iPhone maps app data usage

I am traveling right now, and my plan has 500MB of data while I am outside of Italy traveling in Europe. I used it up in 5 days as we were using the map app quite a bit. (I have to admit to a bit of email management and some internet research, and downloading a transit app for Paris as well.) My impression is that the real-time map usage eats up data. But we have needed to navigate, not simply look at a map, so I am not sure off-line maps would be sufficient, but I am going to try that!

Still, if you need it, you need it. If your trip is going to cost thousands of dollars, a hundred or so for support from your smartphone is worthwhile.

I have AT&T. They have a passport plan that costs $60 extra for one month. It comes with 200Mb of international data roaming. Calls are, if I remember correctly, $0.99 min, SMS text messages $0.50 or $0.25 each (don't remember off hand but you can check on the AT&T website). You get more with the next level up ($120).

Google Maps doesn't use a lot of data, but it also depends on how much you have it on. In any case I don't find the amount of data sufficient for my needs when I go for my usual annual 3 weeks in Italy and $60 is not cheap.

What I do instead is purchase a local plan from Vodafone. They have a plan designed for foreign visitors. It's called Vodafone Holiday. It costs €30 for one month and it comes with 2Gb of data, 300 outgoing voice minutes to anywhere in the world, 300 outgoing SMS messages to anywhere. Incoming calls and incoming messages are always free in Europe. The €30 includes the price of the SIM card which comes with a credit of €5 which can be used for purchases of additional services. You can add to your credit by simply going to a tobacconist shop or phone store.
TIM, the other large provider, offers a similar plan called TIM Welcome.

I find that 2Gb of data meets my needs best. With that plan I can use all my Iphone functionalities like I would do at home without fear of ever exceeding my data plan, not even close. My iPhone basically will work like at home. The only difference is that it will have an Italian phone number. If you need to check your messages on your Anerican number, you need to switch the American SIM card back in your phone whenever you want to check your messages. That is what I do. When I switch back my American SIM card while I check voice and text messages I make sure I turn the cellular data off, so I don't incur any roaming charges. Checking messages will however cost you same money. AT&T charges $1.29 Minute for checking your voice messages and $0.50 for each text message you read (if I remember correctly).
If you don't need to check messages on your American phone number, don't bother. You save that way.

Look at the app Sygic. Download it at home and no need for a data connection for it to work. Runs off the phone's in built GPS.

" much less likely to put the "tourist" target on our backs than pulling out a map."
There will be so many other clues you are a tourist that yanking out a map won't be the tip off. I was solicited by a maitre d on a square in Florence. I thought I was going fairly incognito, no camera out or backpack on my back. He knew I was not just a tourist, but an American tourist. I asked him how he recognized us tourists and he just smiled. If he can do it, so can those of whom you are concerned. Just be smart and not worry about it.

I use Verizon so I can't help you with your data plan. I took a standalone Garmin with an Italy/Greece SD card and it was a lifesaver.

To Roberto's point about checking messages. What I do when I board the plane in the US is switch my iphone to call forwarding. I send my calls to my home number (YES, we still have a land line) I leave a message saying we will return calls on a certain date.
I hate getting reminder calls from my dentist at midnight in Italy...so now I don't worry about that.

I'm available for my kids via Facetime or they text me. I use text messages often, but Facetime even more to communicate with my kids at home. Everyone else can wait until I return from vacation.

I remember NEVER calling home on my first trip overseas (1976), then buying a calling card and using a phone booth, then using an internet cafe to email home, and now my tiny little iphone does so much more. Love new technology!

Each night in our hotel (almost ALL off them now have free wi-fi) my hubby and I settle in and call our son and daughter to catch up with them...it's wonderful to see them, and so easy to talk...and share the day's event on both sides of the Atlantic.

I have to respectfully disagree a bit with Dougmac's response. It certainly is true that the locals (including pickpockets) will be able to figure out pretty quickly that you're a tourist regardless of pretty much anything you do. However, pickpockets want the easiest prey. The trick is to avoid appearing like a clueless tourist who would be an easy mark for a pickpocket. Whipping out a map and looking at it shows that you are without a doubt a clueless tourist. It's the equivalent of wearing a hat that reads CLUELESS TOURIST with a flashing light on it. Looking at a smartphone does not send that signal. So good for you for thinking about this!

