iPhones and traveling internationally

A

austinisfunny

macrumors newbie

Original poster

Jul 3, 2014

1

0

• Jul 3, 2014

• #1

I'm leaving the country in about 5 hours and I was pretty confident I knew what I was doing was correct when it came to avoiding the steep charges for using data/roaming overseas.

Until I read how some people got surprise charges because they messed up?
My question is, which method is correct? All I want to do is be able to use iMessage/Skype without any charges while on wifi.

1) Settings, General, Cellular, turn cellular data off, turn voice and roaming to off. Continue using iMessage on wifi.

2) Switch phone to airplane mode, go to wifi, turn wifi on. Continue using iMessage.

Or just do both? Thanks for reading!

 

Cool MBA

macrumors newbie

Jul 3, 2014

12

0

South Africa

• Jul 4, 2014

• #2

I'd go with the airplane mode off..i've done this a couple of times when travelling and no issues, same with colleagues i travelled with

 

eelw

macrumors 6502a

Sep 19, 2012

631

27

• Jul 4, 2014

• #3

Option 3, remove SIM.

 

M

melb00m

macrumors regular

Feb 4, 2011

192

68

• Jul 7, 2014

• #4

Just switch off cellular data for roaming. It's disabled across the system then, no need to configure anything else.
iMessage and the like will check for new messages once you have an active WiFi connection.

EDIT: I just found out some U.S. carriers will charge you for incoming text messages when traveling. How crazy is that, it's completely out of your control. In that case, use airplane mode all the way and simply turn on WiFi afterwards. Still, make sure that data roaming is disabled as well, just in case you switch off airplane mode to make a call or something.

 

C

Chief87

macrumors newbie

Feb 28, 2014

8

0

Ireland!

• Jul 8, 2014

• #5

Most surprise charges are probably rates for receiving calls and texts. Many people forget that you get charged to receive when abroad!

 

C

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge

Oct 17, 2011

51,390

19,458

• Jul 9, 2014

• #6

Option 2 (using Airplane mode with Wi-Fi on) is usually the way to go when all you need is Wi-Fi data basically.

 

J

JustinForest

macrumors newbie

Jul 23, 2014

10

0

• Jul 23, 2014

• #7

After my personal travels abroad, I found the safest and simplest option is to trn airplane mode on and switch wi fi on after.

You've already stated this, but I will just confirm as another who has used that option.

 

rui no onna

Contributor

Oct 25, 2013

14,417

12,425

• Jul 23, 2014

• #8

+1 on turn on airplane mode then manually enable wifi.

Mind, when I went on vacation last December, iMessage wouldn't work for me with airplane mode enabled. Kept asking me to turn off airplane mode when I try to open the Messages app. Thankfully, I had my number linked to my iPad and that was working fine.

 

C

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge

Oct 17, 2011

51,390

19,458

• Jul 23, 2014

• #9

rui no onna said:

+1 on turn on airplane mode then manually enable wifi.

Mind, when I went on vacation last December, iMessage wouldn't work for me with airplane mode enabled. Kept asking me to turn off airplane mode when I try to open the Messages app. Thankfully, I had my number linked to my iPad and that was working fine.

Click to expand...

As I recall you can dismiss that message and still use iMessage just fine (although you might run into that message multiple times as you leave/enter the Messages app).