Data Roam Guard when data use is (I hope) off?

[Lenoxus]

I have an LG Optimus S, and my phone service provider is Ting, a Sprint MVNO. I use Ting because my desired usage of minutes, data, and texts is pretty low; wi-fi covers most of my communication and Internet needs. So, using that built-in widget with five buttons (whatever it's called), I've turned off Bluetooth and data, keeping wi-fi and sync on.

For some reason, my house has very low Sprint coverage, though it's full bars in the middle of my neighborhood. (I'm not sure if this is because I happen to live right on the edge of a zone, or because my house is surrounded by trees.) This usually doesn't bother me, but it does mean that I get the data roam guard alert to come on every so often. But wait a minute! I thought I had data turned off!

So what's going on? Is the data roam guard completely disconnected from whether or not I have data on, or does the fact that I have sync on mean that I do have data on, like it or not? One fact that suggests the latter is that I have seen my one-or-two-bars of reception go from white to green, which I think I've read is a sign of syncing with Google. (My wifi goes from white to green as well.)

Anyone else have this issue? Any ideas?

 

[breadnatty08]

Welcome to the forums, Lenoxus.
Have you gone into your main Settings - Data - Mobile Settings and make sure roaming isn't checked? (this may be a bit different, but it's how to get to it on my phone)
One other idea is to put your phone in Airplane mode and manually toggle wifi when needed.

 

[Lenoxus]

I've gone to my Ting account web page and confirmed that my phone has not been using data every day, despite the green bars. I also turned off all roaming outright after deciding that I simply didn't need the option, so the roam guard shouldn't show up again.

I was mainly just curious as to why the roam guard ever showed up when its warning was seemingly irrelevant, since data was turned off. I suppose it's just a simple oversight that might eventually be fixed, although I know developers always have full plates...