How does spend control work with the $8 roaming?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › How does spend control work with the $8 roaming?

pdotie

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#302660 9-Dec-2022 21:10

Just about to leave for a few weeks over Christmas and havent been abroad since covid.

As I understand it, there is no more option to just "go casual" for roaming, and whilst I don't want to make calls when I am away, having the opportunity to still receive texts is probably important if possible which I understand is not chargeable?

How do I minimise spend? I assume I need to turn mobile data off, which means no accidental charges, and then set a spend control to less than $8?

If I decide I need to make a call, can I then just set the spend limit above $8 and it will trigger the charge for the day?

If Spend Control is set to $7 will my phone still work?

What happens if I get a voicemail/inbound call and my Spend Control is set to a level where the $8 can not get triggered, does the call just fail to connect?

SaltyNZ

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#3007948 9-Dec-2022 23:45

The $8 charges will be rejected once you reach your set spend limit. If you cannot pay the daily charge, you will not be able to roam at all. So, if you set the spend limit to $7 you will incur no roaming charges. You will still be able to receive SMS.

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These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

nztim

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#3008227 10-Dec-2022 17:30

When you are on wifi put your phone in airplane mode and use wifi calling like its in NZ

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

pdotie

15 posts

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#3008233 10-Dec-2022 17:59

SaltyNZ:

The $8 charges will be rejected once you reach your set spend limit. If you cannot pay the daily charge, you will not be able to roam at all. So, if you set the spend limit to $7 you will incur no roaming charges. You will still be able to receive SMS.

Thanks @SaltyNZ - this is exactly what I was assuming but wanted to double-check.

pdotie

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#3008239 10-Dec-2022 18:01

nztim: When you are on wifi put your phone in airplane mode and use wifi calling like its in NZ

Thanks. Doesn't quite help with my use-case. I want to make sure I can still receive inbound SMS - 2FA etc... I just dont want any chargeable events created and billed.

turtleattacks

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#3008288 10-Dec-2022 22:14

@saltyNZ: Interesting one here...

I have a iPhone 13 with a 2degree eSim and each time I turn off the 2degrees line, and back on again - I think the iPhone needs to re-register/activate my 2degrees number with the iMessage servers.

By the looks of, the activation process means sending a text to '447786205094' in the background.

Does this mean that if the user will incur roaming charges despite not actually physically sending a text?

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stick

357 posts

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#3008296 10-Dec-2022 22:51

pdotie:
nztim: When you are on wifi put your phone in airplane mode and use wifi calling like its in NZ

Thanks. Doesn't quite help with my use-case. I want to make sure I can still receive inbound SMS - 2FA etc... I just dont want any chargeable events created and billed.

You can still recieve texts with Wifi Calling, but I know where you're coming from

nztim

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#3008301 10-Dec-2022 23:33

pdotie:
nztim: When you are on wifi put your phone in airplane mode and use wifi calling like its in NZ

Thanks. Doesn't quite help with my use-case. I want to make sure I can still receive inbound SMS - 2FA etc... I just dont want any chargeable events created and billed.

Inbound txts work over wifi calling

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

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SaltyNZ

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#3008304 10-Dec-2022 23:50

turtleattacks:

@saltyNZ: Interesting one here...

I have a iPhone 13 with a 2degree eSim and each time I turn off the 2degrees line, and back on again - I think the iPhone needs to re-register/activate my 2degrees number with the iMessage servers.

By the looks of, the activation process means sending a text to '447786205094' in the background.

Does this mean that if the user will incur roaming charges despite not actually physically sending a text?

Yes, the only exceptions are for 2degrees own shortcodes (e.g. 233). I was not aware that turning the line on and off would cause it to do the iMessage reactivation though. Probably something we can look at in future - but certainly not before next year.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

turtleattacks

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#3008305 11-Dec-2022 00:02

I didn’t know either until I saw it in SCP. It doesn’t actually appear in the phone message history.

I’ll see if it drops off when I return next year and if not will follow up.

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Linux

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#3008356 11-Dec-2022 03:07

@pdotie WiFi calling all services work inbound SMS outbound SMS etc....

Zero roaming charges

pdotie

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#3008386 11-Dec-2022 09:37

nztim:

Inbound txts work over wifi calling

TIL!

Thanks, the description of "calling" threw me.

jamesrt

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#3008399 11-Dec-2022 11:15

On a related note, I'm currently on a 2Degrees PrePay plan, so no spend-control for me.

The PrePay plans do seem to feature compulsory automatic roaming; so if my phone connects to a cellular network, I'm probably going to be pinged $8/day; given I'm away for 4 weeks, that's potentially $224.

If I turn off automatic topups (and autopay for the plan), presumably that will prevent the daily roaming charge if my balance is < $8 ??

(Yes, Flight Mode, WiFi calling, etc; but I'm also considering popping a local telco SIM to slot 2, which means phone will need to be out of flight mode to use that - so not sure how to use Sim 2 and block Sim 1 from attaching to a Cellular network but still allowing WiFi calling except for manually turning off SIM1 when I'm not connected to WiFi, which sounds like a huge hassle...)

On a slight rant, I know that Telcos probably like auto-roaming for customer convenience and also because it's a nice automatic money generator; but it would be nice if there was an opt-out function that was easily accessible!

SaltyNZ

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#3008795 12-Dec-2022 08:07

jamesrt:

On a related note, I'm currently on a 2Degrees PrePay plan, so no spend-control for me.

The PrePay plans do seem to feature compulsory automatic roaming; so if my phone connects to a cellular network, I'm probably going to be pinged $8/day; given I'm away for 4 weeks, that's potentially $224.

If I turn off automatic topups (and autopay for the plan), presumably that will prevent the daily roaming charge if my balance is < $8 ??

(Yes, Flight Mode, WiFi calling, etc; but I'm also considering popping a local telco SIM to slot 2, which means phone will need to be out of flight mode to use that - so not sure how to use Sim 2 and block Sim 1 from attaching to a Cellular network but still allowing WiFi calling except for manually turning off SIM1 when I'm not connected to WiFi, which sounds like a huge hassle...)

On a slight rant, I know that Telcos probably like auto-roaming for customer convenience and also because it's a nice automatic money generator; but it would be nice if there was an opt-out function that was easily accessible!

The $8 roaming charge cannot be paid for using AutoPay so you don't need to mess with that for the sake of roaming. But yes, if you turn off auto-topup and you don't have $8 then you won't be charged. You can continue to use VoWifi.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

jamesrt

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#3008803 12-Dec-2022 08:57

SaltyNZ:

The $8 roaming charge cannot be paid for using AutoPay so you don't need to mess with that for the sake of roaming. But yes, if you turn off auto-topup and you don't have $8 then you won't be charged. You can continue to use VoWifi.

Thanks for the confirmation; much appreciated.