Phantom Roaming isn't some episode of Scooby-Doo or similar animated series about mysteries and ghost. Phantom roaming is actually very serious problem which can happen to anyone who takes his/ her mobile phone on a trip abroad. The term phantom roaming means that you will get charged for using data roaming on your cell phone even if its turned off.

This problem was noticed by some consumers of mobile operators from all over the world. Most people are well aware how expensive can data roaming be so they take the necessary precautions and deactivate or turn of the data roaming of their cell phones when they plan to travel abroad. However, despite these measures many people have complained that when they got back home they were still charged by the mobile operator. And the cost of these charges can sometime exceed over hundreds or thousands of dollars, euros or pounds.

There are lots of things that can lead to phantom roaming. In some cases this is due to bugs and glitches in the software systems of the mobile operator. If this is the cause of the problem however, don't expect that the mobile operator will disclose that information to its customers. Sometimes if the provider is willing and it knows that the mistake is caused by errors in the system, then the mobile operator can release the client from his/ her debt.

Another thing that can cause getting charged because of data roaming can be the cell phone itself or the applications installed on it. To prevent such occurrence most mobile operators advise their customers to install only the latest version of mobile applications on their phones, as well as updating the mobile operating systems on their phones to the latest available.

Uninstalling mobile applications that need to connect to 3G networks in order to function can also be a good way to prevent being charged for using data roaming. These apps can connect automatically to networks even if the user has turned off the data roaming on his/ her cell phone. Sometimes phantom roaming can be the consequence of using free Wi-Fi networks in hotels, restaurants, etc. when abroad. The data roaming may have been turned off, but the cell phone may automatically activate it once the Wi-Fi signal is lost for a minute or is too weak.

Phantom roaming can lead to very large expenses without the user even suspecting it. Even if you deactivated the data roaming on your phone, you should still be extra careful if the phone or any app installed on it hasn't activated the data roaming automatically.