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 ATT iPhone for international travel, 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.
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 specific instructions for using ATT iPhone for international travel without incurring high international roaming charges (3Gs, 4 and 4s):
Settings for 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).
Settings for iPhone 4 and 4s:
- 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->Cellular Data->OFF). Also check your Data Roaming; it should be off by default, but for some reason if it is on, turn it off here as well
- 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)
- If you wish to reset the usage counter to zero in order to monitor it throughout the trip and ensure usage remains at zero, go to Settings->General->Usage->Cellular Usage->Reset Statistics
- NOTE: In my 4s I do not turn off Location Services and Notifications, as they both work over wifi as well as a cellular network. Disabling 3G and putting the phone in Airplane Mode ensures that they will use only the wifi network and not rack up expensive roaming charges.
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.
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Any thoughts on Google Voice, I’m traveling through france for a few weeks and I’d like to be able to call my fiance back in the US. I’ve set up a google voice account with a local number to him (so there wont be any charges on his end) and if I understant correctly, if I have WIFI access I can call him through google voice using my Iphone, as well as recieved voicemails and texts. Am I understanding correctly that this completely bypasses my cell service and I will not incurred charges through them (just the low international rates through google)? Or is this just wishful thinking….
Hi Steve: If international roaming is enabled and any kind of “push” is left enabled, such as apps that check for data or auto checking for email, etc. you will incur international long distance charges. In my opinion, it’s much better to make sure it’s off so there’s no danger that something was overlooked.
Thanks for the advice. I guess it would be too simple for Apple to some sort of travel “kill switch”…
Apple has done it already. It is the Airplane Mode. As I mentioned above, make sure you turn on Airplane Mode the moment you leave the States and don’t touch it until you land back in the States. You will incur no charges whatsoever from AT&T. Your iphone simply becomes an ipod Touch.
Peter is correct about Airplane Mode but be very careful if you take
this approach. To save battery life I leave the wifi off until I need it.
One time I hit the wrong button without realizing it (Airplane Mode and
Wifi are on top of one another) and tuned off Airplane Mode instead of
turning on Wifi. It was that way for two days before I realized what I’d
done. If I hadn’t gone through the process to turn off location, email and
other “push” services, I could have racked up big bills. I’m in favor of
being safe rather than sorry.
Just wondering if the first step (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) is necessary if I have 3g and data roaming disabled and airplane mode on.
I’ll be studying abroad for 8 weeks and would like to use my iPhone for WiFi purposes only, so obviously I don’t want any charges.
I just completed another blog post on iPhone travel apps that you might find helpful. I selected many of them based on their functionality while roaming internationally. Also, I purchased one of AT&T’s international data plans (50MB for roughly $50/month). 50MB isn’t a ton of data, but enough for me to use the mapping function of the iPhone and some of the things I most need while traveling. I just make sure not to surf the web or download images.
If you have the phone on Airplane Mode and have followed all the
instructions in my post, nothing will come through, including text messages.
Also…how do you block incoming text messages. I assume those will be chargable too.
Hey There,
I am still concerned about recieveing unwanted calls or calls coming in and then routing to Voice mail and incurring charging. Does using Airplane mode “turn the phone off”? How can I avaid the network trying to deliver a call?Â
“You won’t be charged if your phone is off when the call goes to voicemail, as the network does not attempt to deliver the call. If a call goes to voicemail while your phone is on, however, you will be charged twice: first, to deliver the call to a foreign carrier and, second, to route the unanswered call back to the U.S. voicemail system.”
Hi Cher: I can see how you got confused by that quote from AT&T. If you have
Airplane Mode turned on, NO calls can come through, including voice mail, so
there is no risk of incurring charges. The network cannot deliver anything
as it cannot connect. The quote was for someone who was concerned about
getting voicemail while traveling overseas. If you take the phone OFF
Airplane Mode and enable the 3G network, then call in to retrieve voicemail,
you will be charged twice international rates for the time spent getting
your voicemail. Hope that clears things up. Bottom line, follow the
instructions in my original post and you can be sure you will incur no
charges for International rates.
