Roaming question

[ron ll]

Can someone help me understand roaming? Sorry this is pretty basic, but I live in Seattle. When I travel to Canada, (nearby Vancouver) am I supposed to turn roaming "on"? Last time I was there I hadn't changed any setting on my phone but it still worked. But I was shocked by the bill. Would it have been cheaper if I had turned roaming on on the iphone? When traveling outside my area is data no longer free?

[rmfnla]

Roaming kicks in whenever you are away from your host network. I am surprised your phone worked in Canada with it turned off; maybe it has an auto-on feature so you don't miss a call.

In the "old days" most cell networks covered a state or two so you got hit with those charges whenever you left your home town. Now most providers have national coverage but it does not extend beyond U.S. borders (as you discovered).

You can pre-buy service for some areas of Canada. Last time I went to Montreal I was able to get a month's coverage for $30, much less than those roaming charges.

Hope this helps.

[Tug]

Im new to AT&T but I know with Verizon if you used your phone in another country they'd really rake you over the coals when it came to roaming. Great national coverage but when it cames to international expect to pay out the wazoo

[ron ll]

Okay. I just called AT&T and set up a plan for this. They have an international voice plan for $3.99/mo that changes voice costs from $.79/min to $.59/min. I also set up a data plan which is $24.99/mo for 20mb of data. Both of these plans are pro-rated and can be cancelled at anytime without additional fees. So as I am going to be in Canada for about two weeks, I will only be charged about $15 for this (plus the $.59/min voice). Sounds good to me, certainly will be cheaper than the way I did it last time with no extra plan and got charged thru the nose.

The only thing I don't really have a feel for is how much is 20mb of data? Is that a lot of browsing and email or not so much? I've reset my statistics so I can keep track, but I don't know how long 20mb will last me.

[ravman]

Just be very careful. Someone on the AT&T forum signed up to this plan and went overseas. He racked up 20mb data in like an hour but didn't realize it. When he got back to the US, AT&T clobbered him with a huge data roaming bill.

20mb is hardly anything when it comes to surfing the net.

I restored my phone last night (2.0.2 upgrade) and it reset the data usage, This morning, I had surfed just over 125mb, and I didn't use the phone much.



Okay. I just called AT&T and set up a plan for this. They have an international voice plan for $3.99/mo that changes voice costs from $.79/min to $.59/min. I also set up a data plan which is $24.99/mo for 20mb of data. Both of these plans are pro-rated and can be cancelled at anytime without additional fees. So as I am going to be in Canada for about two weeks, I will only be charged about $15 for this (plus the $.59/min voice). Sounds good to me, certainly will be cheaper than the way I did it last time with no extra plan and got charged thru the nose.

The only thing I don't really have a feel for is how much is 20mb of data? Is that a lot of browsing and email or not so much? I've reset my statistics so I can keep track, but I don't know how long 20mb will last me.

[ron ll]

Thanks for the warning. I was suspecting that might be the case. I think they said it is something like $5/mb once you go over the 20mb. I'll watch the fuel guage.