iPhone 4s for text and email only in Europe

David, As the others have mentioned, it won't be possible to send or receive texts unless you arrange with Verizon to unlock the phone and provide a GSM travel SIM. I believe the Verizon version of the iPhone 4S IS capable of use in GSM areas. The GSM capability will NOT work in the U.S. You'll have to check with Verizon on the unlocking question (I've heard they will do that for customers that have been on a plan for a minimum of two months). If you decide to go with the iPhone 4S without unlocking, you can certainly use the phone in Wi-Fi areas for E-mail or web browsing. Many Hotels these days offer free Wi-Fi for guests, either throughout the Hotel or in "common areas". I'm not sure that placing the phone in "Airplane Mode" will really offer any advantages, since the CDMA transceiver won't work in Europe anyway. However, one benefit of placing the phone in "Airplane Mode" and then re-enabling Wi-Fi is that the cellular transceiver will be switched off, and therefore battery life should be a bit better (ie: the phone won't be repeatedly "pinging" to try and find a compatible network). Mme Eil, I'm a bit surprised to learn that you were able to receive text messages in Europe. Which cell network is your phone with? Cheers!

I asked Verizon to unlock my HTC Droid Incredible 2, and I have used it in Egypt, France and the UK. Their standard text rate is .50 to send and .05 to receive. They have a monthly plan which gives you lower rates for a fee, but I don't use it enough to make it worthwhile.

You can use it for wifi and email which are generally free at the hotel or other hot spots such as McDonalds and other. Outside of Italy, Starbucks is a good hot spot. Texting would be a part of the cell service and would not be available.

You should check with Verizon for the cost of sending and receiving texts in Europe. As Frank stated, texting goes over the cellular network, it does not use wifi. I think we paid around 35 cents per text with our ATT international plan, but we only used that a few times, mainly to locate and meet up with our kids who were traveling with us.

As Frank said, texting won't work if the cellular radio (the phone part) is turned off. Email will if wifi is turned on and you have a connection. To turn off the cell phone, put the plane in airplane mode. While it is in airplane mode, turn wifi on. You should be set. I've read this works on an iPhone - it does on an Android phone - but someone with an iPhone should confirm. I've used Boingo before, but didn't find it very useful. Could have been where I was traveling. You can likely find wifi spots on your own, though. If you are connecting with just wifi, there will be no charges with Verizon. Will email alone work for you? If you need to be able to text as well, there are other options which we can explain. Let us know.

If you are planning on texting other iPhone/iPod/iPad users, have everyone enable iMessage and texts, video, and photos can be sent to them via wifi. Some friends and I were testing it and it works in airplane mode with wifi enabled. They do have to have iOs 5.

I took my 4s to France in December, and could receive texts (no charge) but could not respond (didn't care to either), because I was not willing to pay roaming fees. But with free WiFi I was able to read/respond to emails or look up something on net. That was enough for me. I've been wondering about using FreeText for use when there is free WiFi. Has anyone tried it? Would need WiFi abroad, but it could be a good option.

Forgot to mention - with the iphone you would have face time available and skype if you added it. Skype is great for calling anyone.

Get the Skype app to make cheap calls anywhere or send cheap texts whenever you have a good wifi signal. You have to set it up with credit to draw on, but it's fairly simple.

Wow thanks for the help. Lots of options to navigate through.
Most of my texting will be with other iPhone users. I just did a test here of turning cellular off and texting (i-messaging really) and it worked fine over wifi only so that will be good, assuming it works in Europe the same which I presume it will If I do want to text non iPhones or voice call it sounds like I will need to enable cellular and pay as I go for texts and ignore any incoming calls I dont want to pay for. Sound right?. I've seen the notes elsewhere in the forum about needing Verizon to unlock my phone for use un Europe. When I inquire in the Verizon website, the makeit sound like I am already set to go with my 4s so I am a little confused on that. I will call them to try and get clarification. Thanks again to all for your advice.

Just confirmed with Verizon that the 4s Can be used for text and talk on GSM dual band. I just have to call them to enable international roaming. Texts will cost 50 cents to send 5 cents to receive. Still hoping to avoid most charges by staying on wifi and imessaging over texting.

Skype is cheaper. If your phone service works in Europe, you will be charged for a call if the phone is turned on when someone leaves a voice mail.

David, If you decide to have GSM roaming enabled, it's very important to check with Verizon regarding cellular data roaming. If you use the phone away from Wi-Fi spots (ie: using the cellular network), the charges can be exorbitantly expensive. Be sure that you're VERY clear on that aspect of using your iPhone in Europe.

Monsieur Ken, I was not charged for texts coming in so was quite surprised to get them, and read, without incurring any roaming fees. My service is with AT & T. We will be taking both an old, unlocked iPhone and my new 4s with us. Has anyone printed photos from the 4s? They look good on the camera but I haven't tried to print to see quality. Good luck David!

David, The "Network" settings on the iPhone 4S will allow you to set data roaming separately. There's a short explanation on the page to describe exactly what each setting does. You might also check the Mail, Location Services and other settings, as you may want to alter those for the duration of your trip. If you haven't already, you might download the iPhone 4S User's Manual (PDF file) from the Apple website. You might check with Verizon regarding their roaming plans, as they may offer some type of "data roaming package" at a fairly reasonable cost. The MB capacity will likely be quite limited compared to what you're used to at home, but for short and limited use it's often not too bad. I tried a similar package with my network when I was in the U.S. in January and found that I only used a bit over half the allowable limit. AFAIK, you shouldn't have any trouble retrieving E-mail using only Wi-Fi. You might want to set retrieval to "Manual" so this won't automatically occur when you have 3G access. Mme Eli, Thanks for the info - that explains it. As you have an AT&T (GSM) phone, you were able to receive texts. In just about all cases, received texts are always FREE, and even when roaming with a North American network sent texts are usually only about 60¢ each. No, I haven't tried printing photos yet but with the 8 MP Camera on the iPhone 4S they should be quite decent. You may be interested in having a look at This Blog which describes a "round the world" trip by a professional Photographer using only an iPhone 4S Camera (she developed the Camera+ App). Some of the shots are fantastic! Cheers!

Thanks for the warning on data roaming, Ken. It looks like that is a setting I can control on the iPhone to enable voice roaming only or voice and data roaming. If I enable voice only (which is my plan) then will any emails get delivered when I get back to wifi range? What about non-iMessage text messages? Still not clear on those. Perhaps I need to enable data roaming on the phone for a brief period to get those and to send SMS texts????

Monsieur Ken, thank you for that site! Her photos were indeed amazing. I am glad I asked the question. Have already added the Camera+ Ap and will play with it before my trip. Hope the OP is interested in this also :-)

I used TextFree last summer. I was able to use it on both my Ipad and my laptop. With Internet available, I signed into my completely free account and could send and receive unlimited texts. I used it in the evenings to text as if I were at home. It was awesome. TextFree will give you a free local phone number and I gave that number to my friends. I used Skype for calling and liked that but found call quality really varied. I made a lot of business calls and wasn't really happy with it. I found myself apologizing a lot for the call quality. However, it was nice to have, as I purchased a Skype-issued phone number for about $15, forwarded my cell phone to the Skype number and my regular calls rang right through to my computer in the evenings.

We tried Skype when hubby was in Brazil and it was awful. Got really frustrated and never bothered trying from Europe. Might reconsider since I would miss talking to my kids. Glad to know FreeText worked. I already have an App on my 4S. Would this one work? It's called Text Now.