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Traveling to Canada from US w/ iPhone & need advice

GooMan

GooMan

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 8, 2006
207
25
USA
My mom is traveling to Canada next week and is worried about the possible charges she could incur. I've never traveled out of the country with an iPhone so I'm not much help. I've read several pages on the AT&T website and have read several threads here at MR but I still don't feel comfortable. She's fine with just using WiFi so she doesn't need an Intl data plan or anything like that.

  1. Will turning data roaming off and not calling/texting be enough to avoid a huge bill? I've read online where people had it off and still had huge bills.
  2. Enabling airplane mode and then enabling WiFi would have to keep the charges off, right? This has to be the safest bet.
  3. What about the option in iOS 4 to disable cellular data? Would that be a safe bet? Does that kill the phone and data or just the data?

Any advice would be appreciated.
 
Hello,

I am from Canada and am leaving to the USA for a week holiday tomorrow.

The BEST thing to do is remove your SIM card, that way there is no chance you can be charged and you can still do Wi-Fi. That's what I'm going to do, I don't have a lot of trust in Data Roaming off, and besides you can still receive texts with roaming off and it will charge you
 
Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data > Off
Settings > General > Network > Data Romaing > Off

This way, she can still place and receive phone calls in case of emergencies. Just tell her not to call out or send sms if it isn't urgent.
 
trekkie604 said:
Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data > Off
Settings > General > Network > Data Romaing > Off

This way, she can still place and receive phone calls in case of emergencies. Just tell her not to call out or send sms if it isn't urgent.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

  1. So you can still send & receive texts with cellular data off and data roaming off?
  2. Does it cost a ton to make and receive calls out of country?
  3. Approx how much would a txt message (no MMS) cost to send/receive?
 
GooMan said:
Thanks.

  1. So you can still send & receive texts with cellular data off and data roaming off?
  2. Does it cost a ton to make and receive calls out of country?
  3. Approx how much would a txt message (no MMS) cost to send/receive?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can still send and receive texts when data roaming is off.

According to AT&T's website, it costs $0.79/min when roaming in Canada to place a call, $0.50/SMS sent.

"Home pay-per-use or package rates apply to all text, picture or video messages received when roaming internationally. Please visit www.att.com for details."

So if you have an SMS plan it may include free incoming SMS while roaming.

Check out http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/international-roaming.jsp for more.
 
trekkie604 thanks for the info, you've been a great help. One more question for you. US and Canada both use the same electrical plugs and voltage, correct?
 
GooMan said:
trekkie604 thanks for the info, you've been a great help. One more question for you. US and Canada both use the same electrical plugs and voltage, correct?
Click to expand...
The whole western hemisphere does (north, central and south America) .
 
CanucksRock said:
OMG - seriously can't believe you just asked that question.
Click to expand...

I'm so sorry to disappoint you. :rolleyes:

I've never been to Canada but I thought all of North America was the same. I just wanted to be sure before I sent my mom off. Excuse the hell out of me.
 
GooMan said:
I'm so sorry to disappoint you. :rolleyes:

I've never been to Canada but I thought all of North America was the same. I just wanted to be sure before I sent my mom off. Excuse the hell out of me.
Click to expand...

Make sure to warn your mother that we use metric time: our minutes have 100 seconds and our hours have 100 minutes. Only the US uses the weird 60 s/m and 60m/h units, just like only the US uses miles and gallons and Fahrenheit.
 
GooMan said:
I'm so sorry to disappoint you. :rolleyes:

I've never been to Canada but I thought all of North America was the same. I just wanted to be sure before I sent my mom off. Excuse the hell out of me.
Click to expand...

make sure she buys external battery packs for her phone... we don't have outlets here. igloos only.
 
thanks for starting this thread.

hitting whistler this season for snowboarding and was curious about this myself.

i might buy international data and calling for the week or just rely on wifi sans sim chip. guess i'll call att and find out all options available.
 
And don't forget your Canadian to English translator app. You might end up coming home with a pair of boats.;)
 
GooMan said:
US and Canada both use the same electrical plugs and voltage, correct?
Click to expand...

Seriously brother, your mother has more important things to worry aboot on her trip to Canada. With one of the lowest population density's in the world (3 people per square kilometer) smoke signals still work much better than unreliable cell phones anyway. Be sure she packs for the weather accordingly and brings a "touque". Always look a hungry Polar Bear in the eye, it could save your life (but probably not). Beware of the rabid Beavers. Hopefully she enjoys our local cuisine....Raw Whale Blubber and Seal Flipper Pie are exquisit this time of year. She should also acquire a taste for REAL beer, eh.
 
GooMan said:
My mom is traveling to Canada next week and is worried about the possible charges she could incur. I've never traveled out of the country with an iPhone so I'm not much help. I've read several pages on the AT&T website and have read several threads here at MR but I still don't feel comfortable. She's fine with just using WiFi so she doesn't need an Intl data plan or anything like that.

  1. Will turning data roaming off and not calling/texting be enough to avoid a huge bill? I've read online where people had it off and still had huge bills.
  2. Enabling airplane mode and then enabling WiFi would have to keep the charges off, right? This has to be the safest bet.
  3. What about the option in iOS 4 to disable cellular data? Would that be a safe bet? Does that kill the phone and data or just the data?

Any advice would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Just get her to call your service provider and ask for them to shut off data..
this way she can still get calls, and incase of emergency, she still has a sim card that will allow her to make an emergency call.
 
trekkie604 said:
Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data > Off
Settings > General > Network > Data Romaing > Off

This way, she can still place and receive phone calls in case of emergencies. Just tell her not to call out or send sms if it isn't urgent.
Click to expand...

The problem with this however is that she could still receive text messages, which can become annoyingly expensive while roaming on a foreign network provider.
 
trekkie604 said:
Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data > Off
Settings > General > Network > Data Romaing > Off

This way, she can still place and receive phone calls in case of emergencies. Just tell her not to call out or send sms if it isn't urgent.
Click to expand...

No need to turn off both things. Turning Data Roaming Off effectively disables Cellular Data out of your country.

OP, the stories you read online where people got huge bills is because they decided to use data just a little bit and were surprised at how much it costs.

Here's what you need to do:

- If you're only worried about data charges the only thing you need to do is turn Data Roaming Off.
- If you think you might get a lot of texts and calls and want to avoid that then you should put your iPhone in Airplane Mode.

That's it.
 
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