TravelPass
beemgee
Enthusiast - Level 2

Verizon travelpass is a ripoff. It activates even though no calls were answered or dialled no data was used (mobile data off) and no texts were sent. The phone appears to use a tiny bit of data even though mobile data is off (100 bytes - guess) every day or so. And Verizons response to this - thats your problem you have to pay anyway and you have to contact google to try to fix it - we only sell the phone.

Really Verizon - do you care so little about your customers.

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20 Replies
APbham
Enthusiast - Level 2

I'm curious if you'd previously used TravelPass without a problem.  I ask because my wife and I have used it for years without an issue and in April or May, we started getting charged for it when in Canada even when not using the phone.  We even put the phone into airplane mode before going into Canada and then turned it back on after getting back into the U.S. and were STILL charged.  I finally turned the feature off because there seems to be no other way to stop it from charging us.

raybtwo
Newbie

My wife and I just got back from Europe and had the same experience. Data turned off, no phones made or answered and no text messages sent.  It happened to me a couple of times and my wife 3 times. Verizon needs to fix this.

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vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

raybtwo, I hope you and your wife had a great time while traveling in Europe. TravelPass can be a great feature to have to ensure you can utilize your phone when traveling. The feature will only activate when the phone connects to an international tower. What make and model phone do you have? Did you receive the courtesy text message that the TravelPass session was activated?

 

TionnaB_VZW

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APbham
Enthusiast - Level 2

TionnaB_VZW, you state "The feature will only activate when the phone connects to an international tower".  Your statement appears to be true because some of us are getting charged JUST for CONNECTING to an international tower.  Yet, on my phone, when I connect to a tower (Canada, in this case), the Verizon message sent out states "Pay only on the days you use your mobile service.".

In other words, I connected to a Canadian tower, my phone and Verizon are both aware of it, but I'm only charged if I actually USE the mobile service (and Verizon even sends me a text telling me this).  On my wife's phone, it would just bill as soon as it connected to the tower (no calls, data, etc.).  This has definitely changed in the last few months because my wife used the feature for years while travelling to Canada at least weekly where we ONLY charged if she actually used the phone.  Obviously there are a lot of us that have experienced this behavior. 

vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

@APbham

 

I can definitely understand your concerns with you and your wife’s lines getting charged unintentionally for the 24-hour TravelPass session, even when the device connects to an international tower. Allow me to clear this up for you.

 

The explanation we previously provided was not intended to mean you are charged at the time the device connects to an international tower, but rather that you would never be billed unless your device connects to an international tower and uses minutes, texts or data. However, the charge is not started until either a call is made, received, a text is sent or if data is used. You don’t necessarily have to initiate the usage on your device, but background data can definitely initiate a 24-hour TravelPass session. Here’s a link that may provide a better explanation on how TravelPass works and is charged: http://spr.ly/6601EtJLx. Does this help explain how TravelPass works?

 

AnthonyTa_VZW

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APbham
Enthusiast - Level 2

@AnthonyTa_VZW

Thanks for your reply.  Yes, I read the link you posted and I think I understand how TravelPass is supposed to work.  I think you state it very clearly when you say, "the charge is not started until either a call is made, received, a text is sent or if data is used".  I understand that background/syncing/push data all count as data that would initiate a TravelPass fee.  It just doesn't seem like it is doing that for everyone.

Does turning "Data Roaming" off have any effect on TravelPass charges?  For example, would turning "Data Roaming" off stop all background/syncing/push data that would otherwise trigger a TravelPass charge no longer happen?

Thanks.

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vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

APbham, you're welcome! We are happy to learn that you were able to understand the information that was provided to you in regard to how TravelPass works as this is essential. If you have data roaming enabled, your device would still have the potential of triggering the TravelPass feature. The best recommendation would be to disable this feature completely on the days you would rather not use it. To ensure we provide you with the proper instructions on how to disable the Data Roaming feature (if needed), what is the make and model of your device? Does this help answer your question?

 

KevinM_VZW

Jocasta
Newbie

 I turned off roaming and mobile data. Verizon charges me anyway. 

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KH-OrnEsh
Moderator Emeritus

Due to the age of this thread, it will be locked in order to keep discussions current. If you have the same or a similar question/issue we invite you to start a new thread on the topic.

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vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

We just sent you a private note! Please respond back to it when you get the chance, so that we can further look into this concern for you today. 

 

*Desiree'

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sumap
Enthusiast - Level 1

The TravelPass came in really handy last month while we were in Europe doing a Cruise. I had disabled the cellular roaming feature when I did not want to use it. When the ship was docked or we were doing excursions on shore, I was able to turn it on and only got charged $10 on a 24 hour basis. It worked great for us. I would use it again.