Quick question… If I have phone set to all of your above recommendations, and I turn my phone off for the night, when I turn it back on will the settings still remain as I saved them?
Also, I just set my phone to Airplane Mode to see what happens when I call myself. When I did, it went directly to my voicemail. Does that mean that I will still be charged once I’m back in the country and am getting the voice messages that were left when I was traveling?
Hi MM:
Yes, if you turn off your phone for the night all the settings will be exactly the same when you turn it back on.
Your voicemail is part of your package with AT&T, so AS LONG AS YOUR PHONE IS SET UP AS INSTRUCTED incoming voicemail messages will not incur charges, but calling in to retrieve/listen to your messages while you are overseas will incur charges. This from the AT&T website:
“You won’t be charged if your phone is off when the call goes to voicemail, as the network does not attempt to deliver the call. If a call goes to voicemail while your phone is on, however, you will be charged twice: first, to deliver the call to a foreign carrier and, second, to route the unanswered call back to the U.S. voicemail system.”
How long your voicemail messages are saved and how many you can store depends upon which voicemail package you have selected. Basic voicemail (feee, part of the standard package) saves messages for 15 days and allows a maximum of 20 messages. Enhanced voicemail (an additional $1.99 per month as of this writing) stores messages for 30 days and allows a total of 40 messages.
You could also sign up for AT&T’s voicemail to text plan for an additional $3,99 per month. That allows you to receive your voicemail messages as text messages, emails, or both. You don’t want to receive them as texts, as that will incur foreign roaming charges, but converting them to email is perfect because you can receive email with any wifi connection and reply via email. This plan also allows you to save your messages in your phone or on your computer for as long as you want.
If you plan to travel a lot you could also buy a Skype subscription that includes a Skype U.S. phone number and voicemail, and forward your cell phone to the Skype number (that’s what I do). If so, you need to be sure to forward your calls BEFORE turning on Airplane mode, or anyone calling your number will get a message that the number is not in service or that the number is invalid – it’s a glitch in the AT&T service, because Airplane mode turns off all communication and if you forward AFTER enabling Airplane mode it sees no connection.
Hi Barbara,
We plan to go to Isreal in few months and referring to the following statement I copied from an earlier conversation, I wondered if with this AT&T plan to text, email or both if pictures could be sent via email as well? Thanks a lot. Gayle ………You could also sign up for AT&T’s voicemail to text plan for an additional $3,99 per month. That allows you to receive your voicemail messages as text messages, emails, or both. You don’t want to receive them as texts, as that will incur foreign roaming charges, but converting them to email is perfect because you can receive email with any wifi connection and reply via email. This plan also allows you to save your messages in your phone or on your computer for as long as you want.
Hi Gayle: I can’t answer your specific question, as I don’t know whether a text with a photo can be converted into an email with this particular AT&T program, however anyone who is sending you photos while overseas can just attach them to an email rather than a text; then when you download your email with an available wifi connection, you can be sure there is no charge. Also, for text messages over a wifi connection, I have recently discovered the iPhone app “TextFree.” It allows you to send a text message to a person’s cell phone number over a wifi network, and if you sign up now you can get a free text free US phone number that your friends and family can use to text you when you are overseas, with no cost to them. I’m currently testing it and others have confirmed that it works overseas. You may want to check that out as well.
Hi Jay: I believe it will update the time zone automatically if it has a
wifi connection, however when I get off a plane I never have instant wifi,
so I turn the “set automatically” option off and just choose my time zone
manually when I reach each new destination. Just click on Settings->
General-> Date & Time -> Set Automatically -> Off, and then just below that,
in “Time Zone,” drop down and choose the appropriate city.
 Thank you for the very helpful post.
