I'm going to Venice & the Greek Isles on a cruise soon and want to take my I-Phone, mainly to use my travel apps, Ipod, etc. However, I am terrified of getting a huge bill even if I purchase an international data plan for the trip and turn off roaming when not using it.
Can others share their experiences or offer tips on how to get the most out of my phone without having to take out a second mortgage when the bill comes in? Thanks!
Out of an abundance of experience using my iPhone in Italy, I can tell you it is very, very expensive. My last two trips, my AT&T bill was around $700.00 spread out over 2 billing cycles (including all the other bundled services), and I used the phone sparingly. The data roaming package that I purchased was 50Mb at $60, and that was OK as long as kept track of my usage and didn't go over my limit. Calling and texting, etc., is another matter. All calls, coming and going, are billed at international long distance rates. Cha-Ching!! My next trip, I will still take the phone for data use, but for calling, I will purchase a throw-away phone when I get there.
Unlike Scott, I've never had a huge bill when I've returned from a trip. I always turn off data roaming in the airport in the US before departure.
I use the phone only for emergencies. My kids will text me a few times (they watch our business for us while we are gone)
Last trip I found several spots to use the wi-fi, so I was able to check email and surf the web a bit.
I'm on vacation, so I don't use the phone that much to check on business. If I really need the internet, you can still find a few internet cafes, or the hotel will have a free or inexpensive access to the web, so I use that instead.
If you are only using it for music and travel apps you will OK, as long as roaming is off, and you don't send or receive a bunch of text messages. Tell your friends to NOT text you during this time - you get billed for incoming text messages as well as sending them.
When I returned from my trip last May, my bill was about $10 more then normal - that's all.
Why do you need to use your phone on vacation? Are you calling ahead to hotels? Checking in with other travelers? I never purchase the international plan. I was told long ago by a customer service person that if I keep my calls around 20 min, that is about the same as paying for the plan for one month...so I keep track of my time (but then again - I don't make calls on the phone - in Europe it's for emergencies only)
Your trip sounds fantastic! Have a great time...
It's not the data that kills you. That is pre-paid and you can monitor that. It's the phone calls/texts that are incredibly expensive. I turned off Push/Fetch and set them to manual and turned data roaming off when not in use. This will prevent you from leaking data. If you intend on making or receiving calls/texts with your phone, don't expect your phone bill to be just $10 more than usual. That is false. You WILL be billed at international long distance rates and your minutes don't mean squat.
just got back from italy and relied on hotspots or wifi in the hotel for web access. Calls with ATT International ($99cents) but also had an older unlocked Razr phone with an Italian SIM for 49cents to US. (Rebelfon.com)
I usually had to pay a couple euros for the access at the hotels but some were free. Cafe/coffee shops and TIs all over have web too. If you know your hotels email or check their web to ask if they have WiFI.
I turned off my iPhone's data roaming and all push/fetch options. I relied on Wi-Fi through most of the trip. If you have a texting plan, texts are free to receive and 50 cents to send; more if you send a media message. Calls are $1.29 per minute.
I get a daily email from a blog called Broken Secrets and THIS was today's entry. It's something about using an app called Ping Chat to text for free... or something like that.
I have no idea if this information is useful or even relevant to this topic, as I don't own an iPhone nor have I ever used a cell phone in Europe. But I thought I would throw it out there.
(PS the entire blog is pretty interesting - all his posts are archived under the link at the top called "Secret Archive")
We also were careful about turning off data roaming and such and watching our non-wifi usage and stayed just below our package limits, no problem. Skype is good over wifi for making calls.
