Using an American iPhone in Europe… without going broke
Is that in Airplane Mode? Photo by Jorge Quinteros.
By Tom Meyers—
If you’re an American iPhone user getting ready to take a trip to Europe, you’ve likely been warned about using your iPhone abroad. After all, AT&T’s rates for international data use can be confusing, and misunderstanding your usage or iPhone setup could be a very costly mistake.
I just returned from two weeks in Europe, one spent in Paris and one in Venice. This was a work trip, during which I visited about 90 hotels for EuroCheapo. I brought along my laptop, but what to do with my iPhone? Was there an economical way to use it in France and Italy? Should I pay for one of the international data packages offered by AT&T? Should I just leave the thing in New York?
When taking a pleasure trip, I usually turn off my phone before blast-off and leave it off until I return to JFK. (This has become increasingly inconvenient, however, in recent years as connecting with friends abroad is obviously aided by sending text messages. Those, however, don’t always work with American cell phones and require international roaming, which puts you at risk of receiving phone calls from home — which will cost you.)
In any case, I realized that my iPhone could be handy. It’s nice to stay on top of emails, download the latest news from the New York Times, and be on my way. But how to do it without going broke?
Advice from AT&T
AT&T, the exclusive US carrier for the iPhone, offers a number of international phone and data packages for Americans taking their phones abroad. The day before take-off, I called and spoke to a customer service representative about my options.
Two weeks later I’m still “processing” that conversation. Let’s just say there are a lot of variables at play, including whether or not you expect to use your iPhone abroad to a) place international phone calls, b) receive international phone calls, c) send and receive emails, d) browse the web, and e) use iPhone applications. Each of these points carries its own possible traps and, of course, AT&T offers a “package” to address each issue.
Just want to make calls on your iPhone from abroad?
If you plan to use your phone to make and receive calls, you can opt for the AT&T World Traveler feature (currently $5.99 month), which gives you a discounted price for making and receiving calls. Using this feature, placing or receiving a call from France and Italy would drop from $1.29 to $.99 per minute. Not exactly cheap.
Don’t forget that receiving a call will also cost you – even if you don’t answer it. If the call connects to your phone, it’s billable.
Important: If you choose to only make and receive calls abroad, don’t forget to deactivate your data roaming. But we’ll get to that…
Sending and receiving emails and browsing the Web from abroad
For sending and receiving emails, browsing the web, and using applications, AT&T advises you to purchase an international data roaming package. Stay with me here. These packages are available in four sizes, from 20 MB of international data transfer (for $24.99) to 200 MB of international data transfer (for $199). (Prices current as of March 2010.)
So, say you go with the $24.99 package. What exactly does that mean? How many emails can you send and receive with 20 MB of “data transfer”? How many web pages can you browse? Which applications can you use? That, of course, depends…
Hence, my headache. I had read horror stories of travelers buying a data package only to find that they surpassed it early in their trip by opening some “heavy” email messages or browsing image-rich websites.
AT&T’s tips for avoiding a billing “surprise”
In AT&T’s customer service center, the carrier offers tips for avoiding these sorts of surprise. The tips, which are quite helpful, include:
1) Turn off data roaming.
You’ll find this under Settings > General > Network > Data Roaming. (To make it easy, the iPhone even says “Turn data roaming off when abroad to avoid substantial roaming charges when using email, web browsing, and other data services.) If you’re using your iPhone to simply make and receive phone calls, make sure you do this.
2) Turn fetch data “Off”.
This prevents your iPhone from automatically checking for emails. To access this, go to Setting > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data. Switch “Push” to “Off” and click “Manually”. Once switched, you’ll have to manually tell your phone to send and receive emails.
3) Consider purchasing an international data package.
As I mentioned above, AT&T offers four data packages, ranging from $29.99 to $199. If you are planning, at any point during your trip, to use a data network to access the web or use emails, you are strongly advised to get some sort of plan.
4) Reset the usage tracker to zero.
This is interesting. Under Settings > Usage, you can see how many MB of data you’ve sent and received since you last reset the statistics. Theoretically, then, you could reset your statistics, and then track your subsequent bandwidth – perfect for those who have purchased an international bandwidth plan, right?
The only hiccup with this, unfortunately, is that the stats aren’t always up-to-date. It turns out that AT&T can have substantial delays in reporting international data usage (as international carriers are actually providing you with the network and then, later, reporting it back to AT&T). This means, well, that you certainly can’t rely on this metric for tracking your use in real-time.
5) Switch to Wi-Fi instead of data networks.
Bingo.