I have a rather elementary question: If the iPhone is in airplane mode with 3G disabled, and you travel to another time zone, will it still figure out how to display the correct time?
This is so wonderful and instructive, Barbara. To you or any of your correspondents: I’ll be traveling in Europe for eight months, mostly France, and will have had my iphone 3gs long enough to end the contract for $100, which is less than the rest of the contract would be. So, as I understand it, I jailbreak, unlock, and buy a pay-as-you-go sim in France with a data plan (say, from Orange). But what happens to the iphone when I end my ATT contract? Do I lose my US phone number permanently? And, will I still have the wifi (as on an ipod touch)?
Finally, can I un-jailbreak (restore) and keep the thing unlocked to avoid the problem with the itunes updates? I have no interest in the other “unauthorized” applications.
Many thanks.
Hi Rob: Some years ago the US government voted in legislation making all
cell phone numbers portable, meaning that you owned your phone number and
could take it with you if you changed carriers. If this is what you want to
do, sign up with the new company before canceling your contract with AT&T
and have the new company port over your phone number, then cancel with AT&T.
However, it sounds like you want to cancel your contract with AT&T and not
sign up with another carrier while you are traveling. If so, you will
indeed lose your phone number.
You are correct about jailbreaking, unlocking, and buying a French sim card.
Absolutely nothing happens to the iPhone when you break your cntract. It is
a piece of hardware that is separate from the cell service, and as long as
the phone is jailbroken and unlocked it will work with a sim card from any
GSM carrier around the world. The wifi is built into the hardware and will
continue to work – it has nothing to do with the cell network.
If you’re really bent on keeping your US phone number you might consider
changing to the absolute lowest plan (450 minutes I think) and lowering your
monthly bill to around $90, which you can pay online while you are out of
the country. Or, try talking to AT&T about putting your phone “on vacation”
for several months. They let me do so with an air card, however it can only
be done once a year, and I’m not entirely sure if this applies to phones as
well. They will likely try to sell you an international package, so you’ll
have to come up with a story that convinces them you won’t be using the
iPhone while you’re out of the country.
As for the un-jailbreaking, I think not. You must first jailbreak an iPhone
before it can be unlocked – it doesn’t work the other way around – and the
iTunes problem occurs because the phone is unlocked, so even if you did
un-jailbreak, it wouldn’t solve the problem. Hope that helps.
Hi Barbara
Thanks for this no frills way of using my iphone whilst travelling abroad. My wife and I, together with another couple are travelling from Australia to Italy and Croatia in September and would like to keep in contact with our family at home. I have been searching everywhere to find a simple solution to just send and receive emails. Like you I am going to tick every box so I dont incurr any charges whatsoever. Thanks again
So glad I could be of help, Mark. Wishing you wonderful travels.
So glad I could be of help, Mark. Enjoy your travels.
Hi) Help me please. I am an international student in Canada. I bought IPhone 4
and my phone company is Fido too. I was in NY for 7 days. My IPhone worked for 1 day and all 6 days it was no service. When I came back to Canada I have -105$ I paid it. But when I called to Fido, they said me
“You owe us $1200 for roaming charges of 0.3GB of data….” I used only fee internet….. What should I do now???? I haven’t this money.
Vyv-vkv, I am so sorry to hear about your experience, but this is exactly the reason I wrote this post. So many people don’t understand that they can come home to huge bills when they try to use their iPhone internationally, even if they buy an international package. Unfortunately, there is no way I can help you. You will just ave to negotiate with your carrier. Tell them that their information about their service while traveling internationally was unclear and maybe they will waive the charges, or at the very least, reduce them. Best of luck.
Ok, i understand how to set up the phone to work correctly. My main question is will my phone work on the public WIFI in Europe or is there something on the phone that will not allow you to do that? Just dont want to have to drag around a laptop. Thanks!
Hi Jon: Wifi is the same everywhere. It will absolutely work just fine in
Europe.