I disagree that checking a map indicates you are clueless. I don't consider myself clueless, yet I use a map (either paper or electronic) in most places except for Florence, which obviously I know well, and maybe Rome. In Venice for example I always use a map because that place is a maze and only locals know where they are going. What is an out-of-towner supposed to do? Walk aimlessly for fear of consulting a map?

Regarding the fear of putting the tourist target on your back, I wouldn't care that much about that. I can tell you that 99% of people, even in Florence, my home town, think I'm an American tourist and they even address me in English first. And it's not that I don't look Italian. My features are clearly Italian, most Americans can tell right away I'm Italian and on both sides of the pond, people mistake me for Tony Soprano (maybe a slightly smaller version of him). The way one dresses gives you away as an American, not carrying a map. When I travel to Florence I wear things (bought in the US) that identify me as an American, so people make that assumption.

Taking out a map shows that you are organised and that if you are already chosen as a mark he will find a map in that pocket.

Taking out a smartphone, if you are already chosen, shows that when you are done he will find a smartphone, and when you put the smartphone back the pickpocket knows where it is.

The way one dresses gives you away as an American, not carrying a map.

and the haircut, and the shoes. And the stride. Just occasionally the the t-shirt or Hawaiian shirt, and the hat.

I have spent many hours (how about this for a hobby) at Gatwick and Heathrow just watching people coming out of International Arrivals and making bets with myself and checking my choices against the labels on the luggage.

My sister and I both have iPhones with AT&T and we each got a Passport plan when we were in London two months ago. I signed up for the cheapest plan ($30, 120 MB) and she chose the next highest plan ($60). We were happy with the coverage and used almost none of our data, but we were glad we had the plans in case we needed them. When I called AT&T to ask about the plan, the representative told me to turn off Cellular Data and Data Roaming when I wasn't using the cellular network (for wifi they could be kept off). When I used the network, I turned on both and then turned them off as soon as I finished. That way, the phone doesn't have the capability to use data without your knowledge.

Hi Chipper, I've used Google Maps and Waze both for driving in Norway and France. They both worked great and use minimal data. There will be a new version of Google Maps released soon that will allow offline routing. "Here" maps by Nokia is also free and provides offline routing today. I haven't used AT&T's Passport, but I have used both T-Mobile and Verizon's plan. I also bring a car charger and a Kenu AirFrame mount when I use rental cars.

Whipping out a map and looking at it shows that you are without a
doubt a clueless tourist. It's the equivalent of wearing a hat that
reads CLUELESS TOURIST with a flashing light on it.

Michel, we've traveled Italy and other parts of Europe with nothing but paper maps (we do not travel with smartphones) and have yet to fall into any sort of misfortune. No one has tried to take advantage of us or otherwise cause us grief. In fact, there have been several times when people have stopped to ask if we needed help, which we didn't but appreciated the kindly gesture.

I actually feel a bit safer with paper maps as no one with light fingers are going to have any interest in those! We do take along an itouch and ipad for email connections via free wifi but we don't take them along when we're sightseeing.

I guess we did pretty well. We got stopped 4 times, once by an Italian tourist couple, by folks asking for directions. One asked "Do you speak English?". We may not have fooled the pros, but we did fool some fellow travelers!

Besides using a map of Tuscany occasionally while driving, we sparingly consulted a map in Florence and Rome. In towns like Volterra and San Gimignano, they are too small to get lost, plus we were just roaming looking for surprises.

The point I was trying to make (granted, with some hyperbole) is that almost all locals look at their cellphones. No locals look at maps. Looking at a map is a definitive indication that you are not from around there. I believe that would increase the odds that you might be targeted by a pickpocketer. Apparently others disagree.

the pickpocket thing is way overblown, yes there are some , but not on every corner

Wow. This thread has gone off course.

If you have an old phone that is unlocked and can accept a SIM. Consider using that old phone w an Italian SIM. For $30 you will get 10x the data Vz or Att will give you for the same price.

Enough data that you won't be worried that you will be worried about using up all your data by the first weekend.

Worked great for us. Used it for walking directions and even in one of our rental cars.