iPhone questions - wifi, 5GB plan, China use?

[cricketbird]

I'm thinking of buying an iPhone soon. I have a few questions:

1) I've heard that if you are near a wifi signal, you connect to it instead of the cell tower and don't get charged minutes or bandwidth. Is this true?

2) AT&T told me yesterday that there was a 5 MB (or maybe GB? - forgot to write it down) monthly bandwidth limit. Yet, their website says unlimited data and email. What is this limit and do light-to-moderate users (max ~1 hr per day on web/email) ever hit this limit?

3) Has anyone traveled with the iPhone to China with AT&T's international plan? Does the coverage work? Do you get charged a ton of random fees? Is it worthwhile?

Thanks!
CB

 

[Kyeris]

1) I've heard that if you are near a wifi signal, you connect to it instead of the cell tower and don't get charged minutes or bandwidth. Is this true?

Nope, no matter what, wifi or no wifi, you use the cellular network for placing phone calls, yet you will not be charged for bandwidth (data) if you're connected to a wifi network, as you are using the bandwidth from that network.

2) AT&T told me yesterday that there was a 5 MB (or maybe GB? - forgot to write it down) monthly bandwidth limit. Yet, their website says unlimited data and email. What is this limit and do light-to-moderate users (max ~1 hr per day on web/email) ever hit this limit?

There is a 5GB soft limit on the unlimited data plan, I consider myself a heavy user and still only go through ~2gb/month.

3) Has anyone traveled with the iPhone to China with AT&T's international plan? Does the coverage work? Do you get charged a ton of random fees? Is it worthwhile?

Haven't traveled before, but if you're talking about fees, you could check out AT&T's iPhone section for international usage;

http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/iphone-travel-tips.jsp

 

[skubish]

SEARCH is your friend. This has been asked many times.

1. Yes you don't get charge for data if using wifi but you have to have access to the wifi signal.

2. Yes there is a soft cap of 5GB. I am a moderate user and average about 300MB/month of data.

3. You will get charged whatever the rate is with ATT international plan.

 

[awesomator]

wait im confused my phne bill said i used my phone bill said i used 54000 mega bytes megabytes or 54 gigs and i am not charged extra.

 

[specify]

You used 54Gb on your phone? Wtf?

 

[MCRunning]

wait im confused my phne bill said i used my phone bill said i used 54000 mega bytes megabytes or 54 gigs and i am not charged extra.

It was probably kilobytes not megabytes. Big difference

 

[Kyeris]

wait im confused my phne bill said i used my phone bill said i used 54000 mega bytes megabytes or 54 gigs and i am not charged extra.

Pretty sure you're talking about 54,000kb.. Have fun going through 54gb over a phone, AT&T would have shut down your service by then

 

[cricketbird]

Thanks folks! - China anyone?????

Glad to know about the wifi and data limit.

I know about, and have used AT&T's international plans. However, last time I used a US phone in China (around 5 years ago) on (then Cingular's) "international plan", I got the expected charges (monthly fees, per-minute charges), and then they charged me all sorts of unlisted "connection fees", "network fees", "partner fees", and so on, that made my $200 (expected) bill turn into a $1950 (nightmare) bill. I was wondering what the current experience is and if time has turned these plans into a more manageable system. Most recently I've been using a Chinese cell phone (so much cheaper), but now I need folks from the States to be able to call me more easily.

 

[awesomator]

wait now that i look again it says kb/mb