in London with my glorious new phone in airplane mode. Thanks for the followup post.

I work on a web app where you previously had to click each group in a list to see what permissions that group's members had, similar to what you do currently in Android. Chaos and confusion and frustration were the results whenever any sort of permission-auditing was needed.

We added an inverted "view-by-permission" screen to complement the "view-by-usergroup" screen... You get a list of permissions, and under each you can find out which groups have that permission.

Clearly Android needs a similar screen... We only have the "app management" screen now. Right next to that there should be a "permission management" screen. Selecting a permission shows you the apps that have it, selecting the app from there takes you to the usual "app details/uninstall" page.

How do I file an official change request with the people who hack on Android? Or is there already an item for this?

[mogul]

Another idea, is it possible to make data requests fail for these add-on apps when roaming? Some might crash now given the unexpected result, but they'd rapidly be fixed or weeded out over time (via user-feedback at the uninstall stage).

[scrannel]

Gee... I have a modest proposal: default for data roaming should be off unless over-ridden by the user. Period.

I am on T-Mo, have had Smartphones for years and I travel all over the world. None of my phones has ever gone berserk data roaming on its own volition. A couple of auto bookmarks on T-Zones would very occasionally light up, but were expected to do so, without asking. Of course, this would never be a problem for G1 or iPhone in hands of sophisticated users, but my young son got an iPhone, went to Paris with my wife, and came back with a $2000 data roaming bill... and he doesn't even have an email account. So, it's OK for someone to turn on a phone, put it in his pocket and get charged two grand? ATT is probably going to credit us, will know in a few days. If not... well, my lawyers are on retainer. Sophisticated users will know to turn ON data, unsophisticated users, like my young son, shouldn't have to. For most of these kids, these phones are toys.

[Kael29]

You shouldn't have to remember which apps use what. If I turn off data, it should turn off for ALL apps. That's a major flaw in the operating system and T-Mobile's stance is a little upsetting.

[luvtommie]

So what is this World Class that they're referencing? What does it enable the user to do and 'with no additional charge'?

[scrannel]

Nothing, just bull****:

"WorldClassSM An optional service that allows you to make international calls, both from the United States to other countries and while traveling in other countries. There's no monthly fee, but per-minute rates apply. All phones work in Mexico. Dual or tri-band phone needed to make calls from other countries."

This from their site. I had to "turn on" the ability to make calls while traveling.

[dwang]

There needs to be a way to globally turn this off and override any 3rd party app.

[kizer]

Why doesn't T-mobile just not allow us to use international roaming unless we ask/pay for it?

Thats not exactly rocket science.

Oh sir thank you for calling T-mobile. How long do you plan on being in England? Ok, we will turn that on while your aboard.