Airplane is my answer
Having discussed the options to the point of delirium, I basically threw in the towel and chose the most extreme option. Unfortunately, I had this sneaking suspicion that even with an international roaming package in place, I’d carelessly open an email with a dozen photos of my cats and wind up with a $4,000 phone bill.
Thus, frustrated and paranoid, I opted for “Airplane Mode.”
Airplane Mode blocks phone and data networks from going into and out of your iPhone. Wi-Fi networks, however, are accessible. It basically turns your iPhone into an iPod Touch. Airplane Mode is accessible under Settings > Airplane Mode.
Flying solo
The decision to use my iPhone for two weeks in Airplane Mode meant, of course, that to send and receive emails I needed to access a free Wi-Fi network. It also meant that I wouldn’t be able to send and receive text messages or make phone calls. In a separate post, I’ll explain how I went about finding free Wi-Fi networks in Paris and Venice.
Of course, my simple “Airplane Mode” solution won’t work for everyone. Some travelers will obviously need to use their phones to send and receive calls and texts. Others will need predictable email and web service. For these users, I’d suggest calling AT&T, adding some international services, turning off “fetch,” and still using “airplane mode” whenever possible.
However, for Cheapos like me who simply need an occasional connection, consider flying on “Airplane Mode” during your trip. You’ll relax about charges and still have basic services.
Tell us: Have you taken your iPhone abroad? Do you have any tips for avoiding surprise charges? Do you think I’m a big wimp for relying on Airplane Mode for two weeks? Tell us about your experience in the comments section.
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March 11th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
During my trip to London last November I opted for the 20 MB data plan plus international usage rates…kind of a mistake.
I found myself obsessively checking the data usage number and upon returning back home had a final “mystery” 3 MB text message that was added to my bill for $60. AT&T was nice enough to delete this juggernut from my bill, which was a nice gesture, although I still don’t even know why it was added in the first place…
March 11th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Never, ever am i going to opt for roaming. The charges are just too much! The best solution is to buy a local SIM card from any operator that sells them (give them any address if they ask and tell them you’re in the country for a few months, they won’t check that anyway
.
If you want to receive calls, I’d suggest using a Skype number (but you’ll have to tell it to everyone or use it long before you travel). It’s much cheaper this way, plus you can call for very cheap using Wi-Fi hotspots.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
My husband and I traveled to Ireland last summer with our two iPhones. After talking with AT&T, and having basically the same information given to us as was given to you, we opted for the Airplane Mode choice. We really didn’t need the phones or text messaging and we could check email via wifi at the hotels. And we had no nasty surprises on our next statement.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
All good advice–and you can still make phone calls with an iPhone thats been “iTouched” by turning off data roaming and 3G (a.k.a. turning on airplane mode and WiFi). Just download the Skype app and use it via WiFi–as detailed at http://www.reidsitaly.com/planning/comm/cellphones.html
Yes, you can then only make calls when connected to a WiFI hotspot , but it works great for me–though via some quirk, which I am not sure is universal or just unique to my phone, the main ear speaker doesn’t work while using Skype, so I have to plug in earphone to hear the other end of the conversation. An odd, but not insurmountable, problem.
March 11th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Thanks for the comments.
J — I would love to buy a local SIM card and pop it in (allowing me to easily send text messages and make calls), but my understanding was that your phone needed to be “unlocked” in order for this to work (which you could pay someone to do to your iPhone, but I think it would then invalidate the warranty). I suppose you could buy a cheap phone and use it as your “travel” phone. Is this what you’ve done?
Julie and Reid, I’m glad to know I wasn’t the only one flying solo on “airplane mode.” Only one of the hotels I stayed in (of the four) had free Wifi — which meant I had to hunt down free Wi-Fi elsewhere. (I’ll be posting separately on this, but let’s just say that the “Golden Arches” came in handy.)
Reid, yes, the Skype application is a beautiful thing! That’s a great tip. I called other Skype users for free, and I bought €10 in Skype credit and called cell phones for almost nothing. (After two weeks and plenty of calls, I still had €5 in Skype credit.)
March 11th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
I researched this extensively before I went abroad and it was difficult for me to wrap my head around. There’s a lot of different information out there and if you go to the AT&T website they’ll try to upsell you to buy an international package. That’s not worth it unless you need to make calls for business and it’s not coming out of your pocket. I don’t know why a regular backpacker would need to pay for this expense.
1.) Download the Skype Application.
2.) Turn Airplane mode on. Never switch it off.
3.) Find WiFi spots at your hotel or hostel, coffee shop, etc.
I made Skype calls to the States sitting in a coffee shop in Paris and hanging out in my hostel in Berlin for absolutely no cost. It’s amazing. The person on the other end will have to talk to you through their computer, but for conversations with loved ones every few days while you’re traveling it is the way to go.
