When I traveled internationally for the first time after buying my iPhone, I was concerned about the potential for racking up huge phone bills. I’d heard horror stories about people who used their iPhones while traveling overseas, only to discover they had mounted up thousands of dollars in cell phone charges upon returning home. As an underpaid writer, I needed to make very sure this didn’t happen to me.
iPhone 3GS
I started by calling AT&T and was told that I needed to add an International Calling Plan for $24.99 per month. Initially that seemed like a reasonable solution, until I read the small print. The plan provides 20MB of usage within 65 countries, and the list of countries did not include my destination. Additionally, usage over 20MB would have been charged at $.005 per KB. If that all sounds like a lot of gibberish, let me put it in perspective: opening an email with a five megapixel picture in it or downloading a three-minute video on YouTube each require about 2MB of data, so it wouldn’t take long to eat up 20MB of data. Additionally, there are 1,000 KB in each MB, so if I was over my limit, opening a 2MB email would cost me $10! Obviously, this plan was not acceptable.
Since I intended to access my email and the Internet solely through the hotel’s WiFi network, I asked AT&T for instructions to block the cellular network completely. Although it was a struggle to get the rep to agree to send me the appropriate information, she finally offered to send an email with instructions. The instructions were somewhat incomplete, but with research I was able to fill in the missing details and the steps I took successfully shut off the 3G network (I have since traveled internationally for months without incurring any roaming charges). The following are the steps I took for my iPhone 3GS:
- Make sure that standard International Roaming and International Long Distance feature, if it is included in your cellular plan, is removed (call AT&T and make sure the rep adds a note to your account confirming that you requested this)
- If you are going to forward your number, do so before you change any other settings (Settings-Phone-Call Forwarding-Turn ON-Enter number to which you want calls forwarded)
- Disable 3G (Settings-General-Network-Enable 3G-OFF)
- Turn off data roaming (Settings-General-Network-Data Roaming-OFF)
- Make sure WiFi is enabled (Settings-WiFi-WiFi-ON)
- Turn of automatic pushing of email (Settings-Mail, Contacts, Calendars-Fetch New Data-Push-OFF and set Fetch to Manually)
- Put the phone in airplane mode (Settings-Airplane Mode-ON)
- Although not absolutely necessary, I wanted to be very sure I was not mounting up the MB’s, so I reset the usage counter to zero in order to monitor it throughout the trip, ensuring my usage remained at zero. To do so, go to Settings-General-Usage-Reset Statistics (scroll to the very bottom).
When I arrive in an international destination, I simply log into an available WiFi network and Voila! I have access to the Internet, email, Twitter, and can even make international phone calls with the iPhone Skype app without incurring cellular charges. When you return to the U.S., simply reverse the process, although you may choose not to reinstate the International Roaming and International Long Distance feature.
|
Posted in Travel Technology, Travel tips | 
Tags: 3G, airplane mode, email, fees, fetch, high bills, international, iPhone, long distance, roaming, settings, Skype, Technology, Travel, twitter, WiFi
Leave a Reply
Sights, culture, entertainment or activities, if you're thinking short breaks, Europe has it all and Marriott has it covered, with 107 hotels in 22 countries.
If you're looking for a golf break, take a look at these amazing Marriott golf packages available throughout the UK, Ireland, Egypt, Spain and Portugal.
Marriott hotel resorts offer sensational sojourns in some of the world's most enticing locations. Aruba, Bali, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica – where will you go?
A country break in a Marriott Hotel & Country Club will get you back to nature in some style. Time to treat yourself…
Marriott hotels in the UK offer comfort, style and a warm welcome. Business, leisure, short-break or celebration – take a look at the options.
Discount Orlando Hotels
Las Vegas Show Tickets
Prague Hotels by Prague-Stay.com, the leading accommodation server in Prague
Best Budget Destinations
80% off. Pay at checkout.
