If you use and iPhone and travel outside of your home territory, you may run into huge phone bills when you return unless you sign up for the right services. Be sure to log on to your carrier's system before you leave and sign up for voice, text and data plans to fit your needs. Or, be sure to set your phone so it never tries to use mobile networks so you won't be charged. (Apologies for the audio quality on this one!)
Comments: 28 Responses to “MacMost Now 895: Traveling With an iPhone”
Will
11 years ago
I made a mistake once when I was Stateside. It cost me close to $900!!!
Keith
11 years ago
What about buying a disposable SIM when you get to your destination and going local. Should be a lot cheaper than using a US based carrier. You can always forward your US number to the SIM number when on WiFi and then you won't miss a call either.
Have you ever done that? My understanding is that it won't work with an advanced smartphone like an iPhone -- or at least you won't get all services intact like you would expect.
Gary
11 years ago
I have used my unlocked iphone 4 in Hong Kong Macau and the Philippines with local SIM cards with no problem. In HK and Macau the HK SIM card gave me unlimited 3g data and with a long distance phone card 400 minutes of long distance back to Canada. In the Philippines a Smart SIM card gave me unlimited data with some texting and phone calls. I never used LD though on Smart, but did use Skype. As for forwarding my Canadian cell, that would cost a fortune & midnight calls in Asia!
Rasher48
11 years ago
Just returned to Australia from UK Spain and Germany. Used international SIM bought in Aus and loaded into in an old iPhone3 (unlocked). This gave me a UK number. Worked perfectly for calls and text in Spain and Germany, ironically not so good in UK but we were often in weak reception areas. Also took current (and faster) iPhone4S and used only in free wifi areas for email and nothing else, making sure data roaming always turned off.
Doug
11 years ago
Long time MacMost subscriber. Love the show!!! Looks like you had a great cruise. This episode was interesting and brought up a question... Can you buy an oversees SIM card and put it in your iPhone (AT&T). I use to do it all the time with a dumb phone. The SIM cards were more affordable (specially in Africa and South America). Can you do the same thing with an iPhone?
rhkennerly
11 years ago
I think you've got to have the phone "unlocked" to allow access to other systems, even when you put a new SIM in. I'm actively investigating this now as we're headed to Europe in the fall.
rhkennerly
11 years ago
looks like the same itinerary we have booked for this fall. Which line were you on?
I've already killed my AT&T plan & pulled the SIM, making my iPhone into an iTouch. Set up my old cell number as a Google Voice number and picked up a cheap TING phone with hotspot as a my car phone. Added some VOIP to my neutered iPhone and iPad. Can see how I arranged it all here:
My experience is that they both work equally as well, but they both eat up a lot of bandwidth as the map needs to keep updating and pulling data as you drive. Check out ForeverMap (http://macmost.com/a-424183595) which I recently recommended. You can download all of France before you leave home, and then use the map without using much bandwidth.
Elaine
11 years ago
We recently visited Iceland, which has good cell coverage. My Verizon iPhone 5 comes unlocked, so I recently removed the SIM card in Iceland and purchased a Vodaphone SIM card in Selfoss (our first stop). It worked very well. Siminn is another company that is recommended. Check them out. It's easy!!
David Smith
11 years ago
As a Canadian who travels with an unlocked iPhone, I always pull the SIM card when leaving the country.
When in USA, I get a GoPhone SIM card from AT&T.
When in Europe, I buy a local SM card. No surprises when I return home, and local SIM cards are cheap.
As for GPS, I take my Garmin car GPS and load it with European maps. If I didn't have my GPS on my last trip to Italy, I would still be lost in the mountains.
Steve DePass
11 years ago
Gary, again, you've demonstrated that you will go to the ends of the earth to keep us up to date, and knowledgeable! Good episode, thanks..
Bruce John Shourt
11 years ago
Did you have a body mike? It looks like something clipped onto your shirt but not a windscreen. If you did was it not connected or did you have a failure and you had to use the camera mike? Jenna Mourey ("Marbles") recently passed the ten million YouTube subscriber number and she has made some of her weekly recordings with bad audio because she refuses to get or use a body mike, even though she recently thanked me for the suggestion. Always make a test recording & playback with headphones.
