US iPhone 4 Visiting Finland: Billing Questions

[Kashchei]

I grandfathered into the unlimited data plan, but aside from this detail, I am not on top of anything relating to my AT&T bill other than to pay it. I am about to travel out of the country for the first time since I've owned the iPhone and I've heard horror stories about monster bills that resulted from doing nothing more than turning on the iPhone abroad. I'm just hoping someone will be kind enough to let me know or point me in the right direction to find out how to avoid making costly mistakes. What I'd like to do is use it to call home and access the internet, but I have the feeling that those would be the costliest things to do. Any help will be appreciated and thanks in advance

 

[Applejuiced]

Yep, prepare to pay an arm and a leg to call US from your AT&T phone in Finland.
Also if you use carrier data from your iphone there it can cost way more than phone calls to the US would.
Dont risk it cause you will regret it. Take your simcard out and use the iphone only when you're connected to wifi there for apps and browsing.
Call home with local calling cards instead. It will save you tons of money and aggrevation.

 

[aristobrat]

AT&T has a pretty good FAQ about international roaming:
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/faq.jsp

Really pay attention to the "How am I charged for voicemail calls while roaming internationally?" part. A lot of people think that if their phone rings while abroad, if they don't answer the call (and send it to voicemail), they won't receive any international charges. That is not true!

I worked in Hong Kong for a few weeks this year. The only thing I did for these trips was to setup call forwarding on my iPhone so that all calls went to my home phone. The iPhone is already set to not use any cellular data when roaming abroad. I never had any additional fees added to my bills.

I was surprised that incoming txt messages are billed normally when roaming abroad. Since I'm on an unlimited plan, that meant free incoming txts. There is an additional fee to send txts when roaming abroad, so I'd email my friends back (using WiFi at work or the hotel) instead.

Like Applejuiced said, if you're going to make phone calls over there or use cellular data, be prepared to pay an arm and a leg!

 

[Kashchei]

Take your simcard out and use the iphone only when you're connected to wifi there for apps and browsing.

I knew how to get the simcard out of my iPhone 3GS, but I don't know how to do it with my iPhone 4. Is there anyway to use it strictly for wifi at the hotel? If not, it sounds like it might not be worth taking with me.

 

[aristobrat]

Enabling Airplane Mode, and then re-enabling WiFi is the equiv. of pulling the SIM card out.

You'll prob. want to take it with you regardless so that when you're in the US airports, you're still in touch with the world.

 

[isabellaadamz]

A prepaid global SIM card is for those who is thinking of using his mobile overseas and do not want to pay the huge roaming charges by taking their GSM mobile along with them. Now, you can buy the SIM card before you leave home and also rent the GSM mobile that will work all over the world.