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/popups/international-iphone-tips.jsp
I am traveling to Canada from the US, can I turn off 3G, all cellular Data, fetch, and notifications and be able to use just for incoming and out going calls with out incuring any other charges except for the cellular minutes charges?
Hi Hudgins: That depends entirely upon the plan you have with AT&T. They have the following plan:
Nation with Canada Plans
No long distance or roaming charges for voice calls between the US and Canada and a data pay-per-use rate of $2/MB in Canada.
It costs $59.99 per month for 450 minutes, as opposed to 39.99 for 450 minutes of US calls only and u should be able to change your plan for the amount of time you will be in Canada. However what it doesn’t make clear is whether it covers calls inside Canada; best to ask that question of AT&T.
I think if you only need to make calls between Canada and the US it would be a good option, but make sure you do turn off your data, fetch and notifications, as $2 per Mb of data is ridiculously expensive. Get your email and Internet when you have access to a free wifi connection. The way I read the plan, u should not have to disable 3G but again, double check with AT&T on this setting.
I’m currently traveling for 5 months with my iPhone. I’ve been trying to both jailbreak and unlock my iPhone 3GS and have found the process complicated (and I’m a former IT engineer/consultant!). I was able to jailbreak the phone, but there is currently no unlock available for the baseband version (05.16.02) that I have, which is annoying. I even purchased a pay-as-you voice and data plan from O2 here in Germany.
Wow after writing down in long hand Barbara’s i-phone ideas I scrolled down to other ideas & think they may be much easier. Wish I could print all this up to take to a friend who can help may sense of all this most of it is way over my head. But thanks it will help I’m sure.
Maggie: What browser are you using?
I was very interested in your directions about using the i phone 3GS internationally without really high charges. For some reason we were unable to print it as I wanted to take it with me to AT&T. So I have written it out in longhand. Do you know why we can”t print it ?? Thank You Maggie-
Hi Maggie: So sorry I can’t help with your problem. Printing is a function
of the browser you are using and your individual printer. I have not
restricted printing of my posts in any way.
Wonderful blog and comments…glad I found this. Here’s my situation: my friend and I are both travelling to the Czech Republic and Turkey for 3 weeks. We live in the US and both have Skype accts. We want to talk to each other (in case we get separated) BUT only one of us needs to be able to call numbers in local countries. So if she just has a regular skype acct and I get the Skype world acct will we still be able to call each other for free? Many thanks in advance for your help.
Hi Leslie: As long as you’ve both installed the Skype software you can talk
to each other for free through a wifi connection, no matter where in the
world you are. If you are in the US, you can use the cellular service
provider connection to call via Skype for free, but overseas doing that
would cost you hefty roaming charges. I hadn’t looked into the world account
for a long time because it only provides the ability to call 40 countries
and many of the places I travel are not included, so it doesn’t really work
for me.
I just took a look and it seems Skype has changed their subscriptions
drastically since the days when I signed up. Before you sign up for any of
the currently available subscriptions, VERY carefully read the fine print.
The Unlimited World Extra subscription requires a 24-month commitment, does
not include Turkey at all, and only allows calls to landlines in the Czech
Republic. Alternatively, if you went with subscriptions for the two
individual countries it would cost you $8.99 and $6.99 per month,
respectively for Turkey and the Czech Republic, and that would be for
landlines only. If you wanted to cover cell phones it would cost and $39.99
per month for 400 minutes in Turkey and $19.99 per month for 120 minutes in
the Czech Republic. AND these prices do NOT include VAT – the fine print
shows extra costs for VAT.
If I were doing it today I’d rely on wifi connections and buy Skype credit
and pay by the minute. I think you’d save a lot of money over the
subscription options currently available, however you would be limited to
calling whenever and wherever you had a wifi connection.
