I really hope this is a mistake and they actually meant 0.9 euroCENT... otherwise they are just plain CRAZY

just close the offer only to italian connections and stop, this would have been bad anyway but at least more serious :(

exactly what i wrote on my blog...

Also on the official site (in a terrible Italian...):

Thanks for all the help, AndreA!

I would have understood if they increased to 0.03 or even 0.1 per kb but 60 times higher is just not acceptable... Where did they get this crazy idea from? I cannot believe the cost for wind to have data agreements abroad has hiked 60 times.. Or maybe it has hiked like that in one country and then they make customers in every country suffer...

I think the actual cost really has little relevance to this situation and they simply wanted to stop the usage of these special packages outside Italy. The only reason I can see for them to do it in this rather "unusual" manner is because their billing system can't manage to completely block the usage outside of Italy hence this ridiculous charge.

Whatever the reason I do question it from a legal point of view as we have all taken a subscription to a tariff that was offered by them and clearly published - whether it was a mistake or not is irrelevant as the offer was made and then accepted. I suspect in the terms and conditions somewhere is buried the right on Wind's side to vary the tariff from time to time but as Italy is a European country I'd suspect there are customer rights laws that don't allow unfair increases in price. Also, Wind's right to vary the price should normally depend on them informing the customer's in advance (1 month minimum). From my point of view I would never have known about this increase if it hadn't been for this forum so I'll be watching with interest to see if they actually do inform me before 4/11/06.

Anyway, at the end of it all it seems they have noticed their "mistake" and our free ride is over :( As I mentioned before the 30 euro/month for 16MB isn't so bad for basic usage when travelling so providing this is all 100% for certain I'll use up the rest of my credit on this tariff. However, I still don't know how to switch over...I assume I have to send sms's or something to a number but I don't have a clue which so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I can help you with how to unsubscribe the option:

just send an SMS with text:

MEGA 15000 NO

or

MEGA NO

(for the mega no limit offer)

to free short number: 4533

but still, I hope this was a mistake :(

They clearly state the data prices applicable when roaming, so I guess they 'wanted' to have foreign people using this service, or at least Italians using it all over the globe.

I got the sms today notifying about the price hike, but it's so laconicly stated that you nearly misunderstand it, and they don't accentuate it too much, in proportion with the implications it has.

Unfair price increases, yes I think one can claim that from a European Union consumer perspective. Many people use to topup 60+ euros in one go just to avoid the fees involved in topping up, and myself I sit here with nearly 45 euros that I can't use in a sensible way now for this service. If there was a way to transfer this credit to the starmap alliance partner in my country, o2 Ireland, I would happily do that, but now it seems that it seems impossible.

We'll see what type of response AndreA will get from Wind etc, but I think they have a legal right to do like this, in a time where you can sign up to offers over the telephone without written confirmation necessary, I guess a company can impose changes in their pricing structure just by sending out an sms and not informing them in a more official manner.

Hoping this to be a scary Halloween joke...

if it's terrible, then it comes out surprisingly well in translation

"The prices brought back in table are not applied to the traffic carried out in international Roaming for the options Mega Not Limit, MEGA 300 and MEGA 15000. For such options the price associated to traffic GPRS/UMTS in internazonale Roaming (Wap, i-modesTM and Internet of 0,9 euro/KB "

But there simply must be an error in the rate there - presumably either cents/kB or euro/MB. Until that's clarified we can't figure out the price to a factor of 10 100 or 1000

Andy, I think this may be true :(. As long as I understand how Mega packets "act", they are not "packets of megabytes" but "packets of money" (Effendi's explanations http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/index.php?...opic=1277&st=0). E.g. Mega NoLimit gives (for 20 EUR paid) a virtual credit of 3000 EUR which used to be "consumed" at the rate 1.5cent/kB(=15 EUR/MB) outside Italy. Now it will be consumed" at the rate 90cent/kB(=900 EUR/MB) what means 3000/900=3.3 MB for 20 EUR. It's about 6 EUR/MB real cost - no so tragic so far after all. But...if the rate 900 EUR/MB in roaming is valid also for data transferred after using the whole monthly package, then... God protect careless users :unsure:

Nothing is said on your personal page in 155.it about this.. At least for the MEGA customers, there should come up a flashing red text saying: "PRICE HIKE: BEWARE"... Well, I guess Wind are just being lazy to inform their customers about a minimal alteration like this!