[blindkid] International roaming at conventionRe: blindkid Digest, Vol 62, Issue 18

Mon Jun 22 04:25:32 UTC 2009

I agree. Turn off the roaming. One other caution though-- Sprint  
apparently won't guarantee that turning roaming off will prevent the  
problem. The rep with whom I spoke (electronically) indicated that  
while this generally works, she has seen a few occasions where  
people's phones apparently roamed without having roaming enabled,  
apparently this was determined to be some sort of malfunction with the  
user's handset.

This sounded very unlikely if the roaming feature was turned off but  
it apparently is not a guaranteed that turning off roaming will  
prevent the problem.

I can say that I had a problem myself some years ago when a phone that  
I think may have been Sprint (but I'm not certain of the carrier)  
ended up locked in to the wrong system (Bell South I think it was?)  
and was just acting crazy-- I confirmed through an operator that I was  
on the wrong system and a phone restart cleared the problem, but this  
must be what they are talking about-- if somehow the phone gets on the  
wrong system strange things can happen. Still, newer digital phones  
should not let this happen as is used to with Analog cell phones...

One other point that again may be critical to some is that roaming is  
(at least on Sprint) sets independently for data services and voice  
services so be certain everything is turned off.

Also (for those of is who rarely roam) there is generally a symbol  
(apparently a little triangle for Sprint customers, at least the ones  
using BlackBerries) that is visible for sighted phone users which  
indicates that one is roaming. For non-sighted users, this will be of  
little help.

I wonder if anyone on this list is a user of a phone enabled to be  
accessible for the blind who would know if there is any way to tell if  
you are roaming while using that software.

I would not work off of this assumption, but I also suspect that if  
you have your phone turned off of roaming and are vision impaired or  
blind and end up with roaming charges when you were not roaming, you'd  
have a pretty decent argument for having the charges removed if you  
have no way to determine that a roaming malfunction has occurred  
because you could not see a triangle showing this status change.

That the bottom line is these companies don't really care in general  
if people are getting hit with these charges. I suspect this is mostly  
free money for the Canadian cell carriers but you have to know that  
Sprint is doing the same thing to the ill-fated folks in Canada who  
stray too close to US towers. At the end of the day, it is all more  
revenue for these companies so they have minimal motivation to offer  
ways to absolutely block off the signals. It isn't like most of us can  
change companies as they get us all locked in by contract for a year  
or two whenever we sign up...

Richard

P.S. Here are the directions I was sent from Sprint on how to set a  
BlackBerry Curve 8330 to try and avoid roaming. It might give you some  
idea of what to look for on your own phone but I STRONGLY suggest you  
contact Sprint or whatever carrier you may be using to find out  
exactly how to make the appropriate setting on you own phone.

Good luck to us all on this one...

> To do this please follow the instructions below for the BB 8330 Curve:
> From the home screen, select your Blackberry key to the left of the  
> navigational ball to display all of your icons.
> Click Options then select Mobile Network.
> See Data Services: set to 'Off when Roaming'.
> See Mobile Network = Sprint PCS
> See Network Selection Mode: set to Home Only (which equals Sprint  
> Only).
> Select your Blackberry key to the left of the navigational ball to  
> display a menu.
> Select SAVE.

On Jun 21, 2009, at 10:50 PM, Steve Jacobson wrote:

> Companies might give you credit, but I sure wouldn't count on it.   
> Sprint used to have a policy of crediting you one time
> for Roaming but not crediting you if their records show that they  
> have explained to you how to turn it off already.  One's
> best bet is to turn the capability off on one's phone.
>
> On Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:23:05 -0400, Bonnie Lucas wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>> I called Sprint yesterday and spoke to someone, I'm sure from  
>> another part
>> of the world because I could not understand him really well.  
>> However, I
>> questioned him a number of times and he said that if I  
>> inadvertently did
>> some roaming, that when I received my bill, that I could call and  
>> they would
>> take off the charges. I explained that I was not going to Canada  
>> but that it
>> would occur in the hotel possibly. He said that as long as it  
>> occurred when
>> I said it was going to and as long as it was not another country  
>> that I
>> could have the charges removed. I'm thinking that I should call  
>> back and
>> varify. He said that he put several notes in my file. Perhaps having
>> another person concur might save a few head aches later.
>
>> Bonnie Lucas
>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: <blindkid-request at nfbnet.org>
>> To: <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Sunday, June 21, 2009 1:00 PM
>> Subject: blindkid Digest, Vol 62, Issue 18
>
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>>> Today's Topics:
>>>
>>>  1. Re: international roaming and your Cell Phones atConvention
>>>     (Richard Holloway)
>>>  2. Re: repeating - Kathy (kbugsmum at aol.com)
>>>  3. Re: Youth activities at nat. convention? (Patricia Renfranz)
>>>  4. Re: Youth activities at nat. convention? (kbugsmum at aol.com)
>>>  5. NFB-NEWSLINE 2009 National Convention Schedule of Events
>>>     (West, Renee)
>>>  6. KNFB Reader Mobile and Making Money (Michael Hingson)
>>>  7. Re: repeating - Kathy (Kathy B)
>>>  8. Re: repeating - Kathy (Susan Nagy)
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