iPhone in Paris.. still confused.

[Learjet035]

Leaving on Wednesday for 10 days.
I know I can activate the world traveler rate and get 50mb and .99 a min.

Where I get confused is....
A. if someone calls me while I'm there from the US and I don't answer. Do I get charged?

B.What about if they leave a voicemail? What if I only check the voicemail?

C. Do I get charged data "time" while using the GPS?

I want to goto Paris, check my email once a day, use the GPS, use WiFi, and make an emergency call home if needed, that's it. Without getting a 300 dollar bill.

What's my best bet?

Thanks!

 

[StoneColdSober]

Leaving on Wednesday for 10 days.
I know I can activate the world traveler rate and get 50mb and .99 a min.

Where I get confused is....
A. if someone calls me while I'm there from the US and I don't answer. Do I get charged?

B.What about if they leave a voicemail? What if I only check the voicemail?

C. Do I get charged data "time" while using the GPS?

I want to goto Paris, check my email once a day, use the GPS, use WiFi, and make an emergency call home if needed, that's it. Without getting a 300 dollar bill.

What's my best bet?

Thanks!

A. I have heard yes.
B. See 1 and yes.
C. If you have data roaming off and using WiFi, no. But this probably will make GPS useless for you. So if you use GPS with data roaming on, yes.

If you want to ensure you don't get a $300 bill, get a cheap unlocked cell phone and buy a pre-paid SIM card for France. You can use your iPhone to check email while on WiFi and as for GPS, the iPhone GPS is not very useful while traveling internationally due to the very concerns you have, data cost. Loading maps is a lot of data and I would not recommend doing it while roaming and using cellular data.

 

[Learjet035]

Thanks.
Any idea how much data is used to whip out the phone, find location via 3g and GPS, get a map and the close?
will I use 50mb in 10 days doing that a few times a day?

Can I kill inbound calls while I'm there but still get 3G?

kind of a pain in the butt, unless you are loaded!

 

[Slovak]

A. if someone calls me while I'm there from the US and I don't answer. Do I get charged?

From personal experience, not only will you get charged for 1 minute since the call was forwarded through an overseas carrier, you will get charged for another minute to reroute the caller to your voice mail. Therefore, every call you decline is basically 2 minutes of airtime, even though you didn't talk to anyone!

Also remember that they will recommend you keep the World plan on for up to 3 months, as there may be a significant lag in the billings from abroad. If you take it off too soon, you'll be calling customer service to have the pricing adjusted after the next 2-3 bills.

B.What about if they leave a voicemail? What if I only check the voicemail?

Visual voice mail didn't work for me (might be b/c I had 3G roaming off), just got a red dot next to the phone icon indicating message(s). Calling your voice mail counts as minutes. My alternative for calling voicemail and other US numbers was through SkypeOut ($2.99/month for unlimited use) on my notebook.

C. Do I get charged data "time" while using the GPS?

Can I kill inbound calls while I'm there but still get 3G?

You need 3G to get data, which means you need your phone service on. You can turn off 3G roaming (no data) and still make calls. Or you can turn the phone off and just use WiFi.

 

[StoneColdSober]

Thanks.
Any idea how much data is used to whip out the phone, find location via 3g and GPS, get a map and the close?
will I use 50mb in 10 days doing that a few times a day?

Can I kill inbound calls while I'm there but still get 3G?

kind of a pain in the butt, unless you are loaded!

I don't know how much data loading maps will use but if it were me I wouldn't risk it.

The only way to kill incoming calls I think would be to turn on your call forwarding so that all calls are forwarded to voicemail. You may want to ask AT&T about this.

As for what I would do, I already posted that before. I understand that my answer is not the most convenient thing in the world but I figure paying $100.00 for my option is better than a $300 + cell bill (and it could be much, much higher).

Most pre-paid cell plans in Europe have free incoming minutes so they can actually be very cheap. The most expensive part is the equipment but you can pick up basic unlocked cell phones pretty cheap. YMMV.

 

[Learjet035]

Ok, thanks a million.

How's this plan sound?

I'm gonna put a password on my sim card so I won't connect to a carrier. Wifi only I'm guessing will be what I have.

If I need GPS or to check my mail, I'll hit the code, access the network then punch back out. Oohhh shoot

I just thought of something...
I bet if I log into the network my voicemail will go crazy with all the messages and I'll get slammed with charges anyway?

There has to be an easier way to be able to use this thing. ugggh

Maybe I'll leave a message sayin "don't leave me a message or I'll beat you"

THat may work

 

[StoneColdSober]

Ok, thanks a million.

How's this plan sound?

I'm gonna put a password on my sim card so I won't connect to a carrier. Wifi only I'm guessing will be what I have.

If I need GPS or to check my mail, I'll hit the code, access the network then punch back out. Oohhh shoot

I just thought of something...
I bet if I log into the network my voicemail will go crazy with all the messages and I'll get slammed with charges anyway?

There has to be an easier way to be able to use this thing. ugggh

Maybe I'll leave a message sayin "don't leave me a message or I'll beat you"

THat may work

You can turn off data roaming but once you turn it on you will get hit with your voicemail.

As I said, you can try turning on your forwarding option and have callers forwarded to another number like your home number (just don't forward to an international number as you will get hit with int'l long distance).

There really is no ideal solution at this time unfortunately. The ideal solution would be to unlock your iPhone and then pop in a PAYG SIM for the country you are going to go to. There are hardware unlocks but it appears they aren't very reliable.

 

[Learjet035]

Cool, thanks guys.

I appreciate the help.

If I discover anything exciting, I'll report back.

Unless of course, I drink too much wine and forget to care about voicemail, GPS, data, calling home, which has a very good chance of occuring!

Ciao mein

 

[teopatl]

Follow up?

I'm considering buying an iPhone for exactly the purpose you described; traveling to Europe, using the phone for GPS, the occasional hotspot search, and emergency calls if necessary. How did it work out for you? Excessive charges? GPS work ok? Were you using Google Maps, or an app?

 

[PLamarine]

Any updates?

 

[Compile 'em all]

Wow, att charges you when you don't even answer? thats is messed up.

 

[Mr. Bad Example]

If you want my advice...?

If it's not already, jailbreak your iPhone and buy a local SIM payg.

I travel a lot, and even if only in a foreign country for a couple of days, a local SIM is the first thing I buy...
Use Skype for your emergency call home!