AlReady2Go

Hello Everyone...I hope someone can give me some guidance. My DH just gave me a new Iphone. Very nice, but the problem is, I'm terrible at anything technical. Have any of you used your Iphone while in Paris and how? I've heard stories of people using their Iphone in Europe and coming home to terrific bills. Do you turn something on or off? I heard someone say you have to turn off your international roaming? I also heard someone say to use Skype? I would love to hear your experiences in using your phone and any very simple, very easy instructions. Like I said, I'm really terrible at any of this. Thanks for your help.

Challiman

There are several threads on here about this topic, some with lots of answers. I'm researching now and have gone to the AT&T for all of their information, even talked with a rep online and once on the phone. I'm leaving for Paris Wednesday and plan to take mine and my iPad. I got the international package for the iPhone but am making sure I have very, very few plans to use it other than in wi-fi areas. Same with the iPad, I just plan to have the one time domestic plan for it at this point and again rely on wi-fi at my hotel.
If you have AT&T, go to their website and search. The tools are useful but I haven't mastered the fine details yet.

ggreen

AlReady, is your phone through AT&T or through Verizon? If it's the former, you can use its <i>phone</i> network abroad; if it's Verizon, there are very few places outside of the USA that use the same kind of technology.

Note that the phone network is not the same thing as WiFi, which I think you should be able to use regardless.

Midnightsun

To avoid major charges in Europe if you have an iPhone, turn off data roaming and set mail to be uploaded manually. You can turn on data roaming if you need directions or some internet function, but you should leave it off otherwise. The data packages you can buy from AT&T can be drained rather quickly if you are used to large (or unlimited) data transfer in the US. Even if you turn off Data Roaming, you can download e-mail, directions, etc. while you are in a WiFi zone. Turning off Data Roaming prevents you from downloading this data over a 3G network (which is how you drain your data package).

To turn off Data Roaming, open your Settings window, then hit General, then hit Network, then turn off Data Roaming. To avoid downloading all your email (and using a large chunk of your data roaming allowance) every time you turn on Data Roaming, open your Settings menu, open "Mail, Contacts, Calendars," then open "Fetch New Data" and set that to manually.

This should prevent you from spending a tremendous amount and preserve some of your data plan. Alternately, you can get a cheap GSM capable phone and buy a SIM chip in Europe, but that cheap GSM phone isn't your iPhone.

GlassCannon

I think this post is a duplicate of this one: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...s-209007-2.cfm which already has several responses. Posted by the same user, same text, within a couple of minutes of the other thread. Not sure how this one popped back up today.