As you might have read here, Shriya the resident author here traveled abroad to India couple of week back. I did write on how to suspend your iPhone data plan while traveling abroad recently.
Reports of people charged like crazy for data roaming when they travel internationally are plenty.
That’s when I looked up some information on what AT&T recommends us to do with our iPhone when we travel out of the country.
Here is an excerpt of an email I received with International Travel Tips for your iPhone
AT&T knows that the mobile Internet on your Apple® iPhone™ is indispensable to you. That’s why we want to remind you that international data usage is not covered under your existing U.S. data plan.
Your iPhone provides access to email, Visual Voicemail, Web browsing and other applications that can use a significant amount of data. It’s no surprise that you might find yourself using more data than you thought.
The good news is that now, when you’re traveling outside the U.S., you can save money on your international data usage by signing up for one of AT&T’s newly created Data Global Plans with low rates in over 90 countries.
Turn Data Roaming “OFF”:
By default the setting for international data roaming will be in the “OFF” position.
To turn data roaming “ON/OFF” tap on, Settings>General>Network>Data Roaming
- Turning “OFF” data roaming blocks email, browsing and downloads, but it will not block text or picture/video messages.
- When abroad, international roaming rates apply when you send text or picture/video messages.
Utilize WiFi Instead of 3G/GPRS/EDGE:
WiFi is available in many international airports, hotels and restaurants to browse the Web or check email.
Turn Fetch New Data “Off”:
Check email and sync contacts and calendars manually instead of having the data pushed to your iPhone automatically. This way you can control the flow of data coming to your iPhone.
To turn off the Auto-Check functionality tap on
Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars>Fetch New Data, Change Push to “OFF” and Select to Fetch Manually
Consider Purchasing an International Data Package:
If you are traveling outside the U.S., purchasing a Data Global Plan will significantly reduce the cost of using data abroad.
Reset the Usage Tracker to Zero:
When you arrive overseas access the usage tracker in the general settings menu and select reset statistics. This will enable you to track your estimated data usage statistics.
To reset Usage Tracker to Zero tap on
Settings>General>Usage>Reset
You can also find more information at AT&T’s website with more iPhone Travel Tips.
Apple’s Using iPhone Abroad Tips
Apple also has a page dedicated with instructions on what to do to use your iPhone abroad. It has tips on how to enable international roaming (if you want to pay those exorbitant costs), set the carrier to use, getting voicemail when visual voicemail isn’t available, etc.
Read more on using iPhone abroad here.
