Ms Hu, a woman from Hefei city in east China's Anhui province, complains about her 16,000 yuan mobile Internet roaming bill. [Photo: weibo.com]

A woman from Hefei city in east China's Anhui province was charged more than 16,000 yuan for mobile Internet roaming charges during her three-day trip to Saipan Island, a US territory in the Western Pacific Ocean.

The woman, identified as Ms Hu says she has an overdue bill that amounts to 16,989 yuan, including 16,592 yuan for mobile phone Internet services. This amounts to about 81.92 yuan per MB, according to the customer service center of China Telecom.

Ms Hu received a text massage from her mobile phone company China Telecom after she returned from a three day tour over the Labor Day weekend. The message said that her mobile internet usage had exceeded 5,000 yuan.

Her mobile services had been stopped by China Telecom from May 5.

According to the bill, most of the expenses were incurred on May 1, the first day of her trip. She said that she had only gone online to use Wechat and had not surfed any other websites.

China Telecom sent Ms Hu a text massage with a detailed price list for overseas mobile services upon her arrival in Saipan.

But Ms Hu says she did not receive any notice on overdue bills or a warning that her services will be blocked during her trip abroad to warn her about the large cost.

China Telecom explains that roaming charges are monitored by a local operator and the data only reaches the headquarters a few days or even a month later.

Therefore, company was unable to send Ms Hu an immediate notice on her overdue bill.

To avoid the sky-high price for mobile roaming services, mobile companies suggest that customers use free public WiFi hotspots and stop automatic software upgrades. For long visits abroad, customers are also advised to buy local phone cards as this could help save costs.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)