Kokoda Trail Tours
WebSight Australia
SEO Company
Latest Offers
Australia
Australia holidays let you rediscover why this is one of the best countries in the world. With fabulous beaches, the great outback - not to mention fantastic wine regions, you'll find paradise is at your doorstep.
Bali
Steeped in culture and tradition, as well as great shopping and luxurious tropical resorts - Bali holidays offer you the perfect escape from the everyday - and it's all just a hop and skip away.
Fiji
With pristine waters, sandy beaches and unmatched tranquillity, Fiji holidays offer you the resort getaway you've been dreaming of. Relax, rejuvenate and rediscover the peaceful side of yourself.
London
London holidays are the perfect way to discover this historical city. Step inside the walls of Buckingham Palace or marvel at the might Big Ben - there's a fascinating story on every corner.
Phuket
Snorkel the day away, relax in the sun, dance until dawn - Phuket holidays offer picturesque beaches and exciting resort style living and some of the most colourful culture and cuisine - the perfect place to unwind.
Annual Travel Insurance
Worldwide Travel Insurance
Orlando Vacation Hotels
Las Vegas Hotels
Disney World Hotels
Car Rental Rates
Theresa: Yes, you can have and use both the International Plan and Skype at the same time, however using your iPhone’s international plan for GPS services is playing with fire. Your Int’l plan will only provide you with a small amount of data download for free (20 Mb, I believe – check the post above again); after that the charge is hefty. And it’s pretty easy to mount up the Mb when you’re using one of these data intensive apps. You risk coming home to a bill in the thousands of dollars.
Thanks Barbara for your prompt response. I don’t want to come home to a big bill. I can use the old fashion way of GPS, good ole maps. My husband has already done the research on the “how to get there”. So it’s possible to just use the i-phone as a phone with the international plan, for emergency and then use skype or vonage for the free wifi. So I have to keep on change my settings on the phone? That will be no problem, I hope. I can keep on checking my usage counter to make sure I’m not going overboard. I plan only to check my emails with skype or vonage and do my texting then. Thanks again.
This is a great article. I am off to Europe next week and am going to follow the tips in this article. I have a few questions though. I purchased the $5.99 roaming plan from AT&T for my iphone so I can make phone calls and because I don’t have Skype on my phone. Will I still be able to turn off 3G AND make phone calls? Or do I have to turn it back on? Also, do you know if there is a way of making sure I am not racking up charges by accident while I am away? I really just want to turn off 3G so I can check emails and Facebook here and there. Lastly, would I be able to use my Clock and Maps app on my iphone normally? Thanks in advance
Hi Anna: Sorry, but I am not familiar with the roaming plan; frankly I cannot imagine why anyone would need a roaming plan in this day and age, as all calls in the U.S. are free and roaming is no longer an issue. But maybe I am misunderstanding and you are speaking of an International Plan of some kind, although the least expensive International Plan I could find was something like $25 per month. So, I’m not sure about your question regarding turning off the 3G and making calls – but it does seem to me that if it is a plan through AT&T, you’d need the 3G connection, and then you risk mounting up huge bills. As for using your apps while the 3G is turned off, they will all work, unless they need the Internet -like the mapping service. In those cases, they will still work as long as you can access a wifi hotspot. Finally, to ensure you are not racking up charges, refer back to the article and set y our counter to zero. If it starts mounting up minutes, you’ve got reason to worry.
As everyone else has said, thanks for a such a thorough post. I’ve read through nearly all the comments and think all but one or two of my questions have been addressed.
How do you ensure that text messaging is turned off on the iPhone? I set my phone as explained and sent a test text from another phone. It was delivered.
The second question: Can I use location-based apps such as Foursquare with the phone on these settings?
Hi Nichole: Just did a test on my iPhone to make sure. I followed all the steps in my post and sent myself two texts from my computer. Neither came through – in fact I got a nag message on my screen that told me to turn off airplane mode in order to receive data. When in airplane mode, all voice and data communications are completely disabled, so I suspect you have missed that step. You should be able to use location-based apps like Foursquare when you have access to a wifi network, but be very sure your 3G is off and you are in airplane mode, or you risk connecting with the 3G network, which could result in very high bills.
