Taking an iPhone on an international trip can be a harrowing
experience. Every time you post a status update to Twitter or check your email,
you imagine your wireless carrier charging you a fortune in international data
roaming fees.
But there are ways to stay connected while you're traveling
without freaking out about the cost. Taking advantage of some new features in
iOS 7 and following a few savvy data-roaming strategies can ensure that at
least that aspect of your trip is worry-free.
Close the data spigot
Turn off Roaming and you'll use no data at all.
The most important iPhone setting when you travel
internationally is found in the Settings app, in the Cellular section: Data
Roaming. Turn this switch off, and when you leave the country, your iPhone will
just stop using data entirely, even when it’s on the local phone network.
But that’s a real all-or-nothing proposition. You’ll still
be able to get phone calls and texts, and you'll get data whenever you're on a
Wi-Fi network. But your iPhone will never transmit or receive data on the local
cellular network. You’ll be free from data charges, but you’ll also be free
from data.
Use the Cellular portion of the Settings app to restrict
which apps can use data and to monitor their usage.
Fortunately, in iOS 7 there’s a way to control the data
spigot app by app. Scroll down through the Cellular section of Settings and
you’ll find the Use Cellular Data For section. From here, you can turn off
Internet access to individual apps. If you’re traveling internationally and
just want to, say, load Google Maps data without every other app on your phone
generating hundreds of dollars worth of roaming charges, you can say so on this
screen: Just turn off the switch for every single app except the one(s) you
want to use.
Even better, in this same section, underneath each app,
you’ll see the amount of data it uses when you’re on a cellular connection. If
you want to carefully monitor your usage while you’re out of the country,
scroll down to the bottom of the Cellular section and tap Reset Statistics. Now
you’ll be able to see exactly how much data you’re using while you’re gone.
Talk to your carrier
Before you leave the country, talk to your wireless carrier
(or visit its website) to see what international plans it offers. It may be
cheapest and easiest to buy a very small amount of (expensive) international
data rather than paying roaming fees, especially if you’re going to severely
limit your data usage or if you’re only going to be out of the country for a
few days.
If you’re an AT&T customer, you may also want to ask
about unlocking your phone. If your phone is more than two years old (or if you
have an older iPhone laying around), you can ask AT&T to unlock its
SIM-card slot. If you do so, you can then pop out your iPhone’s identity card
when traveling overseas and replace it with one from the country you’re
traveling to—and save a bundle on data in the process. (More on this in a
little bit.)
If you’re a Verizon or Sprint customer, you’re in luck. Your
iPhone has a card slot, but in all likelihood that slot is already unlocked.
(If you’re not sure, call your carrier and ask.)
Buy a prepaid SIM card
I had unlimited data
for a week.
Most of us have gotten used to having freely available
Internet access in our pockets all the time. It’s disconcerting when it’s not
there. To keep using the Internet in the way you’re accustomed, seek out a
local cellular provider once you arrive in your destination country, and buy a
pre-paid SIM card. (And make sure they’ve got the right size of card for your
iPhone; newer iPhones use nano-SIMs, while older models use micro-SIMs.)
When I recently went to Ireland, I visited a Three store and
bought a prepaid
card for €20. I was in and out of the store in five minutes, about half an
hour later my iPhone was on the local 3G network, and I had unlimited 3G data
for my entire stay. I was shocked at how easy the entire process was.
Offers differ from country to country, so it’s worth doing a
little research before you travel. I was able to identify the right carrier,
the right deal, and even the location of the store I needed to go to before I
had even left the States.
Keep in mind, for this to work your iPhone needs to have an
unlocked SIM slot. I used a Verizon iPhone 5 and it worked just fine, and it
worked in an unlocked iPhone 5s as well. Also, once you switch SIM cards, you
won’t be able to receive calls at your old phone number until you switch back:
Your phone will have a new, local phone number. (Internet-based stuff like
iMessage and email will all still work as normal, it’s just your phone number
that will have changed.)
I only ran into one problem with this approach: I tried to
log into my Facebook account, and it detected that I was logging in from an
unusual location (Ireland). It wanted to do a two-factor authentication to
verify who I was, by sending a text to my U.S. cellphone number. For that to
work, I’d need to switch back to my old U.S. SIM card.
No comments:
Post a Comment