I'm getting so confused and I'm not the most techo-able person. I bought an i-phone in March and plan to take it to Italy next week (we're there for 30 days). I understand that email use is free as long as I access free WI-FI networks. We were thinking that we would buy a cell phone when we arrived (cost about $50?) for calls within Italy (to make reservations, etc.). We thought maybe we'd even buy two since we're a family and may split up during the day. We were planning buying phones in Italy because we were afraid of all we heard about the high costs of using ATT (and it was recommend in Rick's guidebook). But after reading some posts here, I'm not sure what to do. We don't expect to make any calls back to the US (since we can email for free), and maybe we'll get a couple of calls from the US if it's an emergency. If we're judicious about our phone use within Italy and to the US, should we just use the i-phone? We're okay with charges of less than $100. If we use our i-phone and buy one phone in Italy, can the i-phone call the Italy phone and vice versa?
Posted by
Atlanta
1358 posts
I'm not the most tech-savvy person, either, but I know of people who've had trouble with their i-phone overseas when they haven't disabled their email from automatically downloading new emails when they come in. My husband had a co-worker who came back from visiting family in India for a month and had a $3000 phone bill, because it charged him each time an email came in.
Posted by
Victoria, BC, Canada
42 posts
Hi Darleen, I'm not on ATT but Rogers, being Canadian, but I brought my iphone strictly for cellular services and wifi. All you need to do is turn off your data roaming in the settings to prevent accidentally getting charged hefty fees for data roaming. I first go under the Settings-->General tab and turn off "Location Services" (the GPS like feature that can track movement and used for geotagging pictures, etc) and then go under General to Network Tab and turn Data Roaming off. If you're really paranoid you can also call your carrier to manually turn off data roaming BUT be sure to follow the steps above as well as they won't accept responsibility if you call them and still get roaming charges.
Posted by
Santa Clara, CA
252 posts
To add even more confusion, you may want to consider the replacement cost of an iPhone. When you buy it with a service contract, you can get one for $199. If you lose or break it, the full, unsubsidized cost of an iphone is substantially higher ($500+)
I used an older phone I had laying around, I didn't want to risk my iPhone when I knew I wouldn't use it very much. Any techo-able friend or family member will know how to switch the sim chip for you.