You’re correct, I was not in airplane mode. I guess the question is, when I do switch it off and connect to a wifi network (the apartment I’m renting has wifi) will texts come through, and will I be charged for them?
Barbara – I figured out how to use wifi while in airplane mode. I didn’t know that was possible. According to Apple Support:
“you can re-enable Wi-Fi while in airplane mode: tap Settings > Wi-Fi, then turn Wi-Fi on and choose a Wi-Fi network.”
Absolutely Nichole. That was the point of my whole post – leave it in Airplane mode to make sure there are no cell charges and just use the wi-fi.
Nichole: As long as you have it in Airplane mode and are using only the wi-fi, your texts will not come through and you will not incur any charges.
Hi Barb, I’m still trying to decide what to do with my Iphone, to take it or not. I like to have it for just an emergency phone when we are on the road, since we will be traveling all over S. Ireland. And also to keep in contact with my children here at home. I haven’t talked to an ATT rep yet, and leery about them not telling me the truth. Like I said before in my other message, getting the international plan and using the free wi-fi in place where I can hook up. What would I actually be doing different than the instructions you gave at the top of the page. And when I have the phone on, when on the road do I have to make setting changes. When I hook up to the free wi-fi, can I check my emails, post on FB and not get charged. I would appreciate any input you give on what to do if I used both the plan and the free wi-fi. I will only use the phone as a phone on the road, and suggestions would greatly be appreciated.
Hi Theresa. Well, you are trying to do two things, which fight against one another, with regard to making sure you don’t incur large charges for international calls. What I have suggested is to turn off the cellular access entirely and use ONLY the wifi. To make phone calls you can download the Skype app and call over any wifi network for just 2.1 cents per minute (or 1.2 cents if you have a subscription) for calls from Ireland to the U.S. Or, if both parties have Skype installed on their respective computers, calls are free from anywhere in the world, as long as you have access to a wifi network. However, it sounds like you are anxious about being unable to stay in touch with your children in the event you are unable to find a wifi connection, and therefore are considering buying the International package for emergency purposes. That will work, however remember the data limits on those packages – you want to make VERY sure that you don’t do emails, go to Facebook, view videos – essentially anything that eats up a lot of data – through the 3G connection. What makes that difficult is that any time you used the 3G connection, you’d have to go through all the steps to re-enable toe connection (per my post), and then after finishing the call, you’d have to reverse the process and shut off the 3G connection. I guess you could print out the steps and carry them with you to make it easier. And yes, using wifi you can access Facebook, check emails, etc, without getting charged, AS LONG AS YOU HAVE 3G SHUT OFF AND THE PHONE INN AIRPORT MODE. I know it can be confusing, but compare it to a laptop computer, When you’re at home, you plug in your laptop to your Internet provider; when you’re mobile you hook up to the wifi network offered by the coffee shop, etc. Same with the iPhone. You have two different modes of connection – the cellular (3G) network, which is owned by AT&T, and for which you pay them according to usage, and wifi, which can be provided by anyone on the road. In the case of the latter, it’s free – someone else is paying for the Internet access and you’re just logging on to their connection. Whatever you can do on the cell connection you can do on the wifi connection, for free.
[...] & Gadgets Barbara Weibel presents Using Your iPhone During International Travel Without Breaking the Bank posted at Hole in the Donut saying, “Secrets for setting up an iPhone when traveling [...]
Maybe I’ll get an iPhone now :0)
I have been looking into cheap phone calls recently (am based in the UK) and am interested in Google Voice when it finally gets here plus a few other options, like mobile phonecards from Lichtenstein and The Isle of Man that allow you to recieve free mobile calls (in the UK we get to recieve mobile calls for free unless abroad).
Thanks for the tips,
Dom
Thank You For This Post, was added to my bookmarks.