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beemgee
Enthusiast - Level 2

The problems with Travel Pass will not always happen. It appears (at least in my case) to be dependent on the phone. My previous phones worked fine but apparently Pixel's do some backround data even when data is turned off and Verizon sees this as usage. The only way to avoid it is to have the phone in airplane mode which is not what I wanted to do or what Travel Pass is supposed to require.

krgoodwinjr
Enthusiast - Level 2

My experience with getting billed by Travelpass without any known usage: Both my wife and I have the same exact cell - Pixel 3 XL.  Her cell was getting billed everyday without any conscience usage with data roming tuned off.  My phone wasn't a problem.  So I came to the conclusion that she had an application that was attempting to communicate with the outside world (FitBit was my first guess which wasn't on my phone as well as her gluscose montoring app).  We had WiFi coverage at the time so getting a $10 per day charge was even harder to bear.  Verizon Wireless had no problem removing the charges but the only way I could assure not getting billed was to remove her phone from the TravelPass plan.  I will admit that I didn't try the Airplane mode but wouldn't want to try that as a solution since we had free secure WiFi available.  I was assuming that if I didn't use International voice/data, I wouldn't get billed - bad assumption.  When you have 100 apps on your phone where you can't fine an app setting in them to shut them up except to uninstall the app - also not a viable solution.  If we were using the phone for conscious international usage, no problem paying the $10 per day otherwise paying $10 per day when from my standpoint we were not using it - not viable. 

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krgoodwinjr
Enthusiast - Level 2

I went an read the link to the plan details and I'll admit one option I didn't attempt was to turn Mobile data Off (Access data using mobile network) although I did turn Roaming (connect to data servces when roaming) Off.  If mobile data means data over the cellular network but not over WiFi, I may have missed an easy way to disallow Travelpass charges initiated by one of my apps. I still don't trust it but again no problem calling Verizon and having them remove the unexpected charge since I always got a notice (SMS) saying I had just been changed the daily $10 fee.

 

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krgoodwinjr
Enthusiast - Level 2

Being the thing engineer, I dug further into keeping Travelpass from charging me without my knowledge and the answer I get from the Verizon support is to turn the Airplane Mode On.  This makes sense since airplane mode would disable the cellular frequency transmitter(s) yet still allow WiFi. So maybe the conlcusion is just to turn the Airplane mode On and not worry about any other phone settings although I would stll want to turn Roaming Off since that was my going in assumption, I just missed the boat by not turning the Airplane Mode On.  What now confuses me is that WiFi has to have a transmitter associated with the WiFi service but I guess these frequencies 2.4 GHz (ISM)/5 GHz won't bring an airplane down whereas the celluar frequncies generally around 920 MHz which can interfere with an airplane.  I also wonder if the cell frequency transmitter doesn't have a higher power transmitter.  I remember from the 1G (analog) cell days, the transmitter had an output power of 5 watts.  Today's gains in cellular communications have come from getting smaller counter to my Tim Allen philosophy that bigger is better -  more horsepower, more power, more noise, etc.

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FrenchRiver35
Enthusiast - Level 2

I have had the same problem during our past two trips to Europe. I generally sign up for Verizon's International Monthly Plan when we go to Europe, which in the fall of 2021 included 250 minutes of calls, 1000 sent SMS messages, and 5GB of cellular data for $100 per line for 30 days. It's not cheap, but it's convenient, and it worked really well on our two phones. The problem came when the 30-day period was up, and we still had eight days to go before we returned to the U.S. I didn't want to pay another $100 per phone for just eight more days, so I switched to TravelPass, and turned cellular data completely off on both our iPhones (this also turns off data roaming). However, even on days that we didn't make or receive phone calls or send any SMS texts, one or both of our phones were hit with $10 TravelPlan charges. I kept on top of it, and every time we got an unwarranted charge, I instigated a text chat with a Verizon representative and asked that the charge be removed. This usually was successful, but I spent hours of my vacation time working to get the charges removed during those eight days. Something is triggering the charges, despite the fact that we did nothing to trigger them. A couple of Verizon reps suggested we put our phones in Airplane Mode, but we wanted the option of taking an incoming phone call if we chose to. Airplane Mode would have prevented incoming calls. We were willing to pay the $10 charge if we actually needed the service. In summary, it was extremely frustrating to get hit repeatedly with TravelPass charge errors while on vacation, and to have to do battle to get them removed from my bill. When we were last in Europe in 2019, the same thing happened. But I just paid those charges, thinking WE must have been doing something wrong. This year, I was excruciatingly careful to understand how TravelPass worked before we left the U.S., and to ensure we didn't do anything overseas that would trigger a charge unexpectedly. But the same thing happened. At least I was on top of it this time. We won't be using TravelPass again—we'll figure out some other way to stay in communication. Verizon needs to fix this.

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ahmedrahim00
Newbie

I’m leaving in a few weeks. I disabled travel pass on my account, and added a secondary google fi account with unlimited data. I’ll forward all my VZW calls. Since In iPhone, all iMessages will come through data plan.

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FrenchRiver35
Enthusiast - Level 2

Interesting plan. I'd love to know how it works once you return. Have a good journey. 

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JimmyMcGi11
Newbie

My wife is in Greece currently, and the travel pass has been activated twice in her second week despite the fact that the iPhone cellular service has been turned off since she has landed.  The WIFI has been great and iMessage works fine over WIFI, so she had no reason to turn cellular service on.  

After second charge I removed the travel pass plan from her phone and if emergency arises, she will do it without any other plan. On our previous trips to Europe when we travel together, I get a local sim card. 

 

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vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

Hi JimmyMcGi11, 

 

I know how important it is for your wife to have great service while traveling! I'm concerned to hear that she has not been getting cellular service, and I'd like to help. If you would like assistance with your account, please reply to our Private Note, and we would be happy to assist. 

 

-Michelle

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