Travel Pass frustration
brawler839
Enthusiast - Level 1

I initially signed up for the Travel Pass for a trip to Ireland/England thinking that it sounded great to be able to use our existing data and voice overseas as a neat little work around to having to buy sim cards overseas. I have to say I'm a bit frustrated with it.

First of all, our devices immediately started internationally data when we landed, despite being in airplane mode and only being on WiFi. I would have rather it started when I agreed to start it. There is no "text back to start" it's just on and your getting charged. This seemed to happen on the way back as well. Despite our flight taking off after the 24 hour mark, somehow it still registered that we were overseas and the moment we took our phones out of airplane mode when back in the US, found out that while we were in the air, over the Atlantic Ocean, it started a new session for a day we weren't even going to use our phones overseas. I really wish it had some kind of "text to start" feature cause I feel a bit scammed out of almost 2 full days worth of TravelPass.

Additionally, service was pretty "meh". We seemed to do okay in Ireland, had probably 3-4 bars of 4G data while in towns, and it dropped to other service in the country side (which is to be expected). However, the data seemed a little on the slow side and sometimes sites would just not load. Definitely not 4G data rates, but fairly usable and stuff still loaded 98% of the time. In England however, London of all places, data service was horrible! You'd think with almost constant max bars of 4G you'd be able to do thinks like get directions with Google, check out a restaurant's website, or really anything. It was bad enough that we pretty much relied solely upon wifi when available. It was almost mandatory to have data on your phone some times and at this point we only had a few days in London, so we decided to bite the bullet and just use it, but never again. I'm pretty sure Verizon customers are put on the back burner with data (because of Roaming) and there were probably always at capacity on the cell towers, so my data got downgraded. I'd much rather go through the pain of setting up a local sim card, probably save a ton of money, and just use international communication apps instead of texting.

Sorry Verizon, I cannot in good faith recommend anyone use or rely upon Travel Pass, and I'm guessing by extension, any of the other international travel plans. I understand they have agreements for these sort of things, and that I wouldn't have 4G LTE over there, or that it might even be 3G data at times, but I've been to areas in the US were there was 3G data and this was much worse than that. Yet again, if they just had a "text to start" feature, I probably wouldn't have complained, probably would have just not turned it on if I found out it wasn't living up to expectations.

Re: Travel Pass frustration
SDQJOBS
Enthusiast - Level 2

If your domestic plan includes Stream Saver, it will apply to your international package or feature. See att.com/streamsaver for more details. For a list of IDP countries, go to att.com/globalcountries. Availability and quality of coverage and services while roaming are not guaranteed. Data overage: If you go over the amount of data in your qualified plan or other allowances during your bill period, overage charges, and/or data speed reduction of up to 128Kbps (2G speeds) apply in accordance with the terms of your domestic plan. If your data speed is slowed, all your data use, including audio and video streaming, picture and video messaging, and other types of data use will be impacted and may not work. For devices on an unlimited data plan, AT&T may slow speeds after 22GB of data use. See att.com/broadbandinfo for data speed details. Voice: For phones. International Day Pass allows you to use the calling features of your domestic plan within and between IDP countries and from IDP countries to the U.S. Calls and minutes of usage will be drawn from your domestic voice plan allowance. You may be charged for calls to special or premium service numbers. Calls to other countries: Calls from IDP countries to non-IDP countries will incur International Long Distance (ILD) charges. Per-minute pay-per-use rates apply unless you add an International Long Distance service package to the device making the calls. Rates subject to change without notice. To see what it costs, go to att.com/worldconnect. Unlimited text: Standard messaging for phones: Requires that your domestic plan includes texting. Includes an unlimited number of messages up to 1MB in size within and from an IDP country to more than 190 countries for text messages, and more than 120 countries for picture and video messages. We may add, change, and remove included countries at our discretion without notice. Messages sent through applications like iMessage or Hangouts may incur data or other charges. Details at att.com/text2world. Usage restrictions: If international voice, text, or data use exceeds 50% of total voice, text, or data usage for two consecutive months, the IDP feature may be removed. Service restrictions: Not available for wireless home phone services, connected vehicles, or connected devices. Pay-per-use international rates will apply. International use aboard cruise ships isn’t included. Canada and Mexico: You won’t be charged the $10 fee for International Day Pass in Canada or Mexico if you have a domestic plan or an international coverage option that includes usage in Canada or Mexico at no additional charge. AT&T Passport℠: For devices with an active International Day Pass and an AT&T Passport plan, International Day Pass charges will apply in IDP countries, even if you have AT&T Passport. Data, voice, and text from AT&T Passport can’t be used to avoid voice and data overage charges incurred in IDP countries. 

EXACTLY I UNDERSTAND YOUR FRUSTRATION... THIS IS THE ONLY COMPANY WHO DOES THIS WITH THEIR TRAVEL PASSES

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Re: Travel Pass frustration
ScottP1969
Enthusiast - Level 1

Travel Pass is a Scam.   I signed up for TP for Australia and New Zealand this past February.     I actually used my hotel Wifi to make all calls - yet Verizon claimed that their "Partner's System was alerted to my usage, and i was charged for many days of TP use - which I never did.    My phone was on Airplane Mode the entire trip.

Verizon could not provide any verification of my usage, but just claimed that if their Partner showed use, i used it - ???    Thier records of all of my call during my trip did not match the days I was charged.

This is obviously a very profitable Scam for Verizon - and they know their Customers are trapped into using this when then travel.   

 

Re: Travel Pass frustration
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

Hello ScottP1969,

 

I hope you had a wonderful trip to Australia and New Zealand. I have always wanted to visit those countries. I would be concerned too if I was charged for usage I wasn't expecting. TravelPass can only be charged when the phone is connected to a local tower and voice, text or data was used. This would imply that at some point in your trip, the phone was connecting to a local tower and usage occurred triggering a TravelPass session. You receive a text message each time a new session starts. How long was your trip? How many TravelPass sessions were charged? Did you reach out to us while on your trip when you received the message about the TravelPass starting?

 

ChristopherM_VZW

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Re: Travel Pass frustration
acguy2
Enthusiast - Level 2

It's amazing how these sales scumbags didn't bother to give you clear concise user info, but they did a good sales job.  Verizon has lost my respect because of this.  Cellular and messaging service has become a bital part of life, and to allow these companies to do people this way is a crying shame.  Good job Verizon!