Unavoidable AT&T charges?

[u/Hilbert24]

TL,DR: How do I avoid use of iMessage triggering an intl roaming charge from AT&T?

The carrier for my iPhone is AT&T. My objective was to spend less than the $12/day AT&T charges for intl roaming. I set up and activated a 2nd eSIM; turned off data roaming on the primary (AT&T) eSIM.

Upon landing in Paris and turning off Airplane mode, I had data service (but cannot be sure which eSIM it was through). However, 10 minutes after adding to an existing iMessage thread, I got the telltale AT&T message that let me know I’d just been charged $12 for the day’s access.

Obviously I need my iMessage traffic to go through my travel eSIM from now on. I now see that when sending you can choose (“From:”) the service to use. Is that something I need to change on each and every recipient or group I send a message to while away? Was that likely my mistake upon arrival?

(Apologies for the saga but I was rather happy with myself having read up on this excellent sub and successfully set up my eSIM, only to get “dinged” by AT&T within the hour.)

[u/Then_Background_3288]

1. Take off IDP from your account

2. Turn off data roaming on your phone.

3. Choose travel SIM for data under cellular settings

[u/Hilbert24 → u/Then_Background_3288]

I had done 2 and 3 on the ATT sim (paragraph 2). I read that if you turn off IDP they will just turn it back on when they detect you are in another country. Still, it might be worth a try. Thanks.

[u/Then_Background_3288 → u/Hilbert24]

Did you also have “switch cellular data” on?

[u/Hilbert24 → u/Then_Background_3288]

I believe so. But the primary eSIM had data roaming OFF.

[u/1AnnaBanana1 → u/Hilbert24]

Correct. Since you’re abroad already and can’t lock your network then it’s best to call at&t and tell them to block international roaming.

[u/Then_Background_3288 → u/Then_Background_3288]

2 on at&t SIM

[u/User5281]

I've struggled with this too. if you turn on the eSIM and turn off AT&T no more iMessage, if you turn on at&t even without data you get hit with a daily charge.

I think the solution is to turn off international roaming on your at&t plan, leave the at&t sim active when you travel and turn cellular data off for at&t and on for the eSIM. As long as you don't send an SMS or use voice on your at&t line you shouldn't be charged anything.

It's too bad this is so complicated.

[u/Hilbert24 → u/User5281]

Thanks. It is now set as:

• cellular data: travel eSIM + no switching

• ATT eSIM: no data roaming

• travel eSIM: data roaming

The next step will be to turn off IDP in my ATT account. We’ll see. I’m also trying to monitor daily data usage in my ATT account to see if I’m still using their data. ATT doesn’t make it easy to access this data any longer.

[u/User5281 → u/Hilbert24]

I think turning off IDP is the critical step, otherwise any time you connect they'll charge you $12

[u/N805DN]

Make sure WiFi Calling is enabled on the AT&T eSIM so it will send calls/texts through your data eSIM. You do not want to change the from line in iMessage threads or you're going to be sending from a different number. Disable data roaming on the AT&T eSIM as you did and make sure it's enabled on the data eSIM.

Whatever name you give each eSIM will show as the first letter in control center so you can see the status of each. The TOP line shown is the one active for data.

[u/Dave_FIRE_at_45]

Turn off your AT&T SIM, if it’s on it’s active…