Why was I being charged so much?

So I went to Mexico a few weeks back. I have an iPhone. Anyways… I remember it telling me that for each like I believe received text it's about 5 cents? And to send it's 10? Maybe less i don't know. I also had no access to internet over there whatsoever. So I was not using data. I probably at the most sent/received 40 texts all together and that's AT THE MOST! And I didn't even receive all my texts because when I crossed back they all started shooting over to my phone. And a call came in that I answered and was on for about AT THE MOST once again only for about 5 min. Which means I have an extra 98$ to pay to Verizon! Can anyone explain what else may have caused this? Oh wait I do remember I did turn off roaming at times. So does that mean you get charged when roaming even when you don't use your phone at all? So technically what I'm trying to figure out is… If your phone is just sitting there and roaming is on and you don't use it at all do you still get charged for roaming? Any type of info would be nice on this subject.

Yup, you nailed it, you were roaming, INTERNATIONALLY! Your fault, should have left it off. So when you roam, you pay EVEN if you do not touch your phone the entire time, that is why people are told on cruise ships to turn your phones off, put it on airplane mode, turn off cellular data, just so that you will not be roaming as the phone searches for a signal in international waters, ports, cities, countries. So if you left that phone on for 8 to 10 hours while you were sleeping to use as an alarm clock, and left roaming on… Yup you were paying good money to be sleeping in another country.

As for that 5 min call, it was more than likely at the current international roaming rate for that country you were in.

What did verizon tell you? By the way imessage is free even internationally along with facetime so if using those you should not have been charged.

The dreaded international bill. You've got the magic $98 number, now work it backwards. True, texts and calls inbound and outbound from a phone outside the US cost extra. But what you didn't realize is that to keep your cellular and data roaming switches on while travelling outside the US is the money pit. Think about it, there's no Verizon towers in Mexico, so why did you phone keep working? Easy. Verizon piggy-backs their service off of partners in Mexico and 'borrow' their towers to keep your stuff running. Verizon paid their partner and now you're basically paying 'rent' for using those services and towers in another country. And yes, is the answer. If cellular and data roaming are not turned off, just sitting there getting a social status update, email hitting the inbox, or current local weather for you to look at later is costing you coins. Don't have to be in Mexico, Go to Yellowstone Park for the same amount of days with no Verizon towers nearby and the exact same thing happens. Phones can be global, the money grubbing cell phone companies make sure they are not. Best luck.

If your phone is just sitting there roaming you will not be charged, however it is possible you still may have used data roaming unintentionally if you had not turned the data roaming section of your iPhone off. The iPhone would continue to check for updates over the internet which could cause data roaming fees.