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Help using iphone in India -wifi only

EricaV

EricaV

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 20, 2008
140
5
I've looked at international data packages on ATT and they look pricey. $24.99 for 50 mb is going to add up terribly quickly with the amount of email I get.

I can live with getting a cheap phone in india for the month I'm there unless anyone knows if an international phone plan only is reasonable.

here's what I want to be certain of.

1. putting the phone in airplane mode will disable incoming calls so I won't get roaming charges- even for voice messages when I don't answer

2. Even if I take it out of airplane mode for a moment- with ATT I wont' get charged for incoming texts and I can opt out of choosing to send texts for 50 cents a pop

3. Turn off data roaming to be absolutely sure of not getting charged for internet/emails etc.

4. wifi will work in airplane mode

5. If i choose to forward my mobile phone to another phone where I get voice messages by email i will not get charged for any calls that are routed this way.

Finally- is there any other way to turn off the phone or should forwarding calls cover it.

Any other feedback about using iphone India would be great.
 
Forward the calls,watch your data counter because I was charged for 3 MBs in London with data roaming off so just be careful and no the international plans are a rape where are you from if your not in the US see if your carrier will unlock your iPhone(AT&T will not unlock though)
 
DerekRod said:
Forward the calls,watch your data counter because I was charged for 3 MBs in London with data roaming off so just be careful and no the international plans are a rape where are you from if your not in the US see if your carrier will unlock your iPhone(AT&T will not unlock though)
Click to expand...

I have an international plan, and I don't remember being illegally forced whether under duress, physically forced, or verbally harassed, or drugged into unwillingly having sex with someone when I got my plan.
 
/user/me said:
I have an international plan, and I don't remember being illegally forced whether under duress, physically forced, or verbally harassed, or drugged into unwillingly having sex with someone when I got my plan.
Click to expand...

Very clever I mean your still paying a hell of a lot for services especially data with any international pan
 
Yeah but why pay it?It adds up with data usage I ended up with a thousand dollar bill well 1357 to be exact but if you have the means just roam thats completley on you
 
DerekRod said:
Yeah but why pay it?It adds up with data usage I ended up with a thousand dollar bill well 1357 to be exact but if you have the means just roam thats completley on you
Click to expand...

What were you doing that you racked up over a thousand dollars in one month???
 
DerekRod said:
1 MB of data is 50 bucks when you roam internationally refresh a web page 10 times BOOM 1000 dollars
Click to expand...

That explains it. Who's your carrier? I'm only paying 200 for 800 mb... Far less expensive than your charges. Did you have a plan, or did you just rack up charges?
 
EricaV said:
I've looked at international data packages on ATT and they look pricey. $24.99 for 50 mb is going to add up terribly quickly with the amount of email I get.

I can live with getting a cheap phone in india for the month I'm there unless anyone knows if an international phone plan only is reasonable.

here's what I want to be certain of.

1. putting the phone in airplane mode will disable incoming calls so I won't get roaming charges- even for voice messages when I don't answer

2. Even if I take it out of airplane mode for a moment- with ATT I wont' get charged for incoming texts and I can opt out of choosing to send texts for 50 cents a pop

3. Turn off data roaming to be absolutely sure of not getting charged for internet/emails etc.

4. wifi will work in airplane mode

5. If i choose to forward my mobile phone to another phone where I get voice messages by email i will not get charged for any calls that are routed this way.

Finally- is there any other way to turn off the phone or should forwarding calls cover it.

Any other feedback about using iphone India would be great.
Click to expand...


I am not sure I understand what you want to do here. But I'll try to answer based on what I think you want to know :)

If you put your phone in Airplane mode, your data services cannot be used. Your best bet would be to activate call forwarding and switch off data usage. Then get a phone in India that you can use for data and local calls. Seeing the bill amount you guys are generating while abroad, you could get a brand new factory unlocked iPhone here, get a data, text and minutes plan and STILL end up saving cash :eek:

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask if theres anything else
 
I have an unlocked phone now no more issues and regardless 20 dollars for MB is ridiculous
 
Yeah well this is only international roaming pay per use data at reasonable rates would nice (Roaming/domestic)
 
Using my US/ATT iphone in India

Just thought I'd post on what I did, which worked well for me.

I did get a local Indian phone for calls, but I had to go through quite a bit of red tape, with passports, applications, extra photos etc.. To be expected, glad people want to prevent mis-use of cell phones in India ! I did get a phone with 2 sim cards since I was in 2 states and the plans/networks differ from state to state, so it was a hassle to get the two cards, but worth it if you're there for any length of time.

I Turned off the data usage on the iphone but kept messaging on.

Forwarded all calls to my landline BEFORE leaving the US- time spent routing voice mail is charged at international roaming rates so you don't want people getting through to your phone or voice mail while you're abroad. I have proof of this because somehow I made two mistaken "pocket calls" to random people. When I discovered this ATT kindly refunded them.

Received unlimited free text messages via ATT the whole time I was there
Payed about $20 or so to send 50 texts a month- came in handy versus the 40 or 50 cents per outgoing text otherwise.

Used the wifi on the phone when wifi was available.

Iphones cost $900-$1000 in India (at least at the mac store- maybe there's a better way), so the local sim card and phone was the best way to go for calls. I used skype/wifi or skype phone service to call the states when needed. I did not investigate getting another data/voice phone other than the iphone.

This worked well for what I needed

Thanks for all the feedback I was given !!


anirudh said:
I am not sure I understand what you want to do here. But I'll try to answer based on what I think you want to know :)

If you put your phone in Airplane mode, your data services cannot be used. Your best bet would be to activate call forwarding and switch off data usage. Then get a phone in India that you can use for data and local calls. Seeing the bill amount you guys are generating while abroad, you could get a brand new factory unlocked iPhone here, get a data, text and minutes plan and STILL end up saving cash :eek:

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask if theres anything else
Click to expand...
 
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