Another Roaming question outside EU (Hong Kong)

[DM118]

Hi - having just arrived back from HK - i noticed £45 additional charges on my account at £5 p/d for o2 travel

I had turned off roaming on my Pixel 5 before I left the country.

I usually use another phone with a local sim card and use this as a hotpot connecting it to my Pixel 5 so i can use internet, whatsapp etc.

I did receive about 20 msgs (didnt one send a sms msg, also didnt make any calls, no voicemail left on my phone)

Rang O2, and discussed with them and was happy the operator was able to offer a £45 credit to my account. However, we went into detail about these uses/usage. As I'm planning to return to HK in a month's time.

The operator said that the day I landed in HK, the system saw 3 SMS massages, i checked:
1. From O2 telling me about the being on O2 travel and will cost £6 etc.

2. From local mobile network CSL... Welcome to HK ...... (this was from a +852 number)

3. Ebay: a security code was send as i needed to log in and buy something and the laptop must have recognised i was in a different location, so sent a sms code to my phone

These 3 received SMS triggered the o2 travel package.

The operator recommended i not only turn roaming off but leave the phone in airplane mode and only use wifi, so i can continue to use whatsapp, internet etc.

She also said that there was some data usage, but couldnt yet see the details on her system just yet.

So im due to go back to HK in the next few months, whats the stance with this so i can continue to receive sms, wheres the data leakage.

thanks

[MI5]

@DM118 

SMS are free to receive wherever you are.

The charges will be for data use.

Good advice to put phone in to airplane mode and just use wifi where available.

[gmarkj · Accepted solution]

A number of phones now register in the background for messaging services (iMessage or Google Messages both use data) and will try to connect to mobile data on start up @DM118 

[DM118]

Thank you all.

I think i forgot to turn off one other setting other than Roaming.

Mobile Data (access data using mobile network)

[MI5]

That will be it @DM118