iPhone in China

martinmartin said:

I'm leaving for China tomorrow and want to use my phone as a 'watch' and alarm clock.

I am planning on turning Data Roaming off so I don't get data roaming charges.

Do I also have to put the phone in Airplane Mode? If I don't will it ring every time someone in the states calls me? Will I be charged?

Cheers.

Click to expand...

You can add the int'l roaming for $25 for 20 mb. You don't need to put it in airplane mode. Just don't answer the calls. So far when I decline the calls, I have not been charged for it. Not sure about visual voice mail yet though. Depending on where you are in China, the phone time may not reset with the local sim towers. My phone resets perfectly in Shanghai but not in Shenzen. If you dont want the phone to ring at all, just leave it in airplane mode but that seems like kinda of a waste to use your phone as an expensive clock.

I've traveled internationally with my iphone to Europe and China. Turning off the data roaming definitely works and stops all data flow. I would just turn the roaming off and forget the data plan. Not sure if you can remove the data plan once you add it.

You won't get charged for phone calls until you make or receive a call. Be careful though, if someone calls you and leaves a voicemail. You get charged airtime for the ringing and the length of the message.

mstnggt66 said:

I've traveled internationally with my iphone to Europe and China. Turning off the data roaming definitely works and stops all data flow. I would just turn the roaming off and forget the data plan. Not sure if you can remove the data plan once you add it.

You won't get charged for phone calls until you make or receive a call. Be careful though, if someone calls you and leaves a voicemail. You get charged airtime for the ringing and the length of the message.

Click to expand...

Hang on, so he will get charged if someone leaves him a voice message! Thats rediculous!

Phone comanies will go to any length to get your cash these days, wont they...

To the OP: Get a cheap Chinese knock-off phone for temparary use. In fact, any crappy cheap Chese phone will do, just put a local SIM in and get chanrged local rates then when you come back play some phone football

PowerFullMac said:

To the OP: Get a cheap Chinese knock-off phone for temparary use. In fact, any crappy cheap Chese phone will do, just put a local SIM in and get chanrged local rates then when you come back play some phone football

Click to expand...

Cheap Chinese knockoff phones aren't as cheap as you think...actually they are quite expensive. Trust me...I know.

Why not just JB & Unlock, use a chinese sim
return to USA, virginize and reactivate

simple enough

Good luck finding someone that speaks English well enough to sell you a SIM card. I know, I'm in China right now.

Yes, if someone calls and leaves you a VM, you get charged airtime. The good news is it requires a lot of work by the caller to leave a VM. When you call a AT&T subscriber who has their phone turned on overseas, it makes you enter the phone number again to access the VM box. And these days, who remembers phone numbers?

That said, I was really happy to see the roaming data switch works as advertised.

mstnggt66 said:

When you call a AT&T subscriber who has their phone turned on overseas, it makes you enter the phone number again to access the VM box.

Click to expand...

You must have something wrong with your voice mail. I have had several people call and they never metioned such. I have even occasionally called my phone from Skype to find it in the hotel room and it has never asked for my # for the voice mail box.

Its very easy and it is easily reversable (its called verginization or something like that) and its safe too, no one has perminatly damaged their iPhones by jailbreaking/unlocking.