The title pretty well sums it up....Has anyone had any experience with using his iphone in Europe? Specifically Germany...I'm trying to decide which data plan to choose....

Thanks for any suggestions.

Yes, I used mine in Germany as well as in The Netherlands, Switzerland, and Italy. Didn't make that many calls...I simply have the AT+T "world traveler" or whatever that thing is called that gets your charges down to an "economical" less-than-a-buck-a-minute.

I did NOT ever check my e-mail, etc., unless I was at a free wi-fi spot.

I am certain the world's money savers will swarm in with all the renting a cheap phone, get a local sim card, you really are stupid stuff but I can afford to 'waste' money whereas I realize others simply 'waste' theirs on other things like trying to fit in!

I took mine with me to Italy last month. Before going I signed up online for the 'world traveler' package which cost about $5 and gave me a 99-cents-per-minute rate for calls. I also signed up for the $24.99 per month international data roaming which gave me 20 MB. I canceled both online as soon as I returned to the US.

Usually I found free wi-fi for checking email, etc. But for part of the time I was in areas where it wasn't available. The total amount of data usage for the time I was away was about 12 MB.

Dukey, how did you know you were in a free wi-fi spot? Are there signs?

Julia1, this may sound like a redundant, stupid question, but I will ask it anyway...As I am understanding you, you were able to find free wi-fi in Italy and not get charged, right?

Now, when you were using your data package, did you ever google any addresses and get directions? And, if you don't mind me asking, what did you use the majority of your data on (games, emails, facebook?)

My kids are looking at the data package for $24.99 and I'm hoping that it will be enough.

Thanks.

No, it won't be enough, not even remotely.

I've used my iPhone in Europe and elsewhere. It works just fine.

For phone calls sign up for roaming rate as Dukey mentions.

As for how Dukey knew that he was using free wifi to check his email (and do anything else that involved the web) was that his iPhone told him so. He (very wisely) had turned data roaming off (this is actually the default setting on the iPhone) and thereby avoided thousands of dollars in charges (because he's not, in fact, made of money). He set his phone to look for wifi signals, and when one pops up that's not locked he could use it (or in some instances be given the password if he was in a restaurant or cafe that provided wifi to customers). Sometimes there's a sign, sometimes there isn't.

When traveling in Japan (where there's not much wifi) earlier this year I did sign up for data roaming package that got me a set amount for a set price. I used it sparingly, keeping track of usage on the iPhone. It adds up very quickly. If you've signed up for a data roaming package your overage will be charged at a lower rate than if you hadn't, but it would still be expensive. No way, no how will the $25 package give you enough to make it okay to hand the iPhone over to your kids to use for facebook, and I shudder to think of games. Remember that you pay for data coming in and data going out.

Hotel lobbies are good places to look for a free wifi signal. If you've got ethernet in your accomodations you may be able to use an Airport or something similar to generate a local wife for your family to use.

You could also consider a service like Boingo, which I didn't like but seem people seem to find useful.

Oh, to get an idea of how much data you're actually pulling on your iPhone, tap on the "Settings" icon and under "General" look for "Usage". Under "Cellular Network Data" you'll see the amount of data you've sent and received (add them together) since you last re-set these statistics. To re-set them just tap on that option at the bottom of that screen (scroll down if you don't see it). Then let on of the kids loose on facebook for an hour and see what happens.

My husband had his iphone for our trips to Italy last October and to Germany and Austria in December. He bought the World Traveler plan and paid 99 cents a minute. Worked great, especially in Germany and Austria.

He also used free wifi signals when available, which in the larger cities appeared to be everywhere.

It was a great source for directions as well. Now I have my own so he doesn't have to share

For blackberry, I just get on the international dialing/data plan which they pro-rate for the time I am there. It's something like 40 bucks a month for the plan, but if I'm only gone 10 days it would be 1/3 of that. That gives me unlimited data (email, web) and 1.29 a minute phone calls. I don't use the phone all that much but I do check my email/use google when I feel like it.

Unfortunately there's no unlimited data plan (or wasn't last time I looked) for the iPhone.

Dukey,
what is the advantage of iphone versus ipod and cell phone?

I used the free wifi in places I stayed (hotels) which had it.

