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New Member

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6 Messages

Thursday, April 2nd, 2020 9:43 PM

AT&T KEEPS CHARGING ME $100s FOR WHATSAPP CALLS

This is the fourth time that I have received a notification that my AT&T account is being billed over 100 dollars for making international calls. This is outrageous for two reasons.

  • I don't make international calls.

  • I have international calls barring on in case AT&T ever thought I was trying to make an international call.

Annoyingly I suspect it is due to Whatsapp calling. for some reason, AT&T is registering these calls as international calls. EVEN THOUGH they USE data and not AT&T cell towers.

Whatsapp says:

"Voice Calling lets you call your contacts using WhatsApp for free, even if they’re in another country. Voice calling uses your phone’s Internet connection rather than your cellular plan’s voice minutes. Data charges may apply."

I see that many other uses have had a similar issue:

  1. https://forums.att.com/conversations/wireless-billing/what-does-whatsapp-charge-for-international-calls/5defc05ebad5f2f606b53231

  2. https://forums.att.com/conversations/account-features/att-charga-international-rates-for-whatsapp-calls-or-when-using-vonage-app/5defd4e9bad5f2f6062b5dc3

  3. https://forums.att.com/conversations/wireless-billing/charged-for-whatsapp-calling/5defffc3bad5f2f6062191d9

AT&T can you sort this out and stop ripping me off?!

ACE - Sage

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110.7K Messages

3 years ago

And if you check with whatsapp, this is a common problem if your call reverts to the cell carrier, doesn't matter which carrier, it's possible.

New Member

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6 Messages

Okay, then my international calls barring should catch that and stop the call.

lizdance40, there is no excuse for this on AT&T's side. It is in their interest to make this a frustrating process from which to extract as much cash as possible. They ought to do better, do you not agree?

(edited)

ACE - Sage

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110.7K Messages

Doesn't matter what I think about AT&T.
What I do think is, that if I did something that caused me to be charged a lot of money that I didn't want to pay I would not do that thing again.

If you want to make sure your calls are not going over the cellular network remove your sim card before you use WhatsApp over Wi-Fi.

(edited)

🐾 I don’t work for AT&T or any carrier. Never have, never will. My replies are based on experience and reading content available on the website. If you posted personal information, please edit and remove.

Award for Community Excellence Achiever*
*I am not an AT&T employee, and the views and opinions expressed on this forum are purely my own. Any product claim, statistic, quote, or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider, or party.

New Member

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6 Messages

You're omitting a very important piece of information. It's unclear why I'm being charged a lot of money based on the information AT&T has provided to me. What I suspect is another matter. AT&T should not be allowed to tell me that I won't get charged for international calls, and then charge me for international calls. That, my friend, is what you call a scam.

What is clear is that can do a whole lot better.

Former Employee

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2K Messages

@ElliasandBrighton WhatsApp is the one advertising that you can make free international calls with it. AT&T never said they would give free calls through WhatsApp. This is 100% WhatsApp's problem. Also, you have received multiple notifications advising you of the valid international charges that yo are incurring.

-------------------INCLUDED IN EACH POST FOR CLARIFICATION______

While AT&T employees do look at forum posts from time to time, we are here to represent the forum with our experiences as customers and do not represent AT&T in any official capacity with our responses and do so on our own time unpaid and off the clock. As employees we are not rewarded nor compensated to participate in these forums This forum is comprised of regular customers to communicate with other customers to offer advice and share experiences same as any other user Although there is a small team of customer care specialists that monitor the forums the sheer volume of posts are simply too many posts for these agents to respond to each one of them.

 *I am an AT&T employee, and the postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent AT&T's position, strategies or opinions.

ACE - Sage

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110.7K Messages

🐾 I don’t work for AT&T or any carrier. Never have, never will. My replies are based on experience and reading content available on the website. If you posted personal information, please edit and remove.

Award for Community Excellence Achiever*
*I am not an AT&T employee, and the views and opinions expressed on this forum are purely my own. Any product claim, statistic, quote, or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider, or party.

New Member

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1 Message

3 years ago

This just happened to my mom this month (2/23/2021) on AT&T while using Whatsapp on an iPhone 6 at my house connected to our very strong and fast WiFi. It was a call to one specific number in Brazil. She frequently calls Europe and those have never been charged. Did a wide search on the web and very little info on it and NOTHING on the Whatsapp site that explains how their app switches like this. Very shady....

ACE - Sage

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110.7K Messages

3 years ago

This is a common complaint. 

WhatsApp requires both users be on the app, and using data.  If you call someone and they aren't using the app, the call goes over cell network

New Member

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6 Messages

3 years ago

Lizdance you are confused. 

To make a WhatsApp call in the first place, both parties are required to be on WhatsApp. 

It's app to app. Not app to phone #. 

New Member

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2 Messages

2 years ago

I also don't want to lose any more fees and need an explanation and modification. AT&T

ACE - Sage

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110.7K Messages

2 years ago

New Member

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159 Messages

2 years ago

If your call only went over data, it would be impossible for AT&T to even know you contacted a foreign country. If AT&T knows about it, then you used their cell network.

New Member

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2 Messages

2 years ago

I just got a whopper of a bill and was told by the very helpful and patient ATT rep that it was due to using whatsapp because "they started charging for calls". ?!?! Where can i get good, clear guidance on how to avoid these chages? HALP! 

ACE - Sage

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110.7K Messages

2 years ago

Read the thread!  ⤴️

The rep is incorrect.   AT&T does not charge you for calls that are made over data. What happens is either you or the person you are calling has poor data connection or loses data service.   Then calls revert to cellular.  That's when charges occur.  

Remove your sim card, and make your phone call over home Wi-Fi, problem-solve

New Member

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2 Messages

2 years ago

Ok, so the only way to not incur charges is to remove the SIM? (i ask because i typically only call over home wifi). Thank you! 

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