Travel outside the U.S.

[adzam10]

Hi I currently live in the US and am going on vacation to the Dominican Republic. I have an iphone4s on verizon. I was curious if there was a way I could still use my phone for its music and camera without getting charged roaming/data fees. I was thinking of turning it in airplane mode? Would this work? Also, the resort has some areas that have wi fi. Could I maintain airplane mode but turn on wi fi to use imessage?

Thanks for the advice!

 

[wacky4alanis]

You can put the phone in airplane mode, and then turn on wifi manually. All the cellular stuff will stay turned off.

But if you are worried about being charged for data roaming, that is turned off by default. If you want to still be able to receive calls (at international rates), you can't use airplane mode. To avoid data roaming charges, just check your network settings to be sure that data roaming is turned off. The setting is found here:

Settings->General->Network

 

[eastercat]

That doesn't work very well. Others have still gotten huge data charges. OP should turn off data altogether if s/he wants to still call.
Otherwise, airplane mode with wifi on is best.

To avoid data roaming charges, just check your network settings to be sure that data roaming is turned off. The setting is found here:

Settings->General->Network

 

[jdaniel]

That doesn't work very well. Others have still gotten huge data charges. OP should turn off data altogether if s/he wants to still call.
Otherwise, airplane mode with wifi on is best.

Thats always the people who do not turn of the stuff properly and insist that they did.... *yawns* If you turn off data roaming properly then you are good to go. But if you are not using mobile data its one more button to hit when at the same page as data roaming. You can still have wifi on with mobile data + data roaming off.

 

[toiday]

I don't have 4S and I'm not on Verizon. But with ATT, I think I can just remove the sim. Does Verizon phone also has sim for roaming aboard? If so, you can just remove it. I would go in to network and turn off cell data just to make sure. If you want to make phone call via Wifi, get the Talkatone app and Google Voice. This will allow you to talk and text via your Google Voice number. You can also setup, in Google voice, so your Verizon number will forward to your Google voice while you're aboard.

I am curious if you get a sim from aboard, will it work on the Verizon phone?

 

[wacky4alanis]

That doesn't work very well. Others have still gotten huge data charges. OP should turn off data altogether if s/he wants to still call.
Otherwise, airplane mode with wifi on is best.

It has worked fine for me, and I've done it many times (mostly in Canada). I agree that if you don't need the phone to be functioning, airplane mode with wifi is best. But personally, I prefer to be reachable by phone in case of emergency.