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Traveling Abroad, Use iPhone as iPod Only?

I

itisme1760

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 18, 2008
253
7
California
I am traveling to Vietnam next week and was wondering if I could turn off all the Verizon signals and put it into a WiFi only, iPod mode? Will doing Airplane mode + Wifi on do the trick?

I don't want to incur any international charges / txt / data overages.

I also unlocked it so I can put a foreign SIM if I wanted to.

Thanks.
 
Yes you can put it in airplane mode and turn on WiFi. By default, data roaming is turned off. I'll be going to Vietnam next month myself.
 
Thanks a bunch!

Last question, if I put in a foreign SIM card (it would give me a different address), will I still be able to iMessage people (using their cell phone number) via WiFi, or do I have to use their email address?
 
Last edited:
My wife and I just came back from the Phils and we both had our iPhone on air plane mode with WiFi on (to be safe, we turned 3G and cellular data off). Used it as an iPod touch surfing web and getting emails wherever we could get access to WiFi. :)

edited to add: we also brought a couple of old GSM phones, had them unlocked and bought local sims and got pay per use phone plans.
 
I travel all over the world. The thing you need to ensure, is "data roaming" is turned OFF. This is OFF by default. As long as that is the case, you CANNOT be charged astronomical data (or any for that matter) usage.

*AT&T Customers* With your iPhone setup exactly like it is now. You'll be able to receive text messages for free (incoming text messages go against your current plan...so if you have unlimited texting...you'll get unlimited incoming texts). However, outgoing text messages will be $.50 a piece.

Also, you'll be able to receive phone calls (don't answer them, or it will cost you approx $4.00/minute). However, this is useful in the case of an emergency.

I like being able to receive all my text messages and phone calls while abroad. I won't respond to them (or answer the calls) unless absolutely necessary. What I do, is wait until I'm on WiFi and either email the individual back and instruct them to email me while I'm overseas, or I'll use iMessage if the other party is an iOS user too.

Again, just ensure data roaming is turned OFF (this is the default setting), and you'll be fine.
 
CosmoPilot said:
I travel all over the world. The thing you need to ensure, is "data roaming" is turned OFF. This is OFF by default. As long as that is the case, you CANNOT be charged astronomical data (or any for that matter) usage.

*AT&T Customers* With your iPhone setup exactly like it is now. You'll be able to receive text messages for free (incoming text messages go against your current plan...so if you have unlimited texting...you'll get unlimited incoming texts). However, outgoing text messages will be $.50 a piece.

Also, you'll be able to receive phone calls (don't answer them, or it will cost you approx $4.00/minute). However, this is useful in the case of an emergency.

I like being able to receive all my text messages and phone calls while abroad. I won't respond to them (or answer the calls) unless absolutely necessary. What I do, is wait until I'm on WiFi and either email the individual back and instruct them to email me while I'm overseas, or I'll use iMessage if the other party is an iOS user too.

Again, just ensure data roaming is turned OFF (this is the default setting), and you'll be fine.
Click to expand...

I don't think that's true for calls. According to AT&T and a representative I talked to, you will be charged for roaming when receiving calls internationally, pick up or not. You get charged once for the call to be connected to your phone and charged again if it goes to voicemail, charged for the duration of the voicemail per minute.

Incoming Texts don't get charged though. But then your phone will still be able to receive calls and be charged.

I use my phone in airplane mode while overseas and it works great, I pretty much use it to iMessage and take pictures. Definitely not complaining about the 4.5 day standby time :cool:
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I can verify & confirm with 100% certainty you will not be charged anything if you don't answer your phone. If YOU access voicemail, you'll be charged accordingly, but in no way will an incoming call being directed to your voicemail cost anything.

I travel overseas at least 2 times/month for 5 to 6 days at a time. These trips include multiple countries.

Your AT&T rep is wrong.
 
So if I want to use my phone to only make Skype wifi calls & wifi data & not get charged for any incoming calls or data usage I

Put the phone in Airplane mode

Turn off Data Roaming

Turn off Voice Roaming

Turn on wifi
 
ATT charges for unanswered calls

I just read an FAQ on the ATT site that indicated that if your phone is on and you receive a call overseas that goes to ATT voice mail you WILL get charged for roaming even if you do not answer. If your device is powered off you won't because it will not try to deliver your message overseas.

