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3G on iPhone: disabling data traffic abroad?

mgpg89

mgpg89

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 31, 2008
970
16
Belgium
I have a 32gb iPhone 3GS and I'd like to know if there's an option to disable ALL internet traffic when I'm abroad? (I don't want to get a surprisingly high bill when I get home)

All I want to do when I'm abroad is call, sms and mms.

Any idea?

Thanks in advance
 
When I turn 3G off, it just connects using GPRS ... I just want to disable all connection altogether, not open up a slower one instead.

Try to read before trying to impress the rest of the forum users by making witty remarks.
 
Wirelessly posted (BB 8900: BlackBerry8900/4.6.1.250 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/301)

I've just changed my APN settings to something bogus. Worked fine enough for me.
 
jackiecanev2 said:
Wirelessly posted (BB 8900: BlackBerry8900/4.6.1.250 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/301)

I've just changed my APN settings to something bogus. Worked fine enough for me.
Click to expand...

Changing my APN to something bogus and turning 3G off still shows the little GPRS circle on top ...
 
Turn Data Roaming to Off and turn off all push settings. AT&T has a web page that talks about what you can do as does Apple, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1686. There have been reports that the stats in Usage may be incorrect, so watch out for that if you decide to buy an data plan.
 
nparmelee said:
Turn Data Roaming to Off and turn off all push settings. AT&T has a web page that talks about what you can do as does Apple, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1686. There have been reports that the stats in Usage may be incorrect, so watch out for that if you decide to buy an data plan.
Click to expand...

I live in Belgium though (sorry, left that out) ... so I guess the AT&T support page won't do me much good, right?
 
wazza12345 said:
Yeh except he linked you to the apple support page.. not at&t.
Click to expand...

Sorry.

Read the suport page. So if I get this right, if I turn data roaming OFF and I leave my network, I won't have a connection? (not even GPRS)

If that's correct, then I'm all settled.

And why do I have to disable all push notifications even if I don't have a connection?
 
nparmelee said:
Turn Data Roaming to Off and turn off all push settings. AT&T has a web page that talks about what you can do as does Apple, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1686. There have been reports that the stats in Usage may be incorrect, so watch out for that if you decide to buy an data plan.
Click to expand...

I'd never looked at this link before, since I haven't had an opportunity to go out of the country since getting my iPhone. I found it interesting that they stated that data roaming is off by default. Mine has always been on, and I don't think I turned it on. So, is that statement true? Also, I've read that even having data roaming off does not protect you from getting a huge bill, which seems counter to what the Apple site states, if I'm remembering what I read correctly.

Edit: What I read was that if you send an MMS when you have data roaming off, it turns data roaming on. They need to fix that.
 
When I disable WiFi, disable 3G and change my APN settings to something bogus, I still get the little GPRS circle at the top of my screen ...

I really need to solve this before I leave, because I don't want to leave my iPhone at home to avoid a huge bill.

All help would be really appreciated.
 
mgpg89 said:
When I disable WiFi, disable 3G and change my APN settings to something bogus, I still get the little GPRS circle at the top of my screen ...

I really need to solve this before I leave, because I don't want to leave my iPhone at home to avoid a huge bill.

All help would be really appreciated.
Click to expand...

You don't need to disable any of those things, just data roaming.
 
anjinhamarota said:
You don't need to disable any of those things, just data roaming.
Click to expand...

Yes, but I mean: after I disable all data-options, my phone still has a GPRS connection ... what if I disable data roaming and it'll still have a GPRS connection while I'm abroad? (I've read reports of devices doing so ...)
 
mgpg89 said:
Yes, but I mean: after I disable all data-options, my phone still has a GPRS connection ... what if I disable data roaming and it'll still have a GPRS connection while I'm abroad? (I've read reports of devices doing so ...)
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter. Disabling data roaming doesn't diable data in your country, it disables data OUTSIDE of your country. You don't need to disable any of those options, only data roaming.
 
anjinhamarota said:
It doesn't matter. Disabling data roaming doesn't diable data in your country, it disables data OUTSIDE of your country. You don't need to disable any of those options, only data roaming.
Click to expand...

Alright then.
I know where to find you if my bill turned out to be massive ;) haha
 
mgpg89 said:
Alright then.
I know where to find you if my bill turned out to be massive ;) haha
Click to expand...

Just don't enable data for "just a little bit" because you think it was so little it won't matter. Most stories you hear of people with huge bills is because they used "just a little bit of data".
 
anjinhamarota said:
Just don't enable data for "just a little bit" because you think it was so little it won't matter. Most stories you hear of people with huge bills is because they used "just a little bit of data".
Click to expand...

Yes I know.
I enabled data for 'just a little bit' last month INSIDE the country (without a data subscription) and at the end of the month I had to pay 5x the usual amount.
 
I've just come back to the uk from Egypt. Data roaming turned off as it should be sent lots of txts and mms's and my online bill shows no additional charges. O2 charge a international txt as 4 of ur inclusive txts. Mms's are scaled in the same way. Sending the mms messages did not add to my data use in any way nore did it enable data roaming.
 
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