Texting on our cell phone in England and France?
 

DS and I have T-mobile, DH has AT&T IPhone. Will we be able to text or call each other if we get separated or want to split up? We'll in in England and France for 13 days. I know DS (16yrs old) would love to have time to himself if the opportunity arises! Thanks!

I just checked out the t-mobile website and it says our T-mobiles can be used-yeah! Have to activate world service which is free, the call charges are $1.20/minute and $.35 per text. Not bad! Now need to find out about the ATT Iphone.

I have texted from both countries and it works for me using T-Mobile. I know others who have done the same with the iphone. I think you have to call T-Mobile and they will set you up for international service. There's no charge for the service itself, just make sure you have it. I don't know if AT&T needs notification or not but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

AT&T also need notice. You can do it online. However, you need to make sure your phones have the appropriate GSM bands for Europe. The US uses 850 and 1900 while Europe uses 900 and 1800. We've used both T-Mobile and AT&T phones in Europe and have never had any problems.

You will pay steep prices but you will be able to call and text. Both caller and callee will pay per minute international rates for calls. Texting is cheaper.
For the iPhone, be sure to turn off roaming data service or you will get hit with an outrageous bill on return. If your T-Mobile is a smart phone with data capability, same thing applies.

Thanks-I think our phones have the appropriate GSM bands. I'm glad we won't need to buy new phones or new plans or anything. Looks like the US is finally catching up to the rest of the world wrt cell phone usage. My family members are very used to going off and doing their own thing (separately) so it's reassuring that we won't have to be together every minute. I know this sounds bad but its just the way we are!

For the I Phone...you can turn anything on or off..but the key is NOT checking your e-mail regardless of whatever is turned on or off. For my own I-phone I am constantly reminded of this every time I cross a border in Europe because I get an automatic message telling me what the price rate is.

Dukey - Is the "automatic" message really automatic from the iPhone, or do I have need a special app for that? I have AT&T if that matters. Am I safe from unexpected huge bills as long as I only use the phone/texting functionality? Thanks.

Most of the phones sold by both tmobile and AT&T are quadband, so they have the appropriate bands. With AT&T, roaming capability is automatically added to the account after certain months in good standing. In my experience, it can vary from 1 - 6 months. You only need to call them if you want to add the international roaming package of $5.99 or so, that reduces the cost of calls from $1.29/min to $0.99/min in most of Western Europe, and similar reductions in other countries.

Friendly amendment to mrcamp's post - unless there has been a very recent change, AT&T does not automatically activate the international roaming feature, it must be requested.

The key is to not check email? In other words, we (I'm also an iPhone user - I'm on AT&T) could be charged a lot if we check email while in Europe?

But is it free to check email on iPhone in free wifi spots? Or not? Should I just use computer in those locations instead of my iPhone?

Thanks.

email, web, any kind of data usage will set you back a chunk if you do it on the network. Do it on WiFi and you are fine.

I am 100% sure it's automatically added. I have never requested that it be added and it automatically showed up on our account. This was in 2008. It depends on credit rating and how old the account is. Mine showed up aafter about 2 months and my wife's showed up after about 5 months or so. Both accounts are on the same family plan opened the same time.