As to advantages...not sure I can answer since I use the phone as both an Ipod and phone..two gadgets in one. I never owned a separate Ipod.

I ditched my Blackberry for the Iphone which i simply find easier and more 'intuitive' to use..perhaps that says more about my limited intelligence level than anything else.

What iphone do you have?
The prices llook they range from $100-400
Have you used the GPS?

I was going to ask if Blackberry was similar.

After reading this, I wish I had a blackberry! I've just got the left over palm that I inherited after the kids and husband upgraded to iphone! I wish that there was an unlimited data plan for the iphone, but there isn't. As I see it, one actually has two choices when dealing with the iphone data dilemma. ONe, just get a cheap phone, sim card, and don't let the kids (they are actually 19 & 17 still babies to me) go without any email usage, games, etc...Or two, go ahead and add the $24.99 plan and tell them that anything over the 20mb limit comes out of their pockets. It could be an expensive, important lesson.

Any other suggestion?

If just used for phone,ipod, and gps would the $24.99 plan do?

I would not use for email or internet.

Elaine -

To answer your questions, yes, I was able to find free wi-fi in Italy but because I didn't have a lot of free time I didn't want to have to go searching for it just to check emails. And it was pretty much nonexistent in the smaller towns.

I also used the Maps app a lot - it did a great job of pinpointing exactly where we were and getting us to where we wanted to go. And of course there usually wasn't free wi-fi around when we were lost somewhere out in the countryside.

These were my two main uses, email and Maps, and I also used it to check my personal website a few times as well as checking the airline website for flight updates and to check in online.

I always take my iphone with me when traveling (since I've had it, that is, which is going on 2 years now) and almost always sign up for the international data roaming package. On previous trips I've always used free wi-fi spots when I can. As mentioned above, they're easy to find in the larger cities, airports, Starbucks and other coffee shops, etc - but harder to find, or impossible, other places I've been recently, such as Morocco, Iran, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and away from the larger towns all over Europe. I was able to get email everywhere except Iran and Zimbabwe. And never exceeded the 20 MB limit.

I also suggest you check your (or your kids') data usage for a week or so, to get an idea of what it is when doing whatever it is you'll be doing on your trip. Go to Settings>General>Usage and touch Reset Statistics. Then check back and just see how much, under Cellular Network Data, and make sure to add the Sent and the Received.

To make it a good test, go to Settings>Fetch-New-Data and turn Push to Off. Also go to Settings>Network and turn Data Roaming to Off. This way your iphone won't be downloading things without your asking it to.

Thanks Julia1, I think I will do that. It will be good for my son especially. This way he can get a good idea of how much data he can actually use while in Europe. Did you just use the map tool while looking for your destinations?

One more question. While looking at the list of free wi-fi in Germany, I keep seeing the listing of Premier Roaming Location. The SSID will be listed and then the Wifi provider will be listed, then the words Premier Roaming Location are printed. Does anyone know what Premier Roaming Location means?
Thanks again!

As a no resident your options are:

a fonic-SIM from Lidl: 2.50€ per day, full internet access UMTS/HSDPA. Slingbox works great!!!

a Vodafone callya-SIM "Vodafone live! InternetFlat for callya"
15€ per month, but web only. Basically, everything you can access through a web browser (phone or notebook) works.

http://www.vodafone.de/privat/callya...-flatrate.html

There must be a link for "English" somewhere on that page.

"Or two, go ahead and add the $24.99 plan and tell them that anything over the 20mb limit comes out of their pockets. It could be an expensive, important lesson."

Make sure you have them do the actual calculation of what the overage cost will be, and make sure they add the two numbers, data in and data out, before doing the calculation. A fraction of a penny isn't much, but that number multiplied by another very large number is quite a bit.

I love my iPhone (much, much cooler than my old Blackberry) and use it for all sorts of things. Somebody upthread mentioned the GPS function, which I use in the U.S. (very cool to see yourself driving down the road---I like it better than any car-based navi that I've ever used) and abroad when I can find wifi. You can also download all sorts of travel tools from the App Store that don't require that you have active web access: maps, dictionaries, truphone/skype (for free outgoing calls if you've got wifi).