March 11th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Tom – You carefully dissect one of the most pressing (and frustrating) issues in international relations today. My “calls” to AT&T on this subject have been equally bewildering. And believe me, their unremarkable data “package” will get you a few stock quotes from Bloomberg before exceeding the data limit. Basically, my rule is either use your iPhone for texting only with very limited phone calls, and NO data usage unless through a local Wifi provider or buy a cheap SIM card for an old phone and use it while you are there (the problem in this case though is that you may go to a variety of EU countries in a given visit, and who wants countless “found SIM objects” in your wallet). Mon dieu!
March 19th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Just yesterday, I spent two hours at a local ATT store with an ATT rep and an Apple iPhone rep the ATT rep called in to try and explain the huge discrepancy between what the iPhone shows as network usage and what ATT is metering. The ATT rep didn’t understand the problem and the Apple rep could not explain it. All should be forewarned not to depend on the usage figures the iPhone shows. As noted by others, ATT’s $.99 / minute calling and receiving package is less than a bargain, not to mention the separate $.50 charge for texts out. The bottom line for us is that our son’s 4-month semester in Germany will likely be with a cheap, simple cellphone (called a “handy” there) purchased upon arrival, rather than his ATT iPhone (anything but “handy” in this case). A real shame.
March 22nd, 2010 at 11:33 am
My significant other used your advice on his trip to Europe and were happy to note there were NO unpleasant surprises on our bill (we use family plan). Thanks
March 26th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
I’ve got an unlocked iPhone which I have used in Germany for the last 3 yrs. First time I bought a T-Mobile sim, loaded it with € and replaced the ATT&T sim. It can always be loaded up with T-Mobile cards of varying amounts which can be bought just about anywhere now. Just dial the tel. nbr on the card and type in the reference nbr on the card. Since I am usually there for approx. 3-4 mos every year, I make sure there is still some € on it when I return to the US. Next trip: ATT&T sim out – T-Mobile sim in and I’m good to go as soon as I land. I seldom make calls to the US but wife always calls me from the US: no charge off my sim!! I’ve used the phone in Germany, Luxembourg, France and Italy; all with good results. iPhone works just fine here in the US. Just make sure you find a reputable company to unlock it. I used ‘Cell Phone Repair’. They have offices all over the US. Hope this helps.
March 31st, 2010 at 1:33 am
When I leave the country, I make sure that data roaming is off. I can still receive texts though — they cost just 50 cents and it’s a great way to stay in touch with loved ones. Calls get really expensive quickly (have never bought that $5.99 package — seems like it would only save pennies) so I try to keep them really short. When I get into a Wifi area, that’s a great chance to read/reply to email and play with my apps like facebook. When I had a blackberry, that wasn’t an option for me.
April 6th, 2010 at 2:05 am
The “Airplane Mode only” option won’t work for my trip to the UK & France. I want to be able to use the internet apps (currency, subway, GPS, aroundMe-type info) that I bought the phone for in the first place. I also need to make local calls there. (I can use Skype on my laptop for calls back home, but more on that later). I also have a big problem in that there’s no internet access in the flat I’m using in the UK. So I want to tether my iPhone to the laptop to use the 3G network. I’ll be there for more than a month, so sitting in a Starbucks or McDonalds at 2:00am to call home is not a pleasant thought. (Who wants to be in a McDonalds in London, or a Starbucks in Paris, land of excellent cafes? The idea that ATT&T is causing me to go to an American-based chain store when I’m in Europe is really galling. I avoid them here; why should I have to use them there?)
So my current choices look something like this:
1) Leave my expensive, cool iPhone at home and use paper maps, locals’ directions, and buy a cheap local phone to call about trains and planes–basically go back 10 years. Skype from the laptop (if I can find a dongle that will let me use the 3G network for internet access.)
2) Bring my iPhone, but don’t use any of its cool apps, unless I find a WIFI spot. (Last time I was in London and Paris, it cost at least $10 per shot to use WIFI, even if that was spent on a coffee to sit in a chain cafe. Maybe there are more free spots now.) Get a local SIM card for calls, and get a separate dongle for data on the laptop.
3) Leave my iPhone home, and buy a used one in London, find a pay-as-you-go phone & data plan, and sync all my data to it from the laptop. Still not sure if I’ll be able to tether it to the laptop, and may still have to get a separate dongle.
I’ve been researching this for weeks, and there just doesn’t seem to be a way to connect with both my iPhone and my laptop in any easy, reasonably-priced way. This seems crazy to me. The technology is all there, I’m willing to pay a *decent* amount to use it, but am forced to jailbreak, unlock, void warranties and learn new apps, worry about having to restore and reinstall the phone’s OS when I return, etc, etc, etc.
