[OSX-Users] iSolutions and O2 data abroad: brrr

[Vladimiro Sassone]

Hi there,

	This is to alert interested people that the combined skills of  
iSolutions and O2 are capable to make an inextricable mess of the  
otherwise simple notion of data abroad bolt-ons. In short, I have  
asked for a £10 one-off data abroad, and found a £26.54 charge on my  
bill, and still cannot get a confirmation that it will stop there. Not  
too dramatic in terms of money, yet it's interesting to try and  
understand what went wrong. After a long phone call with O2, this is  
what I could gather.

(1) The charge for "Data Abroad 10" is £10 only if you subscribe for a  
12 months. Otherwise is £17. iSolution clearly do not know that, and  
should really update their "mobile costs" webpage.

(2) O2 cannot charge one-month bolt-on across billing periods (really?  
that's bizarre), so apparently when you ask for a 30-days data abroad  
package to be add, it will run from the day to the end of your billing  
period, and then for the 30-days you asked (full billing period), and  
you're charged accordingly (and how'z that for bizarre?).

The funny side in all this is that iSolutions do not have a sensible  
protocol to let you know your order is activated (I found their "one- 
contact one-solution" email not very helpful), so after a number  
requests for confirmation, all unanswered, I kept data roaming off for  
fear of being charged £6 a MB, so in fact I haven't roamed a single  
bit at the price of £26.54 (and hopefully it will stop there...)

Cheers,
\vs

PS. Nowhere on the iSolutions webpages I could locate any name of  
people responsible for specific services, nor a list of people, as in  
any other service of the Uni. So, while I would have liked to CC this  
to the team which manages the O2 contract, I can only email serviceline at soton.ac.uk 
  in the hope that it will percolate to the right person.