violetduck

Is this a workable plan? We have not had the best experiences with SIM cards for our unlocked phone in Europe in the past. This year plan to use IPhone with Skype (have signed up) and get the AT&T international plan. Will only plan to use AT&T plan in case of emergency and have no wifi to use Skype. We will turn off the data service on iPhone so we will not be charged for internet and email. It is my understanding that the phone will still work with data services turned off. Thanks for your thoughts.

scotlib

Hi violetduck,

Sorry not to be voice of experience, but what you write is exactly what I have read from those who do have it: turn off data services, int'l plan for just a few calls, and Skype with the wi-fi.

For when you have wi-fi access, can you get your e-mail, too? For example, set up a gmail.com address.

I took an iTouch on a trip in June and used the Skype with wi-fi when available, as well as a gmail address for e-mail. I purchased $10 credit with Skype to call my family's land line. 5 cents a minute sure went a lot further than my T-mobile int'l 99 cents/minute.

If a hotel or b&b web site does not mention wi-fi, do ask your host. A couple of mine had it but it was still new and not mentioned in online descriptions.

holiday2010

Hello,
our daughter spent one month in Spain in June. She purchased Sim card there for an old unlocked Motorola phone and it worked fine.
She also took her iphone and used it for wifi to check her email when away from computer and free texting over wifi( free text plus app). If you turn data roaming off on iphone, it shuts off only data/email. You can also set phone to fetch new data off (it will limit new data/email).
If on the other hand you put the iphone in an airplane mode,
it will turn off cellular(voice and data), wi-fi, GPS and blue-tooth. You can than re-enable wi-fi by going to Setting/wi-fi/turn wi-fi on.
http://Support.apple.com/kb/ht1355
Also bring your laptop if you can, it was a lifesaver for us.

sap

bookmarking

violetduck

scotlib and holiday-Thanks for your helpful comments. I also discovered a very helpful article to share.

http://holeinthedonut.com/2010/01/14...avel-settings/

Using Your iPhone During International Travel Without Breaking the Bank,written by Barbara Weibel, gives very specific directions and is followed by 86 informative responses.
Hope this is helpful to others seeking iPhone information.

Sarvowinner

I unlocked my iphone before leaving Australia in May. Three (www.tre.it) had a special of unlimited data for a month for 3 euro. I think it's now 5 euro for 3gb of data. I transferred my Australian sim to another mobile and used my iphone for GPS, email, local calls and also tethered it to my netbook as a modem. At that stage, I think you could only skype to skype on the iphone, but I skyped on my netbook.

This isn't applicable to Americans or Canadians, but as I have Three in Australia, I didn't pay to receive calls made to my Australian Three mobile number. The UK and Ireland also benefit from Three like Home.

The only problem was remembering which phone to use, I made boo boos a couple of times while jetlagged.

justbronwyn

This is exactly what we did during our trip to Italy and France in April 2010--We had an iphone and added the World Traveler plan for 5.99, added 24.99 global data plan and downloaded skype--$10.00 was more than enough for our month away--but we weren't on the phone much either. We kept our data roaming off most of the time although we turned it on a few times while in Rome during the many times we were lost--the map/gps was great!

We used Skype to make calls when we were in the apartments we rented in Bellagio and Paris as they had wifi, Likewise, we were able to check emails when there was a wifi connection available.

As an aside, the application that was really handy was DB navigator--you can look up any train schedule--was very helpful for our month long trip with multiple train trips.