Traveling internationally w/iPhone

[SwiftLives]

My wife and I are going overseas for a few weeks this summer. We'd both like to take our iPhones...but not to make phone calls. Mainly just to play around with any wifi we may stumble across.

In order not to get stuck with a phone bill equal to a doctor's salary, I just want to confirm that this is all I need to do:

1) Turn Airplane Mode on.
2) Turn Wifi back on.
3) Turn push off.
3) Turn data roaming off.

In regards to texting - can we send and receive text messages while on wifi? Will the above settings prevent us from sending and receiving texts when on Edge/3G? I really don't want to pay 50¢ per text.

 

[Nicholas.C]

My wife and I are going overseas for a few weeks this summer. We'd both like to take our iPhones...but not to make phone calls. Mainly just to play around with any wifi we may stumble across.

In order not to get stuck with a phone bill equal to a doctor's salary, I just want to confirm that this is all I need to do:

1) Turn Airplane Mode on.
2) Turn Wifi back on.
3) Turn push off.
3) Turn data roaming off.

In regards to texting - can we send and receive text messages while on wifi? Will the above settings prevent us from sending and receiving texts when on Edge/3G? I really don't want to pay 50¢ per text.

you can't send texts on wi-fi it's cellular signal you need.

 

[SwiftLives]

Thanks. I've always been unclear on that.

 

[zeeflyboy]

You could with one of the free texting apps as i believe they use the internet connection....

Texts you receive (which should be via the cell network... this obviously won't work with airplane mode on! Then again i'm pretty sure airplane mode turns off wifi too) should be free anyway... or at least it's certainly free to receive international texts on O2.

Turning off push is a bit redundant imo, since you have data roaming turned off anyway. Thus push would only work if you had wifi connection as I understand it, but by all means turn it off if it makes you feel more secure!

It's only Making calls, receiving calls, Sending text messages and using data that will cost you while abroad.

So if you are looking for a zero cost approach I would suggest you just turn off data roaming, (and push if you want, although i think it's redundant) and don't answer any calls, make any calls or send texts via anything other than free messaging apps when you have wifi connection.

That should cover it imo

 

[STEVESKI07]

Seems to me like your best bet is to take out your SIM card. This way nothing is linked to your account and you will have no worries about anything. In a sense, your iPhone would become an iPod touch and you could still pick up WiFi. Am I wrong here? It seems like this is the easiest and most fail proof way of doing this?

 

[Nicholas.C]

Seems to me like your best bet is to take out your SIM card. This way nothing is linked to your account and you will have no worries about anything. In a sense, your iPhone would become an iPod touch and you could still pick up WiFi. Am I wrong here? It seems like this is the easiest and most fail proof way of doing this?

Yes, just take your sim card out and you should be fine.. what above post said it'll be an ipod touch. Just with some more features.

 

[Diane2boys]

.

 

[jeniferkey]

When I went, I turned off data roaming, had AT&T disable voice mail (they said they'd charge for a person leaving a message).
I used texts instead of phone calls when needed (.50 was better than a dollar a minute). Receiving texts was free as a part of my standard plan.
I also have truphone, so if I was in a wifi area, I would make calls back home. I left the phone on, and could see who was calling, if I felt I did need to answer a call. I also used the phone once for a local call. It was expensive, but I needed to make the call.
Have fun.

 

[curly14]

Went to Mexico ) ) for a week and had data roaming turned off and used it to check email and what used about 27 mg which would of cost me some where around $500 but had AT&T add the data pkg for Int. and saved me a bundle. So I recommend getting data if you think you are going to use it.Better to be safe then sorry

 

[ronnyuk]

My wife and I are going overseas for a few weeks this summer. We'd both like to take our iPhones...but not to make phone calls. Mainly just to play around with any wifi we may stumble across.

In order not to get stuck with a phone bill equal to a doctor's salary, I just want to confirm that this is all I need to do:

1) Turn Airplane Mode on.
2) Turn Wifi back on.
3) Turn push off.
3) Turn data roaming off.

