How to avoid high roaming costs

[ThatsMeRight]

Hi,

In the upcoming weeks I'm going to visit some countries in Western-Europe and my iPhone would come in handy. Since there's a T-Mobile simlock on it, I can't just put in another sim card from some other carrier. So, well, I'm just going to roam the data.

Now I'm mainly going to use the Google Maps app in combination with GPS and maybe sometimes an internet page. Of course I want to avoid high costs so I already turned down the automaticly checking for new mails. I might also just turn data roaming off, until I need it and turn it on (until I'm done, and turn it off again).

Further if I'm going to browse the internet, I'm going to use the Opera App. It's not as smooth as the Safari app, but it will again save me some (a lot) of data.

What other ways are a good way to prevent a high data usage. So far this is what I'm going to do:

- Opera App for browsing (not as smooth as Safari, but lower data usage)
- Turn off automatic checking for mail
- Turn data roaming on only when I need it

Thanks,

 

[stridemat]

Visit McDonalds.

Seriously do this. They are everywhere in Europe and have free WiFi. This is invaluable for booking rooms, calling home on Skype, looking at emails etc.

 

[ThatsMeRight]

Visit McDonalds.

Seriously do this. They are everywhere in Europe and have free WiFi. This is invaluable for booking rooms, calling home on Skype, looking at emails etc.

I know McDonalds has free WiFi and it's really awesome yeah. Problem is that I won't be near a McDonalds all the time.

 

[VulchR]

Some mapping programs allow a user to download maps over Wifi (e.g., MotionX GPS allows Open Street Map downloads as 'onboard' maps). If you know the general vicinity that you intend to visit, using pre-loaded maps can reduce roaming charges.

 

[stridemat]

I travelled around Europe last year for near enough 2 months. I had data roaming off the whole time as it would have been to expensive to use. Not being rude, but what need do you have for data roaming at all? The cheapest option would not to use it at all.


Not strictly to do with roaming costs, but I would also suggest you download a currency conversion app for your iPhone.

 

[ThatsMeRight]

I travelled around Europe last year for near enough 2 months. I had data roaming off the whole time as it would have been to expensive to use. Not being rude, but what need do you have for data roaming at all? The cheapest option would not to use it at all.


Not strictly to do with roaming costs, but I would also suggest you download a currency conversion app for your iPhone.

Prices for roaming are indeed usually high, but I am going to need it. But because of new European laws they can't charge as much as they used to do.

Some mapping programs allow a user to download maps over Wifi (e.g., MotionX GPS allows Open Street Map downloads as 'onboard' maps). If you know the general vicinity that you intend to visit, using pre-loaded maps can reduce roaming charges.

Will try it out. Thanks.