See if others read this the same way:
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/faq.jsp


CosmoPilot said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I can verify & confirm with 100% certainty you will not be charged anything if you don't answer your phone. If YOU access voicemail, you'll be charged accordingly, but in no way will an incoming call being directed to your voicemail cost anything.

I travel overseas at least 2 times/month for 5 to 6 days at a time. These trips include multiple countries.

Your AT&T rep is wrong.
Click to expand...
 
I purchased the 50 MB international data plan through the AT&T app while I was in Vietnam and used about 11 MB when I got a text message saying I had high data usage. I called AT&T and was told that Vietnam was not part of the international data plan and I was going to get charged over $200 USD. I was lucky that they reimbursed the charge. So I would recommend everyone to check http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/i...V4IS0000000000U&wtExtndSource=globalcountries before they purchase the international data plan.
 
Can you turn off voice roaming ?

I can't seem to find a way to turn off voice roaming or "the phone" other than putting the iphone in airplane mode, which will allow you to still use wifi while turning off text and phone. Is there another way ? Just curious. Otherwise I think the list below covers it.




wateron said:
So if I want to use my phone to only make Skype wifi calls & wifi data & not get charged for any incoming calls or data usage I

Put the phone in Airplane mode

Turn off Data Roaming

Turn off Voice Roaming

Turn on wifi
Click to expand...
 
You will be charged one minute if you don't answer because the call has to be routed to you internationally and then routed back to the us for Voicemail YOU will be charged it happened to me whilst in london and I also had a small amount of data roaming even with DATA roaming off though AT&T waived it for me
 
CosmoPilot said:
Also, you'll be able to receive phone calls (don't answer them, or it will cost you approx $4.00/minute). However, this is useful in the case of an emergency.
Click to expand...
I'd be careful making such broad suggestions without informing people of the possible charges they'll incur. Note the section on voicemail:
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/faq.jsp

CosmoPilot said:
I can verify & confirm with 100% certainty you will not be charged anything if you don't answer your phone.
Click to expand...
No offense and I can't speak for others but I'm taking the at&t site, the word of an at&t international rep and an understanding of how international roaming with GSM works over some random forum poster's assurance to the contrary.

itisme1760 said:
I wonder if the super high humidity in Vietnam can affect the phone in any way?
Click to expand...
Not in and of itself. It's condensation (when you step out of AC) that would be a concern. Plenty of places in the US have "super high humidity".

wateron said:
So if I want to use my phone to only make Skype wifi calls & wifi data & not get charged for any incoming calls or data usage I

Put the phone in Airplane mode

Turn off Data Roaming

Turn off Voice Roaming

Turn on wifi
Click to expand...
Middle 2 steps are extraneous (given the first) but feel free to do so if it makes you feel better.
 
Last edited:
DerekRod said:
You will be charged one minute if you don't answer because the call has to be routed to you internationally and then routed back to the us for Voicemail YOU will be charged it happened to me whilst in london and I also had a small amount of data roaming even with DATA roaming off though AT&T waived it for me
Click to expand...

Such a charge is entirely down to the carrier's policies. Most of them do charge for it.

It's now illegal in the EU to charge someone for such a call (diverted to Voicemail).
 
4 Gs will it work

trozau said:
My wife and I just came back from the Phils and we both had our iPhone on air plane mode with WiFi on (to be safe, we turned 3G and cellular data off). Used it as an iPod touch surfing web and getting emails wherever we could get access to WiFi. :)

edited to add: we also brought a couple of old GSM phones, had them unlocked and bought local sims and got pay per use phone plans.
Click to expand...

Read your answer and it is a big help. Presume it will work with a 4Gs? How do I turn 4G and cellular data off?)
 
A friend of mine went to Vietnam recently and, seriously, he was not out of the airport twenty minutes and his phone was gone. Some very talented pickpockets! Keep it safe!
 
Adriano73 said:
A friend of mine went to Vietnam recently and, seriously, he was not out of the airport twenty minutes and his phone was gone. Some very talented pickpockets! Keep it safe!
Click to expand...

Where did he keep his phone? I was there for two weeks and kept my iPhone in my right pocket the whole time without incident.
 
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