The other option is to get your iPhone jailbroken and unlocked. I paid $10
to have mine done. Now, when I am in a country for any length of time, I
just replace my AT&T sim card with a sim card for that country. That way, I
can make local calls in the country really cheaply and can still make free
Skype-to-Skype calls, either via a wifi connection or using minutes from the
cellular company from whom you buy the sim card, as well as international
calls using the Skype app and either a wifi connection of the cell providers
minutes. Keep in mind though, that jailbreaking and unlocking an iPhone
tecnically invalidates its warranty and you have to be very careful to NEVER
download and install an operating system upgrade via iTunes or it will most
likely turn your iPhone into a brick. Hope that helps.
Thank you, Barbara. I think you’re absolutely right about the Skype International calling plans. The pay as you go option is going to be better for me because I’m surely not going to be making that many calls when on vacation in Prague and Istanbul. Thanks so much for sharing your tips, as I know (after much web surfing) that your blog has the most comprehensive and accurate compilation of good advice both from you and your readers on this subject. Enjoy your travels and keep writing…we’re listening!! 🙂
I will be traveling in France during early April. In anticipation of wanting to use my iPhone 3GS, I have been researching how to do just that very thing. After reading countless posts, I am more confused now, than I was when I first started reading. My intended uses are to make an occasional phone call back to the U.S., play my previously downloaded “game apps” on my phone, periodically check emails,post to Facebook, send a text or 2 back home, etc. If I understand correctly, if I do the following:
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)
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).
I will be able to access a WiFi area, sign on to the internet,check emails, use my apps, post to Facebook, etc., and incur no additional charges, other than my normal monthly fees. Is this correct?
Then, to make a call or 2, would you buy a small international package from AT&T? Or download a Skype app? Or just buy a prepaid phone card and use a pay phone? Which is what we used to do “pre-cell phones” years ago.
> I will be able to access a WiFi area, sign on to the internet,check emails, use my apps, post to Facebook, etc., and incur no additional charges, other than my normal monthly fees. Is this correct?
Yes if and ONLY if you have free wifi access (at hotel, etc. even Starbuck’s, though not at French airports).
> Then, to make a call or 2, would you buy a small international package from AT&T? Or download a Skype app? Or just buy a prepaid phone card and use a pay phone?
I would use Skype on wifi if the calls are only made from your hotel or some other (free) wifi hotspot. A prepaid phone card (which isn’t too easy to find nowadays in France unless you know where to look) would of course allow you to call from a pay phone, but it obviously has limitations in the convenience department.
HTH.
Hi Michaele: I think you’ve got it figured out fine. You can leave the wifi
off, as it will drain the battery, and only turn it on when you are in a
wifi zone. If you have regular access to wifi, my vote would be to install
the Skype app and just use it for occasional calls home. It works great. If
you do, you may want to also consider buying a Skype phone number and
forwarding your regulr cell phone number to it. That way, you’ll get your
voice mail through the Skype app as well. But remember to forward your
number first, before you put the phone into airplane mode.
Turning data roaming off blocks email, browsing, visual voicemail and
downloads, but it will not block text or picture/video messages. However,
when you are abroad, international roaming rates apply when you send text or
picture/video messages. To get around this, you can use Skype to text
whenever you have a wifi connection. Alternatively, you could sign up for
AT&T’s International plan, but in my view, that’s a waste of good money. If
you really want to maximize your iPhone, jailbreak and unlock it. That way,
you can pop in a cheap sim card from any country where you will be spending
a long time and take advantage of their cheap phone rates. As for pay
phones, although I’ve not been to France, I find that in most places around
the world they are practically non-existent these days, however, I also
understand that free wifi access is everywhere in France. Hope that helps.
Thanks!
Really, that long list of check boxes is unnecessary. All you need to do is turn the iPhone on Airplane mode and leave your wifi on. I just spent ten days in Switzerland and incurred no extra charges the whole time by just doing those two things. Sure you can go through all those steps, but airplane mode kills all cellular signals (turning it into an iPod Touch pretty much).