Iphone travel help please....asap

[ant7701]

Hi....iphone 3G on 3.0 OS. NOT Jailbroken

OK....my g/f and I are leaving for the bahamas on Friday morning and I need some iphone settings help. I called AT+T to ask what the rates were and was told $2.29 a min and .50 for texts which sucks but whatever. Then the c/s rep told me about the data charges at .02 per kb, or $20 per mb. I asked her why because I have unlimited data on the iphone plan and was told it doesnt matter because I dont have international data. OK.....so then I asked about wifi and was told I would be charged for wifi too....

I argued with her about the wifi charges and then she said....as long as the hotel offers free wifi I will not be charged. Sooo....she told me to turn off my data.

How do I turn off data? and if I turn off data will I still be able to use wifi??? I dont wanna turn on the phone and it downloads emails or something and I get some ridiculous bill.

and lastly.....what is airplane mode??? I mean I figured I will turn it on once on the plane....but what does it do/restrict???

thanks for the help guys.....Anthony

[BigCiX]

turn you phone on airplane mode (no incoming data) and then use your wifi at hotspots

[Europa]

I've never been to the Bahama's so I'm not sure if this will work, but can you just buy a cheap throw away phone there with some prepaid minutes (you can get these phones at Walmart in the US for $20 and the minutes are cheap) and then forward your iPhone phone calls to that phone?

You can take your phone with you and put it in Airplane mode with WiFi on and data roaming off and find free WiFi hotspots (like BigCiX said) to get your email and use the internet for free.

Another option would be to make phone calls for free with Skype while on WiFi.

[ant7701]

ok data roaming is already off.....i guess it was since the phone was new....so just keep it off?

and airplane mode restricts incoming calls AND data? or just no data?

sorry if I sound like a complete newb/fool I just wanna be sure and I have never dealt with any of this before

[Europa]

A good rule of thumb is to always keep data roaming off. It's irrelevant if it is on or not while you are in the US since there is no data roaming available here. You either have AT&T service or you have no service. It becomes relevant when you travel abroad, if you leave it on while outside the US, your phone will attempt to roam on whatever GSM network is available and contracted with AT&T and download email etc. In which case, you could return home to a large data roaming bill.

Airplane mode will block all phone calls and text. You can turn WiFi on while in Airplane mode and use it for internet and email. You won't have any charges to AT&T for using WiFi. As long as you can find a free WiFi hotspot, you can do everything you need with no charges at all except for the Skype minutes, which are cheap.

So, install Skype before you leave, turn airplane mode on, turn data roaming off, and turn WiFi on and you should be good to go.

[UFGator]

You can also pay AT&T $3.50 for one month of lower cost intl voice roaming. I think the Bahamas is $0.99/minute. When I travel I make sure data roaming is turned off, Pay $3.50 for lower rates and screen my calls. That's all you need to do...

[ant7701]

Thanks alot guys....BIG help Europa!!! See you in a week!!

[Europa]

You're welcome and have a wonderful vacation !