In regards to texting - can we send and receive text messages while on wifi? Will the above settings prevent us from sending and receiving texts when on Edge/3G? I really don't want to pay 50¢ per text.

Little tip here, if you go abroad with your phone don't forget that if people leave messages for you while abroad you will get charged the roaming rate to pick them up and you get charged for them leaving the message.

To avoid this, turn Airplane mode on in your country of origin, then any msgs left are left in your normal country and cost you nothing, as soon as you connect to a roamed network that is it you are screwed for messaging.

if you say turn you phone on for just 1 min you will connect to the roamed network, then say you turn it back to airplane mode for the remainder of the holiday you WILL be charged for left messages untill your phone picks up your home network on return, so perhaps when you return to your home country and forget to turn your phone on you will still be charged as if your abroad.

I have a pay as you go sim to take abroad with me, then i do not get any stupid bills on my return.

I never knew this till Martin Lewis on Radio2 said it last Friday lol.

 

[fedup flyer]

, as soon as you connect to a roamed network that is it you are screwed for messaging.

Not true.
You can only get VM by one of 2 ways. Either by turning data roaming on or by calling the VM directly from the phone. With data turned off, the phone will let you know that you have VM waiting but not how many and you WILL NOT be charged just for the phone connecting to a tower in roam mode.

 

[Maverick713]

I don't think thats accurate

you can't send texts on wi-fi it's cellular signal you need.

My boss can recieve and send texts from his ipod touch

 

[thegoldenmackid]

AT&T is actually really open and forward and helpful with this and have a website section dedicated to this. I highly recommend visiting it, also AT&T reps were helpful when I went into the store.

 

[netjack]

Little tip here, if you go abroad with your phone don't forget that if people leave messages for you while abroad you will get charged the roaming rate to pick them up and you get charged for them leaving the message.

To avoid this, turn Airplane mode on in your country of origin, then any msgs left are left in your normal country and cost you nothing, as soon as you connect to a roamed network that is it you are screwed for messaging.

if you say turn you phone on for just 1 min you will connect to the roamed network, then say you turn it back to airplane mode for the remainder of the holiday you WILL be charged for left messages untill your phone picks up your home network on return, so perhaps when you return to your home country and forget to turn your phone on you will still be charged as if your abroad.

I have a pay as you go sim to take abroad with me, then i do not get any stupid bills on my return.

I never knew this till Martin Lewis on Radio2 said it last Friday lol.

Wouldn't the simplest solution still be removing the sim card and negate the issue mentioned here?

 

[robanga]

Spend a $100 and get an international data plan. Cancel it upon your return. Just do it plenty early before your trip, because the carrier will prorate due to billing cycle and you do not want to roam when you are not officially covered.

 

[netjack]

i just want to turn my phone into an ipod. I'm thinking of just removing the sim card.

 

[OllyW]

Little tip here, if you go abroad with your phone don't forget that if people leave messages for you while abroad you will get charged the roaming rate to pick them up and you get charged for them leaving the message.

To avoid this, turn Airplane mode on in your country of origin, then any msgs left are left in your normal country and cost you nothing, as soon as you connect to a roamed network that is it you are screwed for messaging.

if you say turn you phone on for just 1 min you will connect to the roamed network, then say you turn it back to airplane mode for the remainder of the holiday you WILL be charged for left messages untill your phone picks up your home network on return, so perhaps when you return to your home country and forget to turn your phone on you will still be charged as if your abroad.

I have a pay as you go sim to take abroad with me, then i do not get any stupid bills on my return.

I never knew this till Martin Lewis on Radio2 said it last Friday lol.

I've travelled in France with my iPhone (on O2 UK). All I did was turn off data roaming and the only extra charges I got was for the two phone calls I made to my daughter back home. I didn't answer any incoming calls and didn't get charged for any text messages I received. The text messages I sent came out of my monthly allowance.

My hotel and many bars and resturants had free wi-fi, so it didn't cost anything to get my email and for browsing the web. The total extra cost for the whole week was less than £2.00.