Cell Phone use in Scandanavia

Tracie,

You won't be able to use any other SIM's unless your I-Phone is unlocked. I'm assuming you're with AT&T so the simplest option would be to just roam on your home plan. However, it's VERY important to disable the data portion of the phone (E-mail and web surfing) so that you don't find a very large bill waiting for you when you get home!

I've found that it's fairly easy to keep roaming costs down by using voice calls sparingly and communicating via text messaging as much as possible. When roaming it's also very important to tell friends and family NOT to call you when you're travelling! Aside from the cost, there's nothing worse than getting calls at 03:00 because so
some moron "forgot" and didn't bother to check the time difference!

Hope this answers your question?

Happy travels!

You have unlimited iPhone data services (the web browser, e-mail, the built-in GPS, etc.) part of your AT&T phone plan WITHIN THE USA. But when you leave the country, that vanishes and you can run up bills of hundreds of dollars if you use a lot of data megabytes overseas. But there's a solution to this.

You CAN use iPhone data services abroad without huge cost, but you have to buy an international data plan add-on for your AT&T account before you start using the data features "over there".

When I was in Italy a few weeks ago, I turned on the international data plan for one month (a few days before I left for Italy), then turned it back off when I got back home. They don't charge any penalty to turn the international data plan on and off. Be sure to turn it off when you get home, or they'll keep renewing the intl. data plan monthly.

When you turn it on, you have to tell them how many MB of data you will be using per month. The more you need, the more it costs. For my 3 weeks in Italy I bought 50 MB of intl. data. I checked e-mail often (several times a day), used the GPS several times, browsed the web a couple of times, and only used 30 MB. If you don't use data services much overseas, or you aren't over there very long, you can probably get by with their 20 MB plan.

Plan costs are below. There's a free AT&T iPhone app at iTunes called myWireless that lets you check your currently monthly voice and data usage from your iPhone, so you can monitor your usage and make sure you don't exceed the data MB you purchased.

One thing I don't know is if they let you go increase your maximum mid-month if you're about to go over your limit. It gets very expensive if you go over your limit, so you don't want to do that.

OK, I'm running out of Rick Steves data characters here (max. number of characters allowed in a post), so I'll have to post in another response below the "how to" you'll need to follow to activate international data roaming for your iPhone...

HOW TO TURN ON/OFF INTERNATIONAL DATA ROAMING FOR YOUR iPhone VIA THE AT&T WEBSITE (of course you could also make the changes by calling AT&T services, but I like to do things myself via the website):

Assuming you have a regular wireless account and not a business account, log into www.wireless.att.com with your phone number and password (if you haven't created a password before you'll need to set that up first).

When your account screen comes up, click RATE PLAN on the right side of the screen.

One the Rate Plan page, go to the bottom and click Add/Manage Features under CHANGE MY RATE PLAN

On the rate plan change screen, scroll down near the bottom, to the International Features section.

In the bottom of that section you can click by the number of MB of International Roaming - Data you want to activate.

The choices are...

200 MB Data Global Add-On $199.99/month

100 MB Data Global Add-On $119.99/month

50 MB Data Global Add-On $59.99/month

20 MB Data Global Add-On $24.99/month

Click the radio button by the plan you want to add, then click Next in the lower right area of the screen to save changes.

I think the average user can get by with 20 MB data. With that you can check e-mail often, web browse occasionally, and use the GPS a little.

I think the GPS uses a lot of data transfer to update its maps, so if you try to drive with the iPhone GPS on, you may use up your data plan very quickly! Better get a real GPS unit!

If you do not want to get an international data plan, be sure to turn off data usage when overseas: tap the Settings icon on the iPhone, then select General. On the General settings screen, tap Network. On the Network screen, tap to turn Data Roaming off. This will prevent use of e-mail, GPS, web browser, and other things that could cost you data dollars!

thx so much for all the info! I'm not real good at all this stuff as you will probably be able to tell with my next question...Do I need a separate plan for texting? I'm guessing its different and can be used if the data is turned off, and I have an unlimited text plan...

Texting counts as phone, not data. I don't know how they decided this stuff!

I normally don't text much (one or two/month), so I don't have a texting plan. I just pay 20 cents per text message (when here in the USA).

So I can't help you much here. Maybe someone with an unlimited text plan will chime in on charges when out of the country.

When I travel, however, I text a lot (for me) since it's such a great way to let others in our group know where we are, where to meet for lunch, etc.

During my recent trip to Italy, all text messages I sent were billed at 50 cents each.

The AT&T website says "Sending an international text message from outside the U.S.: When traveling outside the U.S., the charge for sending a text message to either a U.S. number or an international number is $0.50 per message sent."

It also says "You can add the international long distance text messaging package to your account online within myWireless Account by visiting Manage Features (logged in users only)."

But when I go to Manage Features, I can't find anything about adding international texting. Perhaps because I don't have a domestic texting plan. I'm just not sure.

Unless someone here knows the answer, you'd better call AT&T and ask.

Tracie,

I use texting a fair amount on a daily basis, so it's my preferred method to keep in touch when travelling also. I believe texts are routed through the older GPRS technology in the phones rather than the newer 3G part, and that's why they're less expensive.

The rates that Patrick mentioned for texts are similar to what I pay when travelling. My cell network charges 60-cents per outgoing message but incoming messages are free!

One other thing to mention. Be sure that you verify that the Charger for your phone is designed for operation from 100-240 VAC and that you have the appropriate Plug Adapter for the area you'll be travelling in.

Cheers!