Some threads have popped up recently about the cost of taking an iPhone out of the US, with plenty of flames to go with the complaints. So I thought it would be worth while to summarize the situation for everybody who travels outside the country.
1) The first and most important point is that using an iPhone internationally like you normally would is extremely expensive. On the order of hundreds or even more than a thousand dollars per week.
2) This is a factor of two things:
2.1) First, the normal cost of international roaming. This information can be found here:
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/international-roaming.jsp?WT.svl=title
I plan on going skiing in Whistler sometime this coming season, so I'll be using Canada as an example. It's either $0.79 or $0.59 per minute, it's unclear which. That's fine, I'd be willing to incur that cost for the occasion call to friends on the trip with me, about meeting up for dinner or whatever. (I wouldn't use it to call into a two hour meeting at work, but I wouldn't do that even if it were free.
) This is the normal cost you'd pay for any phone, not just the iPhone.
Data usage is $0.0195 per KB. Again, no problem, right? Set email Auto-Check to Manual, and never use Safari on EDGE. Instead, use the hotel/resort/coffee shop's wifi service to get that sort of stuff.
2.2) The second factor is the amount of EDGE data that the iPhone transmits. Even if you're not actively using it. Even if it's 1am and you're asleep and your Airport Extreme is turned on so your phone should be on wifi anyway. My iPhone often likes to transmit 5000KB or more at times like 1:00am - that's nearly $100 at international rates. That is the root cause of the issues people are having - take a normal GSM phone to Canada, even one that supports EDGE, and you'll expect to pay a little more for your usage, sure. But not hundreds of dollars more. And it's not intuitively obvious - a person can see the less-than-two-cents-per-kilobyte rate and think its no big deal. But unless they've been studying their bill closely, they'll never realize just how much data the iPhone liks to send over EDGE, regardless of how much you use it.
3) Here are some suggestions for when you need to travel outside the country:
3 a)Best bet, IMO, is to put your SIM into a normal GSM phone for the duration of the trip. I'm told that Go Phone is an ATT product, and therefore might work with the iPhone's SIM. Can somebody confim that? I'll update once I get a confirmation. Any other ATT or unlocked GSM phone should work as well. For example, I have my old Cingular locked Nokia from before I got my iPhone.
3 b) Second bet, purchase a pre-paid phone in the country you're in. I don't know what that would cost though, and what you could and could not do with it. (I have no experience with these.)
3 c) That's about all I can think of for actually being able to make calls. Therefore your third bet, is to take the SIM out of the iPhone. Calls will be unavailable but you'll be able to use any wifi connection you have access to for email and web browsing and you won't have to worry about any surprise EDGE charges.
3 d) Leave the iPhone in airplane mode. You'll have your movies and music, but that's about it.
Generally, If you need to make an emergency call with an iPhone internationally, do so quickly and realize that if the phone decides it needs to make a transmission at that time, you still might be charged with a hefty fee.
Comments? Corrections?
(Updated with some solution suggestions.)
1) The first and most important point is that using an iPhone internationally like you normally would is extremely expensive. On the order of hundreds or even more than a thousand dollars per week.
2) This is a factor of two things:
2.1) First, the normal cost of international roaming. This information can be found here:
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/international-roaming.jsp?WT.svl=title
I plan on going skiing in Whistler sometime this coming season, so I'll be using Canada as an example. It's either $0.79 or $0.59 per minute, it's unclear which. That's fine, I'd be willing to incur that cost for the occasion call to friends on the trip with me, about meeting up for dinner or whatever. (I wouldn't use it to call into a two hour meeting at work, but I wouldn't do that even if it were free.
) This is the normal cost you'd pay for any phone, not just the iPhone.Data usage is $0.0195 per KB. Again, no problem, right? Set email Auto-Check to Manual, and never use Safari on EDGE. Instead, use the hotel/resort/coffee shop's wifi service to get that sort of stuff.
2.2) The second factor is the amount of EDGE data that the iPhone transmits. Even if you're not actively using it. Even if it's 1am and you're asleep and your Airport Extreme is turned on so your phone should be on wifi anyway. My iPhone often likes to transmit 5000KB or more at times like 1:00am - that's nearly $100 at international rates. That is the root cause of the issues people are having - take a normal GSM phone to Canada, even one that supports EDGE, and you'll expect to pay a little more for your usage, sure. But not hundreds of dollars more. And it's not intuitively obvious - a person can see the less-than-two-cents-per-kilobyte rate and think its no big deal. But unless they've been studying their bill closely, they'll never realize just how much data the iPhone liks to send over EDGE, regardless of how much you use it.
3) Here are some suggestions for when you need to travel outside the country:
3 a)Best bet, IMO, is to put your SIM into a normal GSM phone for the duration of the trip. I'm told that Go Phone is an ATT product, and therefore might work with the iPhone's SIM. Can somebody confim that? I'll update once I get a confirmation. Any other ATT or unlocked GSM phone should work as well. For example, I have my old Cingular locked Nokia from before I got my iPhone.
3 b) Second bet, purchase a pre-paid phone in the country you're in. I don't know what that would cost though, and what you could and could not do with it. (I have no experience with these.)
3 c) That's about all I can think of for actually being able to make calls. Therefore your third bet, is to take the SIM out of the iPhone. Calls will be unavailable but you'll be able to use any wifi connection you have access to for email and web browsing and you won't have to worry about any surprise EDGE charges.
3 d) Leave the iPhone in airplane mode. You'll have your movies and music, but that's about it.
Generally, If you need to make an emergency call with an iPhone internationally, do so quickly and realize that if the phone decides it needs to make a transmission at that time, you still might be charged with a hefty fee.
Comments? Corrections?
(Updated with some solution suggestions.)
