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Going Out of Country

R

rolex54

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 20, 2007
418
0
Houston, TX
i am going out of the country this weekend to mexico
i was just making sure that the new data roaming switch does work properly
i really dont want any 3000 dollar bills
also can i use wifi
 
yes the data roaming disabling works fine although I can't say 100% that it works in 1.1.3.
Easiest way to check is to go into a roaming area without wifi and try to load weather or safari. The iPhone will pop up a message saying data roamin is disabled.


Yes you can use wifi while data roaming is disabled.
 
Apple iPhone Presenters say...

buy a cheap cell phone in whatever country you are traveling to, and email your phone number to everyone if they want to contact you, because the roaming (international) is very expensive. Roaming is something they are still "screwing" customers on a regular basis, so just avoid int'l roaming at all costs! :cool:
 
If you're not sure that disabling the data roaming is certain enough, set you mail app to check for mail manually and then do a full power down and restart. Once back up, don't open any web apps (including the minor ones like Weather and Stocks), and you should be fine. If you like, you can reset your data usage counter just to make sure that nothing is getting through.

FWIW, AT&T does offer an international data roaming package that gives you 20MB for $25/month. 20MB is not much, but (depending on how often you roam) it's plenty for mail, maps (sans satellite imagery) web surfing and using the weather etc. apps. If you get crazy with YouTube, you're in trouble. If you take this package up, resetting your usage counter is very helpful to keep you within your 20 megs. The catch is that it requires a minimum of 12 months subscription, so you can't buy it just for this one trip.
 
SFStateStudent said:
buy a cheap cell phone in whatever country you are traveling to, and email your phone number to everyone if they want to contact you, because the roaming (international) is very expensive. Roaming is something they are still "screwing" customers on a regular basis, so just avoid int'l roaming at all costs! :cool:
Click to expand...

I have an international roaming call plan as well as the data plan (described in my post above). Both are highly worthwhile for those of us who travel internationally regularly. If it's just the occasional short trip you're worried about, then clamp down your data usage and limit your phone usage and you'll be fine. Texts are cheaper than calls too, so someone could ping you with a text and email you with a longer message (that you can pick up when in a hot spot).

Call roaming with an iPhone is no worse than any other phone, it's the data roaming that kills if you aren't prepared.
 
It works fine. I just got back from the UK (from the US) and had no data charges at all. Make sure you call ATT PRIOR to travel to activate international calling - you can pick a "discount plan" (pay $6/mo and get $.99/call vs. $1.29/call!) or not. You can also choose a data plan at that point. Since I just wanted the phone for emergencies, I picked the cheaper voice plan, no data plan, and set the edge/data roaming to OFF. I could use wi-fi (good luck finding free wi-fi in the UK!) but not edge. No data charges at all.
 
If you are really concerned, just pop out the SIM, that will guarentee that you won't be roaming on EDGE. Then again, I'm not sure Mexico even has EDGE, they may only have the 2G predecessor to EDGE.

TEG
 
SFStateStudent said:
buy a cheap cell phone in whatever country you are traveling to, and email your phone number to everyone if they want to contact you, because the roaming (international) is very expensive. Roaming is something they are still "screwing" customers on a regular basis, so just avoid int'l roaming at all costs! :cool:
Click to expand...

That is seriously overkill, especially for one trip. I leave the country every week and have never had a problem with my data roaming suddenly switching itself on. If you're that worried about it, just check it periodically.
 
TEG said:
If you are really concerned, just pop out the SIM, that will guarentee that you won't be roaming on EDGE. Then again, I'm not sure Mexico even has EDGE, they may only have the 2G predecessor to EDGE.

TEG
Click to expand...

Even if there's no EDGE, your iPhone will still try to do draw data down through the cell signal. You have to turn off the data activities and make sure all the web-based apps are closed.
 
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