Travel Bolt-on confusion

[RicWalLar]

I'm travelling to USA for just over 3 weeks My tariff doesn't include Travel Inclusive so I need the Travel Bolt-on for which I'm charged £6 per day when I use it. I wanted to check how it works so went into my local O2 shop, but they were no help at all (subsequent call to Customer Service confirmed they gave me completely wrong information). I wanted to ensure the £6 charge covers calls made to phones within USA (eg for booking a restaurant table). The shop said it wasn't included & would cost me £2/minute but Customer Service confirmed what I believed & how I read the terms: it is included. After all, it says on the Terms (emphasis added): 

"O2 Travel is the perfect way to stay connected in selected destinations outside our Europe and O2 Travel Inclusive Zones. It costs £6 a day, and that gets you all the data you need, plus unlimited minutes and texts, both where you are and back to the UK.

There's no upper usage limit on data, but data speeds might vary. These allowances won't affect your standard UK allowances. Voicemail (901) is included."

So I've added the Travel Bolt-on to my account.

But Customer Service also said I have 5GB of data already available as a bolt-on to my tariff. But there is absolutely nowhere I can see this and I knew nothing about it. So now I don't know (I was getting a bit confused & didn't ask) whether I'll get this phantom 5GB usage before any £6 charge kicks in! I would think that I should do, though if I make a voice call or text I guess that would trigger the £6. Confused? Moi? 

[MI5]

@RicWalLar 

UK data is irrelevant when using the travel bolton.

You pay the daily charge even if you use 1mb.

Guide: Roaming MegaGuide 

USA - Roaming with O2 

[RicWalLar]

I've just found what the "5GB bolt-on" probably was, more confusion. I bet Customer Support was confusing the "5G Access Bolt-on" with the idea of having 5GB of data allowance! There's nothing else it could be.

But the main thing is, phone calls & texts are included in the £6 daily charge. That's another confusing thing: it says on the Daily Allowances terms: "Daily Allowances will apply for 24 hours from (i) the first use of any data; (ii) the first voice call you make back to the UK or within your destination , including voicemail (901) retrieval and voice calls; or (iii) the first text message sent back to the UK, whilst in your selected destination."

But it also says under "O2 Travel FAQs - How does O2 Travel work?: For £6 a day you’ll get all the data you need, plus unlimited minutes and texts to use within your travel destination and back to the UK.You'll only be charged on the days you use O2 Travel. The daily charge will apply from midnight to midnight, local time (based on the capital city of the country you're in), and won't be triggered by receiving calls or texts."

So in California I'll be 4 hours behind Washington DC. If I use data on Monday at say 19:55 PDT that's 23:55 EDT (in DC). So I'll be charged £6 for that usage on Monday. But if I use it at say 20:05 PDT that's 00:05 EDT, Tuesday in DC, so presumably I'll get another £6 charge even if I don't use it again on Tuesday.  Just checking. Maybe the answer is to not use it after 8 in the evening in California.

And someone on the website development side should maybe rectify a typo in links on https://www.o2.co.uk/help/pay-monthly/using-your-phone-abroad pointing to Travel & Data Roaming Bolt-ons which come up with an error message because they're pointing to "..international/data-aboard" instead of "...abroad". Who to tell?

[MI5]

@RicWalLar 

You can find a thousand grammatical and spelling errors if you look long enough.

Not worth the effort of reporting tbh....

Your daily charge starts where you are and runs for 24 hours, so crossing time zones won't matter.

[RicWalLar]

Thanks. Of course many websites have loads of typos (and some terrible grammar) but that one creating a duff link limits access to important information. You’d hope an organisation like Telefonica would be better than that, but that’s wishful thinking.

So if midnight in Washington DC is irrelevant then why do they make reference to the daily charge being based on midnight in the country’s capital city? Simple question. 

[pgn]

It used to be midnight to midnight, but now the clock starts counting down 24hrs from when your first chargeable activity triggers it: making a call, sending an SMS, accessing a website on cellular data (not counting hotel or other free WiFi, note!), or receiving a call that is passed onto Voicemail, if you use it, @RicWalLar. Receiving SMS is free. Note also you may need to connect to a network that shows as Forbidden, when out of range of the default O2 Roaming Partners T-Mobile or AT&T - this is permissible when roaming.

USA - Roaming with O2 may help. The IMEI lookup tool on the link is a bit out of date, but it gives you the gist of what you should have enabled.

Enjoy the trip!

[RicWalLar]

Thanks pgn, so they leave outdated stuff on the website (midnight in the country’s capital)? Not impressed. In fact, every interaction I’ve had has left me significantly unimpressed which is rather shameful on their part. Just today there have been 5 different issues that have been incorrect. Is that normal?

I’m now wondering about buying one of these USA SIM cards. For around £30 it seems I can get 21 days unlimited data, calls & texts. That’s equal to 5 days on O2 Travel. Is there a catch (apart from having to change the card in the phone)?

[MI5]

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@RicWalLar wrote:

So if midnight in Washington DC is irrelevant then why do they make reference to the daily charge being based on midnight in the country’s capital city? Simple question. 

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More nonsense on the website @RicWalLar 

As I said, it runs for 24 hours from when you invoked the charge.

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

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@RicWalLar wrote:

I’m now wondering about buying one of these USA SIM cards. For around £30 it seems I can get 21 days unlimited data, calls & texts. That’s equal to 5 days on O2 Travel. Is there a catch (apart from having to change the card in the phone)?

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Definitely the way forward, but use whatsapp or similar to call home as rates from the USA will be expensive from a US sim

[RicWalLar]

Yeah, thanks, it seems to be a no-brainer to go down the USA SIM route, don't know why I hadn't thought of it before, but I'm very old 😉  I use WhatsApp mostly anyway for anything overseas (& the grandchildren) so hopefully a different SIM won't create issues on that score.

Ironically whilst typing this I received an email from O2 saying my Travel Bolt-on is activated. Hmmm. Maybe I'll remove it before I travel, though if the O2 SIM stays in an envelope during the trip I shouldn't risk any charges!

Sort of hoping there's a mobile signal through Death Valley & the Nevada desert! Not banking on it though. 😎