Hey guys, so I’m reaching out because I’m in a bit of a pickle with my son’s phone situation during his recent study abroad trip to Japan. We’ve always used a second eSIM for overseas travel without any problems, but this time, things got messy.
My son has an iPhone 13, unlocked, on AT&T. Before heading to Japan, we set up the Ubigi eSIM like usual. We made sure Wi-Fi calling was good to go at home and at the airport in the USA. He turned off “roaming” and “Data switching” and disabled AT&T line cell data while keeping the default voice line with AT&T.
Upon arrival in Japan, he activated the Ubigi eSIM, and we thought everything was cool. But boy, were we wrong! When we got back, we found out he was hit with IDP charges totaling $156 over two billing cycles. He was being charged for IDP every day, and the kicker is, he never received any messages notifying him that IDP was activated.
Interestingly, he was getting SMS notifications for using his credit card overseas, but nothing about the IDP charges. This was his second trip to Japan in less than 18 months, and the first time around, there were no charges. When we contacted an AT&T chat agent, they claimed that sending SMS/MMS triggered the charges. However, my son swears he was on Ubigi or Wi-Fi the whole time, using Whatsapp for most of his chats.
Now, here’s where it gets tricky. After digging into his usage history, I noticed numerous texts and SMS being sent daily to his number. He explained that the MMS messages were going into group chats with a couple of Android users, and he suspects that might have caused the charges. But honestly, I’m not entirely sure.
To add to the confusion, I found out that something called Wifi Assist was enabled on his iPhone. Could that be the culprit? AT&T only offered a $50 credit, which feels like a drop in the bucket considering the hefty charges.
The chat agent suggested the absurd idea of suspending the line entirely and then re-enabling it by calling 611 upon landing to avoid IDP charges. That just doesn’t sit right with me. So, here I am, scratching my head and wondering what on earth did we miss in this whole debacle?
If anyone has any insights or advice on how to navigate this IDP mess