According to a post on Gizmodo, a G1 user traveling to the UK incured over $100 worth of data roaming charges while never using the device to access data. Apparently the G1 sends some type of heartbeat every 3 - 5 minutes regardless of your location. Could this be push email or just some OS feature that requires the G1 to call home. It is unbelievable that someone would design such a feature without an on/off switch. The on/off feature has been there since day one in Windows Mobile devices. In version 1 of the iPhone firmware there was some confusion about how to turn off data roaming but at least the feature was there, for the G1 the T-Mobile CSR response was to leave the device at home.
I have been a T-Mobile fan from the Voicestream days but over the 18 months their lack of any decent devices has left me less than enthusiastic, even if their pricing model is generally cheaper. I don't think the G1 is very innovative compared to the iPhone, the HotSpot@Home feature which I think is a key differentiator and a big cost saving was left out of new phones like the G1. I am sure the data roaming issue will fixed in a future update but somebody really missed the boat on this one.
On the cost front AT&T has data roaming plans which you can purchase on a month to month basis (T-Mobile does not). This helps to lessen your cost while traveling internationally if you need to use data. I wrote about my experience with the iPhone in this post.
Comments