It was a mic on me, yes. The windscreen I had wouldn't fit it. The situation didn't give me a chance to test much, so I just went for it. Sometimes you have to do that. If the audio was worse, I simply wouldn't have published it. But it was passable.
Marc Kashinsky
11 years ago
Also going on a cruise. What about the use of apps like WhatsApp or Millitalk (both in iTunes) for textmessaging only? I use Verizon as my carrier and still have to check with them about options. Great show; read it religiously!
App-based messaging uses Internet data, of course. So it is a good option whether traveling or at home. It is essentially the same as using iMessage, except that iMessage is integrated with the same app that does SMS. Either way, you need to train friends to use those apps or iMessage instead of SMS with your mobile number. All it takes is one friend to send you a few SMS messages and there goes your bill.
mike darr
11 years ago
With AT&T, the "World Traveler" is the package I add to my service when I go abroad to Europe. It is a good deal and can be subscribed to for a few days, a week, a month, or longer.
John C Stires
11 years ago
I'm a nature photographer and typically spend over three grand on a camera. IT KILLS ME to see the FANTASTICALLY clear shots (like Barcelona) that come from iPhones (my new iPhone is 3 wks old!) Thanks Gary, good post.
JS
Who said it was shot with an iPhone? 90% of my shots were with a Canon SX230, a nice compact. I mostly used the iPhone for the pano shots -- it is so handy for that.
Rick
11 years ago
I have used international SIM cards in my unlocked iPhone. It is very easy. It is also cheaper to rent an iPhone at international airports. Just log into your icloud account and everything you need is there. For example, in South Korea it cost $8.00 US per day to rent an iPhone with an unlimited data, voice, and text plan.
Unless things work totally differently in US plans, all I do is leave data roaming always turned off (settings-general-cellular-data roaming). Incoming sms are free, I only answer them with some other app or email when on wifi somewhere. Same for phone calls, I reject the call and then call back with i.e. skype or face time when on Wifi. I am on a t-mobile plan in the Netherlands, but over the years (and I travel a lot) I have hardly had any extra costs at all.
Things DO work differently in the US. All major carriers charge for incoming SMS messages. So when you get a piece of spam, or a message sent to the wrong number, you pay for it or it counts as a message on your plan. If you have unlimited messaging, then it doesn't matter.
I made a mistake once when I was Stateside. It cost me close to $900!!!
What about buying a disposable SIM when you get to your destination and going local. Should be a lot cheaper than using a US based carrier. You can always forward your US number to the SIM number when on WiFi and then you won't miss a call either.
Have you ever done that? My understanding is that it won't work with an advanced smartphone like an iPhone -- or at least you won't get all services intact like you would expect.
I have used my unlocked iphone 4 in Hong Kong Macau and the Philippines with local SIM cards with no problem. In HK and Macau the HK SIM card gave me unlimited 3g data and with a long distance phone card 400 minutes of long distance back to Canada. In the Philippines a Smart SIM card gave me unlimited data with some texting and phone calls. I never used LD though on Smart, but did use Skype. As for forwarding my Canadian cell, that would cost a fortune & midnight calls in Asia!
Just returned to Australia from UK Spain and Germany. Used international SIM bought in Aus and loaded into in an old iPhone3 (unlocked). This gave me a UK number. Worked perfectly for calls and text in Spain and Germany, ironically not so good in UK but we were often in weak reception areas. Also took current (and faster) iPhone4S and used only in free wifi areas for email and nothing else, making sure data roaming always turned off.
Long time MacMost subscriber. Love the show!!! Looks like you had a great cruise. This episode was interesting and brought up a question... Can you buy an oversees SIM card and put it in your iPhone (AT&T). I use to do it all the time with a dumb phone. The SIM cards were more affordable (specially in Africa and South America). Can you do the same thing with an iPhone?
I think you've got to have the phone "unlocked" to allow access to other systems, even when you put a new SIM in. I'm actively investigating this now as we're headed to Europe in the fall.
looks like the same itinerary we have booked for this fall. Which line were you on?
I've already killed my AT&T plan & pulled the SIM, making my iPhone into an iTouch. Set up my old cell number as a Google Voice number and picked up a cheap TING phone with hotspot as a my car phone. Added some VOIP to my neutered iPhone and iPad. Can see how I arranged it all here:
http://ow.ly/njmP0
Went to the States spring 2013 and At&T could not provide a short-term plan, e.g., GoPhone for a month, for the iPhone.
