Settings while Traveling Abroad

stockcerts said:

I am leaving for Mexico in a few days and was told to keep my phone on airplane mode and just make use of the hotels wifi in order to avoid a big surprise on my phone bill.

Is there any other way of setting up the phone without keeping it on wifi to avoid charges? I originally heard turn of data roaming and that is sufficient, but I'm not sure.

Thanks for your help in advance!

Click to expand...

My missus is currently in US (I'm UK) and I advised her to switch to airplane mode, then go back into settings and turn on the wifi. This ensures no other transmitter is working that can rack up the bills.

stockcerts said:

I am leaving for Mexico in a few days and was told to keep my phone on airplane mode and just make use of the hotels wifi in order to avoid a big surprise on my phone bill.


Is there any other way of setting up the phone without keeping it on wifi to avoid charges? I originally heard turn of data roaming and that is sufficient, but I'm not sure.

Thanks for your help in advance!

Click to expand...

You could purchase a international (Mexico) voice only package, then turn off "cellular data" and data roaming in the phone. That would allow all voice calls, and use of wifi for any data transfer.
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/affordable-world-packages.jsp

What I did when I went to the States was turned off the mobile data, 3G and data roaming just for good measure. Then could still receive texts etc but not use any data and just used the wi-fi where it was possible to do so.

If you have a Verizon phone then forget about it, it's not going to work anyway except on wifi. For AT&T phones you will roam with no problem on the voice network. Your phone will operate just like a local phone there and you'll be able to make local calls without having to enter the area or city code.

But data is a different matter. You should turn off data roaming in settings. Using data abroad is very costly. As you were advised use the hotel wifi for emailing and web surfing. I think text messages utilize the voice network and shouldn't be a problem.

If you search, you'll find posts from people who only turned off data roaming and went overseas; they came back to a huge ass data bill.
Your best advice is from himesh if you don't want airplane mode.

It's such a pity that users can't avail themselves of the full potential of the iPhone when going abroad unless they're filthy rich. You'd think by now there would be competitive downward pressure on the price of using data/voice services abroad.... [wonders why anti-trust agencies in North America and Europe seem to be asleep at the switch]