AboutDebiN Expertise I can answer questions on cellular phones, the physical device, the network, contracts, billing, ordering, porting and what to look for when purchasing cell phones. I am located in the United States. I am an expert on BlackBerrys, Treos, HTC devices and iPhones as well as cellphones and aircards. I have over 15 years of experience in both the wireless and wireline world with the carriers. I have a lot of knowledge regarding the wireless providers - their services, prices and policies, both GSM (AT&T (formerly Cingular) and T-Mobile) and CDMA (Verizon, Sprint/Nextel (iDEN)). I am very familiar with the individual devices and their specifications. I can also answer questions regarding BlackBerrys, iPhones and other PDAs, both Palm-based and Windows-based. I can troubleshoot most any problem someone is having with their cellular device or with the provider.
Experience Over 15 years in the Telecom industry working for the carriers with individuals, small business, medium business and large corporations(Fortune 500)
Education/Credentials Master's in Telecommunications
Question I have a question about the iPhones excessive data usage. I'm on a family share plan with 5 lines and 3 of them are iPhones. One of the iPhones (3G) my brother owns and lives in a rural area with GSM coverage such as T-Mobile, Cellular One, and AT&T. I get a notice in the mail stating that he has used "X" amount of data while roaming and they want us to port his number or terminate service. I was angry because I did not want to switch providers. I argued "how am I supposed to know when the iPhone is roaming when it clearly says "AT&T" at the top, like most carriers it would either display the carriers name or it will say roaming (extended network)", they check his data records and it shows that his iPhone is roaming off Cellular One towers, "ok". The repesentive also wonders why it is roaming though AT&T bought Cellular One. Apparently, this Cellular One is not owned by AT&T. To avoid interupption or forced to port his number, we've been changing his number contantly at the beginning of the billing period to avoid prorate charges. Is there anything that I can say or do to avoid porting or canceling service?
Answer Part of the terms and conditions of your contract with AT&T (which is similar to those of other carriers also), it states that they can terminate your service (or basically force you to port your number out) if the majority of your usage is off-network (i.e., roaming). There aren't a lot of areas where you would be roaming off of AT&T's network, but they won't even start up service for anyone who is off-network, i.e., if your brother were to try to start up services today using his address, AT&T would not allow him to start up services because he would be off-network. As you found out, AT&T does not own all of Cellular One, and since he is roaming the vast majority of the time, they do have the right to terminate his service. I wish that there was something that I could tell you that would allow this not to happen, but in all honesty, they can and will stop service for your brother if you don't port his number out. All carriers do this and unfortunately, your brother would need to use his iPhone in a non-roaming area the majority of the time to avoid this. I hope this helps and sorry that I didn't have better news for you. Thanks. DebiN