Dear Barbara,
You are an angel. I am new to this discussion and am thrilled to know my 2 month travel to Australia and New Zealand will proceed with my new i-phone. I have not read beyond your July 30th post, but have one question that may not be relevant to this thread.
I like to write too. I am leaving my heavy MacBook Pro laptop at home and have just purchased (to my son’s horror) an Acer Aspire One. What do you use to write on as you travel? I still have time to return this if I need to.
Again……thank you so much for sharing this information.
Marianne
Hi Marianne: I carry a Macbook with me wherever I go. Converted from Windows four years ago and you couldn’t pay me enough to go back. The new Macbook Pro is much lighter than the older models
Thanks for the kind words about my post.
I think I’m in a similar situation as Theresa, and here’s what I’m thinking: Since I travel with either my husband or my mom, that allows a bit of flexibility in that I plan to take my iPhone and follow Barb’s instructions without variation. I will also add Mom’s email account to my iPhone so when we do have free wi-fi, she can check her email from my phone.
Second cell phone – Since we do want the ability for family to get a message to us in real time (most likely via text messaging which is affordable), I will do the following to Mom’s AT&T cell phone (NOT an iPhone) account:
1. Block Data from this phone – even with blocked data, a cell phone can still receive and send text messages but cannot connect to the internet.
2. Pay $5.99 per month for the international calling plan to get a reduced rate in case we do need to call out or accept an emergency call.
3. Record new voicemail greeting instructing callers not to leave a message, and whom to call back at home in case of an urgent matter.
We end up with an iPhone from which we can check email and call through Skype when we have free wi-fi available, AND we have a second phone from which we can receive and send affordable text messages in real time. Both phones are protected from racking up expensive international fees. Does anyone see a problem I’m overlooking?
Thanks Barbara for the simplification of using the iphone internationally, this has been quite the challenge trying to sort it all out, and your article really helped. We also found another post that shows you can “text” by actually using email via wifi and everything else turned off, we tried it and it worked – here’s how:
Email them a text message using this method
1. Create a new email message.
2. The important part of the trick is to also know the address of the
friend you want to send a picture or text message to. Below is the
list of common providers:
All you will need to do is enter the recipients 10 digit number
instead of xxx.. in the To: box for picture messages depending on the
your friend’s carrier.
mms messages
Alltel = xxxxxxxxxx@message.alltel.com
AT&T = xxxxxxxxxx@mms.att.net
Boost Mobile = xxxxxxxxxx@myboostmobile.com
Cingular (AT&T) = xxxxxxxxxx@mms.mycingular.com
Einstein PCS = xxxxxxxxxx@einsteinmms.com
Sprint = xxxxxxxxxx@pm.sprint.com
T-Mobile = xxxxxxxxxx@tmomail.net
US Cellular = xxxxxxxxxx@mms.uscc.net
Verizon Wireless = xxxxxxxxxx@vzwpix.com
Virgin Mobile = xxxxxxxxxx@vmobl.com
Cricket= xxxxxxxxxx@mms.mycricket.com
and the following for text messages:
Verizon: xxxxxxxxxx@vtext.com
AT&T: xxxxxxxxxx@txt.att.net
Sprint: xxxxxxxxxx@messaging.sprintpcs.com?
T-Mobile: xxxxxxxxxx@tmomail.net?
Nextel: xxxxxxxxxx@messaging.nextel.com?
Cingular: xxxxxxxxxx@cingularme.com?
Virgin Mobile: xxxxxxxxxx@vmobl.com?
Alltel: xxxxxxxxxx@message.alltel.com?
CellularOne: xxxxxxxxxx@mobile.celloneusa.com?
Omnipoint: xxxxxxxxxx@omnipointpcs.com?
Qwest: xxxxxxxxxx@qwestmp.com
Cricket= xxxxxxxxxx@sms.mycricket.com
3. Type a message and click send.
4. The message will be sent to the cell phone with the number in the
To: box
Valerie – thanks for sharing that cool trick for texting via wifi!