We're taking a car trip in France in September. Does anyone have any tips on using IOS Maps or Google Maps in France for navigation?
My experience is that they both work equally as well, but they both eat up a lot of bandwidth as the map needs to keep updating and pulling data as you drive. Check out ForeverMap (http://macmost.com/a-424183595) which I recently recommended. You can download all of France before you leave home, and then use the map without using much bandwidth.
We recently visited Iceland, which has good cell coverage. My Verizon iPhone 5 comes unlocked, so I recently removed the SIM card in Iceland and purchased a Vodaphone SIM card in Selfoss (our first stop). It worked very well. Siminn is another company that is recommended. Check them out. It's easy!!
As a Canadian who travels with an unlocked iPhone, I always pull the SIM card when leaving the country.
When in USA, I get a GoPhone SIM card from AT&T.
When in Europe, I buy a local SM card. No surprises when I return home, and local SIM cards are cheap.
As for GPS, I take my Garmin car GPS and load it with European maps. If I didn't have my GPS on my last trip to Italy, I would still be lost in the mountains.
Gary, again, you've demonstrated that you will go to the ends of the earth to keep us up to date, and knowledgeable! Good episode, thanks..
Did you have a body mike? It looks like something clipped onto your shirt but not a windscreen. If you did was it not connected or did you have a failure and you had to use the camera mike? Jenna Mourey ("Marbles") recently passed the ten million YouTube subscriber number and she has made some of her weekly recordings with bad audio because she refuses to get or use a body mike, even though she recently thanked me for the suggestion. Always make a test recording & playback with headphones.
It was a mic on me, yes. The windscreen I had wouldn't fit it. The situation didn't give me a chance to test much, so I just went for it. Sometimes you have to do that. If the audio was worse, I simply wouldn't have published it. But it was passable.
Also going on a cruise. What about the use of apps like WhatsApp or Millitalk (both in iTunes) for textmessaging only? I use Verizon as my carrier and still have to check with them about options. Great show; read it religiously!
App-based messaging uses Internet data, of course. So it is a good option whether traveling or at home. It is essentially the same as using iMessage, except that iMessage is integrated with the same app that does SMS. Either way, you need to train friends to use those apps or iMessage instead of SMS with your mobile number. All it takes is one friend to send you a few SMS messages and there goes your bill.
With AT&T, the "World Traveler" is the package I add to my service when I go abroad to Europe. It is a good deal and can be subscribed to for a few days, a week, a month, or longer.
I'm a nature photographer and typically spend over three grand on a camera. IT KILLS ME to see the FANTASTICALLY clear shots (like Barcelona) that come from iPhones (my new iPhone is 3 wks old!) Thanks Gary, good post.
JS
Who said it was shot with an iPhone? 90% of my shots were with a Canon SX230, a nice compact. I mostly used the iPhone for the pano shots -- it is so handy for that.
I have used international SIM cards in my unlocked iPhone. It is very easy. It is also cheaper to rent an iPhone at international airports. Just log into your icloud account and everything you need is there. For example, in South Korea it cost $8.00 US per day to rent an iPhone with an unlimited data, voice, and text plan.
See this site:
http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/Prepaid_SIM_with_data
loved the photos! were they taken with an iphone, or are you using a camera and uploading? (maybe a topic for a future podcast!)
I mostly use a Canon SX230 at the moment. But I do love to take photos with my iPhone. But the Canon has an optical zoom that the iPhone can't match.
Gary, what boat where you on? Was that the Norwegian Epic?
Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas.
Unless things work totally differently in US plans, all I do is leave data roaming always turned off (settings-general-cellular-data roaming). Incoming sms are free, I only answer them with some other app or email when on wifi somewhere. Same for phone calls, I reject the call and then call back with i.e. skype or face time when on Wifi. I am on a t-mobile plan in the Netherlands, but over the years (and I travel a lot) I have hardly had any extra costs at all.
Things DO work differently in the US. All major carriers charge for incoming SMS messages. So when you get a piece of spam, or a message sent to the wrong number, you pay for it or it counts as a message on your plan. If you have unlimited messaging, then it doesn't matter.