My needs do not involve watching movies or TV on my phone, or reading newspapers online while at the airport, but even if they did, I should be able to do that without having to pay through the roof when locals have a much better deal.
So if I’m missing the one piece of the puzzle that will give me both UK & France local phone and data usage that will support iPhone app usage and photo blogging, for a reasonable price, someone please let me know.
April 7th, 2010 at 3:39 am
So I’ve been researching this as well, since I will be in Europe traveling for 3 months. I didn’t want to deal with unlocking my phone and juggling sim cards. I also didn’t want to deal with AT&T. I think I have found a solution that will minimize cost and maximize my ability to stay in touch and navigate foreign cities.
I’m planning on airplane moding it as many have mentioned previously. To make the most of that I downloaded a free app called JiWire hotspot locator. It allows you to download a database of 300,000 hotspots for use offline. It also allows you to search for spots nearby. I noticed that it does not allow you to view locations on a map if you are offline. My solution was to find a wifi spot and then map out spots you will be traveling to. I mapped each wifi POI and snapshotted the map of each individually (by holding down both iphone buttons simultaneously). That way I had a map of each hotspot in my photos so that I can find them easily later.
I also have the skype application on my iphone. I am looking into getting the ‘Unlimited World’ plan for $12.95/month (see http://www.skype.com/allfeatures/subscriptions/uscanadaworld/). From my understanding this will allow me to make landline calls throughout Europe for booking hotels and restaurant reservations. It will also allow me to make nearly unlimited calls to US landlines and cell phones. So this will be my solution for staying in touch with friends and family back home. Its also nice having that peace of mind knowing I can call landlines throughout Europe should the need arise.
Its not foolproof, and we’ll see just how accurate the wifi database is as well as how reliably I can get skype to make the international calls. It all sounds pretty good on paper though and is much cheaper than any international calling/data plans I have found.
If anyone has experience with this please let me know if I’m missing anything.
Thanks
April 13th, 2010 at 11:07 am
I going to Ireland in May. I was reading on some other sites (and the o2 site) that you can buy prepaid sim cards for the Iphone. They didn’t say any thing about unlocking it. Does this still have to be done before I pull my AT&T sim out? I also was wondering how to charge the thing. Do i need a power converter as well or will just using an adapter and pluging it in be ok?
April 26th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
We are traveling to prague and Bdapest in June with our I phones. Has anyone tried the ‘penny talk’ app? They claim you can use the Iphone on the cellular network for 20c a call.
Appreciate your thoughts
Kevin
May 13th, 2010 at 4:26 am
Hello, if any of you are coming to Tuscany, I recommend this augmented reality app for iPhone 3GS called “Tuscany+”. It’s so cool (it’s true you pay roaming unless you find a free wifi…). There is a video and a text that explains it here:
http://www.turismo.intoscana.it/allthingstuscany/aroundtuscany/tuscany-the-first-augmented-reality-tourism-application/
There is also another one for who is going to the uffizi: it’s a complete guide that you download at home and don’t need internet in Tuscany to use it. Read here:
http://www.turismo.intoscana.it/allthingstuscany/aroundtuscany/uffizi-gallery-app-for-iphone/
Hope you like these tips (let me know what you think).
Ciao ciao
Barbara
May 17th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Tom — thanks for the article. I go to Prague soon and am checking my options. Airplane mode for me — anyone know how common free Wi-Fi is in Prague?
Re Skype — I’ve downloaded the App, but now what? Do I need to purchase a number, credit? Anyone want to share some beginner 101?
Safe travels all.
May 18th, 2010 at 7:45 am
We just returned from two weeks in Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic, using an iPhone. We found a 20 Mb data plan was more than enough to take care of our needs for infrequent mapping and daily email.
In most places, Internet / WiFi in Europe is still pay for what you use by way of hourly or daily charges, if it’s even available. Very few places have free WiFi, McDonald’s and Starbucks being the major exceptions, but we did not travel to Europe to frequent them.
The important thing is to develop the discipline to turn WiFi and data roaming on and off as you use them. Then, check the usage statistics in the iPhone after each use and you won’t be surprised.
If you are going to be calling frequently, buy a cheap cellphone there and feed it minutes from the tobacco stands and train stations. Otherwise, buy ATT’s $5.99 plan to reduce your rate to $1 / minute and watch the length of your calls. Remember that texts are $.50 each on each end.
