Smartphone

Kellie, I don't know if you're 18 or 48; do you need to speak with your parents, or can they use email? Is there some situation going on at home that you really want to keep up with, and want to be able to speak with people at a specific time, instead of emailing them when you can? Email is so convenient - there's no time-zone problem to worry about ;-) Also, is the phone mostly for communicating with each other (other travelers) once in Europe, or do you want lots of people to be able to reach you from the USA? (again, another reason to keep the phone turned off - time-zones and people that don't know where you are = phone calls at 3:00AM!) It sounds like you want to take your iPhone mostly to use wi-fi (emails) and surfing...I'd just turn everything off except wi-fi and be done. if you really want to use voice, buy a phone here before you leave the USA; those who need it can be given the phone number beforehand. And coach them on time-zones ;-) Something like EuroBuzz might work for you - cheaper phone calls to/from the USA and within Europe, and texts, too. And bring your iPhone for using wi-fi. We've done this very thing and it worked great for us!

You could do it that way. Just be aware that you also should not access your voice mail or you will be charged the international rate for that, too. Because of the time differences, I usually communicate with home via email or a free texting over wifi app. If your phone was unlocked you could just swap out the SIM card for a local one to make calls with. If it's not, or you are uncomfortable doing that, a cheap prepaid phone might be your best option. I don't understand why you want to pay for international service if you aren't going to use it. You can use your apps free over wifi, and you will be using a different phone for calling. You could just as easily give the home folks the phone number of your prepaid phone to reach you in an emergency. I have a Verizon smartphone, but it's not a "world" phone. On my recent trip I carried it anyway (in addition to a phone with a local SIM), and used it all the time in free wifi areas. The only thing I couldn't use it for was calls, and I paid nothing extra. You don't need to pay for international access to be able to use wifi.

Kellie, No, in some ways it doesn't sound like a good idea. The idea of taking your phone to keep in touch with friends and then having to buy a separate PAYG phone doesn't make any sense. I'm surprised that Verizon would have suggested that. You stated that "we are not big phone talkers", so it sounds like you're not going to be making or receiving a lot of voice calls. For the occasional short call, using your Verizon service should be cost effective (hopefully they offer a "travel pack" that reduces the costs slightly). The easiest and cheapest pay to keep in touch with your friends is via text messaging. You can easily do that with your own phones at minimal cost. Received texts will usually be free. Be sure to switch OFF both Cellular Data and Data Roaming. It's a good idea to make note of the Usage Meter so that you can confirm whether or not you're using any data. Keep in mind that Siri uses data, so "she" won't be available (except possibly in Wi-Fi areas). Google Maps reportedly uses LOTS of data, so that will also be restricted (I expect the new Apple mapping function in iOS 6 will also be a heavy data user). Be sure that you only send and receive E-mails when you're in Wi-Fi areas. I'd probably set the E-mail retrieval to "Manual", just to be sure. I will probably be taking an iPhone 4S along on my next trip, so I'll also be dealing with this situation. Happy travels!

I appreciate all of your feedback. I've decided that I'm going to call Verizon and have them deactivate the international SIM as I don't need to call or receive calls from people. Instead, I'm going to use email, in free WIFI spots only, to communicate w/ family in the States and friends in Europe. Thanks so much for all of your input. We are new to the smartphone (got it in April) and there is much to learn :) ** Are there any apps I should download/buy?
Never done this before either. Kellie

Kellie, I used one called HeyWire, but I have also heard good things about one called What's App. (might be WhatApp).

Kellie, download Skype on your phone. It lets you use w-fi to call anyone in the world for only 2.3 cents/minute, and for free, if they have their computer on. We bought $5.00 worth, and still have over $3.00 left after a trip thru Spain last summer. Load it on your phone now, and play with it. Seriously, I would stay signed up for Verizon's international plan. It is not much money, and if you do need to make a call, you are always able to do that. It is really nice to be able to speak to people if an emergency occurs. My Cousin did that last year. She also bought their lo-cost text plan, and that was a real life saver for her. Go to their web site and read the info; it is quite good. There are lots of neat language, map, subway, etc aps (that don't require Data to be turned on) Go to the Grafitti Wall section and read the comments.
http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/graffiti150.html

Kellie, no need to deactivate the SIM, just pull it out of the phone but carry it with you. If you're ever in a spot where you have to make a call, just put it back in. Don't lose it, though, or someone else may use it and you'll be billed for the costs.

