Cingular International Roaming Charges

[Federico]

I was on the phone with Cingular regarding international roaming charges and now I'm more confused than before.
At first they told me that if I receive a call when in Italy I'll be charged $3.99 per minute ($2.49 + $1.50 long distance). Also they told me if my phone is on and I get a phone call and the call to my voicemail and they leave a message I get charged the same $3.99.
But the interesting thing is that they "THINK" (how about that for a customer service) if I turn my phone off while in Italy and a phone call goes to my voicemail and somebody leaves a message I do not get charged (they think).

So, can anybody explain me what is really the truth?
Thanks in advance

[LostTexan]

If your phone is off and the call automaticly would go to voice mail. There is no way for them to know you are in Italy if the phone is off. So I am 98% sure that if the phone is off you wont get charged.


BTW does anybody know if Canada is included in the Cingular Nation plans (No Roaming & No Long Distance)?

[blackout]

i was just in germany using my cingular account. i have a cingular home plan. i was only charged 2.50 per minute, no additional long distance charges, but most the numbers i was calling were also us numbers of other coworkers who had met me there. you do not get charged minutes for calls you send to voicemail, no matter where you are. you do get charged minutes (including the hefty int'l charge) for retrieving your voicemails. cingular will also charge you a one minute phone call (2.49) for every sms you send, no matter what plan you are or whom you send them to, so don't text people thinking you're getting off cheap. i spent 70 bucks in sms for just one week's worth

[xgambit]

as far as cingular nationwide roaming plans (on the west coast at least) canada doesn't count.

[ImmerStark]

according to the fine print on the flyer i am looking at it is only within the 50 states. att offers a canada one rate plan if you need canada included

[pareto]

This is how it's supposed to work:

The rates you see below are charged per minute. There are rates there for both local calls and calls to the US. These minutes are peak minutes, and there are off-peak times which could be lower (probably not too much).

For incoming calls from the States, it's a flat $1.50/min rate, plus local charges (sometimes). If you activate unconditional call fowarding before you leave, all calls are forwarded to your voice mail for free. If you don't have unconditional call forwarding on before you leave and you've registered in the foreign network (by turning your phone on), then you'll be charged for the call to your phone and for the call being forwarded back to your voicemail in the States.

The cheapest thing to do is to get a pre-paid SIM there. Just make sure you get the subsidy code for your phone if it's locked.

Here are the rates:
http://onlinestore.cingular.com/html...ming_rates.htm

Now if it actually works like that or not...

[jh811]

why would you spend a grip of $$$ intl roaming on your cingular SIM? Just buy a prepaid SIM wherever you are....Are you people crazy???? 2.50 / min????

[xgambit]

multi band world phone= $400
international roaming charges= $2.50/min
international long distance for incoming calls= $1.50/min

having a friend call you while you are in europe and he ask you were you are and you say 'France!'= PRICELESS

(especially if your work pays for it)

[JediMasterYoda]

$2.50/min ??

Are you insane?

Swisscom offers international roaming for $45 a month for 300 minutes, then 60 cents a minute after that. Not only that, they give you a duplicate SIM card if you lose one or want to use another phone.

[Caligula]

Originally posted by xgambit
multi band world phone= $400
international roaming charges= $2.50/min
international long distance for incoming calls= $1.50/min

having a friend call you while you are in europe and he ask you were you are and you say 'France!'= PRICELESS

(especially if your work pays for it)

Now let us see Voicestream:

Multiband world phone = Free after rebate
Internatioanl roaming charges in Europe = $0.99 per minute
international long distance for incoming calls = $0.00

Having a friend call you while you are in Europe and he asks you where you are and you say, "France!!" = A lot less than with Cingular.

[Federico]

what is Swisscom? and I guess none of you is self employed here...
What i'm planning is to forward my office phone calls to my cell phone when I'm oversease so my income for the 2 weeks of vacations remain the same. of course I'm going to be using a sim card of the country I'm on to call back to the US, but the point on that is I'm going to be able to know any time wherever if I have voice message waiting
Do this make sense?

[Caligula]

Originally posted by Federico
what is Swisscom? and I guess none of you is self employed here...
What i'm planning is to forward my office phone calls to my cell phone when I'm oversease so my income for the 2 weeks of vacations remain the same. of course I'm going to be using a sim card of the country I'm on to call back to the US, but the point on that is I'm going to be able to know any time wherever if I have voice message waiting
Do this make sense?

Actually, I was self-employed. We incorporated the company now, so technically I am an employee, although my duties are the same. Now, As for your question....I am not sure exactly what you are trying to do. I see a few possibilities:

(1) You are goign to foward your office calls to your cell phone's voice mail, since you will be on a prepaid SIM while on vacation.

(2) You are going to forward your office calls to your cell phone, which will be using international roaming while abroad; then if you cannot answer and get a voicemail, you will use your prepaid SIM to call the United States.

If you are thinking about option (1), you will not know when you have voice mail, because yoru cell phone will be using the prepaid SIM. Thus, you would have to periodically check your voice mail tos ee if somebody left a message.

If you are thinking about option (2), I am not 100% sure whether you will know if you have voice mail. Remember that with GSM, when you get a voice mail, your phoen tels you by receiving an SMS message from the voice mail. There are problems with international SMS messages sometimes between the United States and other countries. If the SMS message does not reach you, you will not know that you have a voice mail. Also, remember that if your phone is on and you do not answer a call forwarded from your office, the call willb e forwarded again by your phone, but it will be at a roaming charge this time, because your phone is abroad! You will be charged for voice messages received then.

[JediMasterYoda]

Swisscom is a Switzerland based GSM provider. They offer worldwide coverage for great rates. And yes, they’ll offer service for you in the United States. They also allow GPRS service internationally in many countries. I've heard Luxemburg has a similar GSM provider, but I am unsure.

www.swisscom.com

I use them a lot when traveling.

By the way, not all of their plans are listed on their site, give them a call and ask. They are very helpful.

[farfromuman]

GSM romaing rates for the West region
Overseas GSM Roaming Rates:
Rates in effect as of June 1, 2001 are listed below and are subject to change or revision without notice.

Rates For Calls Made While Roaming Overseas:
Local calls are $2.49 per minute.
Long distance is included with all outbound calls while roaming internationally.
Rates are generally applicable to mobile-originated voice, data, fax, and/or Interactive Messaging.

Rates For Calls Received While Roaming Overseas:
All incoming calls received while roaming overseas are $3.99 per minute.
This includes the $2.49 per minute for air time plus the Cingular long distance rate.
This represents the charge for delivering a call from your Cingular home area in the U.S. to your location overseas.

For East coast check
here

I am in the east region and and used prepaid and roaming in Europe. Even if you leave the US you can still change your forwarding to unconditional.