Since we will soon be in the 'overseas' vacation time frame (summer), it is our civic duty to remind you how to prevent running up tremendous cell and iPhone bills. I was actually reminded of this from reading another well known travel blog WeJustGotBack. Their posting of several articles about iPhone usage in Europe and fairly cheap alternatives is well worth my re-posting them, even though I posted a warning about this myself last year.
What is so important is that in our rush to visit Europe (or Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Mexico) for the first time is we pack everything and forget the obvious, like usage of a cell phone internationally. One person apparently rang up a bill of $1229.91 because he didn't turn off the international data roaming. You can read about that here.
The other article suggests ATT has a special plan for only $24.99 a month that you can use with your iPhone when traveling internationally. Be sure to check out the ATT tip sheet found here too. There are other alternatives as well, as I mentioned last year, such as renting a cell phone in Europe or getting a special simm card. A reader of my blog added this comment to my post. "Be very
careful when you rent a cell phone in Europe especially if you are
going to multiple countries you can really get hit by international
phone charges which are huge. First figure out where you will be
calling, will you be calling home or will you be calling ahead to your
next hotel. Then I personally have bought an unlocked phone for use
when I am Europe and will buy a prepaid simm card when I go to
different countries.
//AmateurTraveler.com"
No one wants to budget a trip overseas and the return to a cell phone bill that equals half the trip budget so plan ahead when traveling overseas and you won't be unpleasantly surprised after you return.
$1229.91 huh? I know people who have rung up more than that with text messages and never had to leave the country to do it. It definitely helps to have a plan that covers your needs; especially when you go overseas.
Posted by: Oberammergau Passion Play | July 17, 2009 at 07:42 AM