thanks! I thought I read it but now that the time is near, I got worried. I have so bonded with the ipad that I would go into mourning if I fried it.

So happy to find this thread today cause yesterday I bought an Ipad 2 for our upcoming 2 week trip to France. The guy in Best Buy (US) told me that getting the 3g function opened me up to scary international charges and that I wouldn't really need it as wifi is "everywhere". However, I would like to be able to use it as navigation app. I THINK he said an app could be downloaded and wouldn't need 3G to work. But now I'm wondering-maybe he meant a MAP could be stored on the Ipad. Anyway, Best Buy has a 2-week trial period and if I want to go back and upgrade (or even return) there is no re-stocking fee or anything. He said. So, should I upgrade to 3G and just be very careful to turn it to Airplane mode, except when I want to use an interactive navigation app? (Sorry, I don't really "get" new technology, but I figure I'll learn by asking). I'll be wanting to download books-I would love recommendations of books about France that I can be reading while there. We will be in Paris 1 week then train to Dordogne and driving in the Dordogne, (and possibly Provance) for 9 days. ALSO, does anyone know where I can buy the walking/hiking maps for that area before I leave?
ceilifinnigan

I am really glad I have the 3G iPad. It is a necessary option for me. You can easily turn OFF 3G under "cellular data" in Settings tab.

Only way you'd be vulnerable to international charges on a 3G iPad is if you subscribe to 3G in the US on the month that you leave for the trip. That means the 3G plan is active when you go to France.

Then when you go over there, you'd be roaming, which is where charges get expensive.

3G plans on the iPad are month to month. You buy it for a month at a time. So just make sure you don't have a plan active at the time.

The 3G model has a GPS chip while the Wifi-only model does not. When you go over there, you can look into buying a plan which covers your time over there. France doesn't have cheap temporary plans whereas Italy does. You can see what's available by reading prepaidgsm.net.

If you can limit web surfing to Wifi (like at the hotel where you're staying, though sometimes that could mean additional charges, so you should check with the hotel before booking), then you don't have to figure out about getting a prepaid SIM in France.

As for using it as a navigation device, if you're talking about it like getting turn-by-turn driving directions (where it tells you when to turn and so on) then you have to buy a separate app like Navigon or TomTOm, with European maps. For those apps, you don't need an Internet connection. Those apps. will take advantage of the GPS chip in the 3G model.

There are some apps. which download maps for a lot less than these driving turn-by-turn apps. You can Google "iPhone offline maps." Those are more for pedestrians, more like guidebooks. They may or may not use the GPS chip.

I don't want to purchase a data plan, so bottom line, if I turn off data roaming, my iPad will only access wifi and I should not incur any data charges while in Europe. Is that correct? Thanks.

That should be the case.

OR just not subscribe for the month that you're leaving on your trip, since iPad plans are month to month.

Be sure to get the adapter to be able to transfer photos from your camera to the iPad.