I love this community. Please keep the insight coming as it's SO helpful. Still trying to figure out what my best options are. Just want to contact family once a week (email is fine) and confirm hotel reso's. But we have the iphone and if we can use the apps etc. to make life easier, then that'd be worthwhile.

Kellie, If you're planning to remove the SIM card, you'll need to pack along the SIM removal tool or a Paper Clip. I wouldn't bother removing the SIM - simply put the Phone in "Airplane Mode" and then switch the Wi-Fi "On" to allow E-mail, etc. Have you checked with Verizon on the costs of roaming using only voice and text? It would be a good idea to get that information so that you have some idea on whether that might be an option for you. If I'm reading their website correctly, if you buy the Global Travel Plan at $4.99 per month, voice calls (incoming or outgoing) will be 99¢ per minute, sent texts will be 50¢ each and received texts will be 5¢ each. Hopefully Paul or one of the others can confirm whether my information is correct. One other important point to mention is that if you're going to travel with your regular number, you MUST be sure to tell your contacts NOT to call you when you're travelling. Not only is the cost an issue, but it's really annoying to get a call at 03:00 from someone that was too lazy to check the time difference. Regarding Apps, there are thousands of them available, but it's important to remember that not all of them are good. It's a really good idea to read the "Feedback" when considering Apps, especially those that you have to pay for. Some that I use are: > Currency Conversion - fX Change > Maps (work offline) - Best Travel Maps > E-Book Reader - Kindle (also iBooks which is supplied) > Travel Documents - Docs To Go which handles Word, Excel, PDF files, etc. > Flights - Flight Update (Silverware Software) > Language Dictionaries - WordRoll series. I have Italian, French, German and Spanish so far. If I think of any more, I'll add them later.

Ken, thanks for the clarification about the difficulty of removing the SIM. I don't have an IPhone so I'm not familiar with how difficult Apple makes it to do things that are simple to do on almost any other type of phone. On every phone I've owned, and I've owned dozens, it is just a matter of sliding out the card.

@Paul, This is my first iPhone, so I'm still learning. The SIM tray is quite small so that might be the reason they configured it with that type of release mechanism. Using the small tool just pops the tray out far enough so that it can be grasped with fingers. It's quite small and delicate, so even though I'm quite comfortable with electronic devices, I'd prefer to minimize how many times I open it. My new travel micro-SIM is on the way from Roam Simple so I'll need to access the SIM tray when I embark on my next trip. Hopefully I don't break anything! Apple has reportedly been pushing hard for a new Nano-SIM standard, so I may need Tweezers to change SIM card in future! Apparently the agency that co-ordinates Cellular standards has approved their request, so the new iPhone 5 will likely have a Nano-SIM (whenever it's released - it wasn't mentioned at the WWDC on Monday, so my guess would be late August / early September). Cheers!

Thanks so much for all your advice! I think I'm going to download Skype and use the internet at free Wifi spots. Am I on the right path? It's been 8 years since we've been to Europe and I feel like a newbie w/ the all this technology. I loved internet cafes and international phone cards used in orange phone booths! Ahhh.... I need to get with the program!

Steve Thanks so much for your advice. We're going to go your route. Kellie

Hi Barbara,
We just called Verizon today as we are taking a similar trip next week (we have the same phone). They have a value plan for $4.99/mo. Voice rate are .99/minute. Texts are .50 outgoing, .05 incoming. They do offer international data plan for $25/mo. It was a bit tricky prorating if your trip spans into more than one calendar month so they suggested we pay the total amount for both months.

oops! Kellie :)

We decided to do the same plan with Verizon and include Skype. I'm content with our decisions!

Kellie, I'm glad to hear that you've got your Smartphone questions sorted. If you have time, post a note in the "Trip Reports" section when you get back on how well this system worked, as I'm sure the information would be useful for others here. Happy travels!