Skype is fine in theory, but you must find a WiFi connection and have sufficient bandwidth if you want to use the video features. Audio is not a problem, but once again, you must find a connection that is free or that you are willing to pay. Also, Europeans seem not to be as openly conversational on their cellphones as Americans.
Our general observation is that it’s not much of a “world phone” if you have to worry about re-mortgaging to use it abroad.
Finally, WiFi hosts may well NOT allow email out, some may not allow email in and most are wary of downloads. Become familiar with your webmail application before you leave for Europe, as you may use it almost exclusively while there.
May 21st, 2010 at 1:09 am
I will visit Berlin in June for 2 weeks and stay with friends. I will therefore not use my iphone for long distance calls. I still have from years ago an older handy for which I could by a simcard and make my local calls for little money.
However I need the luxury of my iphone for my apps (Fahrinfo, Muxeumsfuehrer, GPS etc) wandering though the city. Internet surfing is important too. I have planned to open my emails at my friends house and can block receiving them on my iphone- therefore no high costs for loaded emails. Finding always a Wi-fi place can be a pain or let’s say when I was in Germany ( not in Berlin) 4 years ago
Would the AT & T package the right way to go ? I am hesitant to unlock my phone.
What it comes down to is basically apps, webbrowsing . What is the most suitable way to go ?
Any comments ?
June 11th, 2010 at 10:00 am
Thanks so much to all who have contributed to this thread.
I am planning on studying abroad in France for a year, starting in September. I have spent some time in other countries before and plan on getting a cheap prepaid phone for calls within France and just using skype for calls back to the States. Likewise, I can check my email and the internet on my computer.
Really, to echo some others who have posted, I just want my iphone primarily for the GPS and perhaps some helpful apps for navigating cities and traveling.
Do you guys think the 20mb data plan will be enough? and/or worth it?
June 11th, 2010 at 11:27 am
@ Sophie – 20 mb goes pretty quickly, especially if it’s being used for apps.
And if you’ll be abroad for an entire year, maintaining an iPhone account only for app use (rather than to make phone calls) seems like it could be more expensive than helpful.
June 11th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
Thanks again for this post. I used Airplane Mode during trip to Prague, along with the iPhone Skype app and a $10 Skype credit. Was able to check emails regularly, free Wi-Fi was all over the city including my hotel. And when I needed to make or receive a call it was less than 3 cents a minute. No SMS was the only downside but I can deal with that to avoid a huge billing surprise from AT&T.
June 22nd, 2010 at 7:59 am
It’s my first time going to Europe as an iPhone owner so I’m curious. However, after going to Panama recently, I did exactly what you did. Airplane Mode! Easy, safe, cheap and just use WiFi when possible! Friends are going to have to cut back on the texts and stick to Facebook messaging or emails instead!
Also Chris Parente makes a good point, we can use our skype app on WiFi to make phone calls! Completely forgot about this option.
Thanks for the clear explanations… this helpful article confirmed and answered my curiosities!
June 25th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Aloha, Got a iPhone with Skype Credit & headed for Paris. Also have an “old” iPhone I could unlock if there is a good reason and a local landline in our apartment. Any reason I should spend the $49 to unlock & $x to buy a local sim?
Would like to send/receieve US calls,check emails & web and if practical $ use some of the iPhone travel apps. Suggestions & experiences
July 9th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
I just returned from a 2 week trip to Europe. Northern Italy and Southern Germany. Before I left i spoke with the AT&T Wireless International customer service rep. What a confusing mess. He “checked my normal monthly usage and said I use 19 MB in a normal month. What a F’up. He took the number from my bill and converted KB into MB. It was already in MB. Recommended the lowest tier data plan which I activated. This was far too little, and it was his mistake.
In Italy I received an email that I was 90MB over the 20MB allowed. Still don’t understand why they didn’t tell me sooner, or why the way they told me required me to burn more data to get the message.
Called customer service, they retroactively activated the 200MB data package. I learned on this trip that the iPhone does nothing without transferring data.
My bill for this month is $453.00. This my normal billing plus $199 for the data plan and $134 for call charges in Europe. A bit more than expected, but not outrageous. Next time I will get a prepaid phone in Europe, or a global phone, and I will take my laptop for email. Airplane mode with Skype is a great idea if you can find WIFI.
Main problem was that WIFI was spotty even in the best hotels. Need to turn on data roaming for email to download. Sometimes I would forget to turn it off when done. I got the iPhone mainly so I could use it in Europe. It is really expensive to do. Friends told me that AAA has prepaid global phones for travelers for about $100. A better deal.
July 9th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
I was just about to call ATT about this very issue. I am leaving for Spain on Tuesday and planned to take my Iphone. I’ll have my laptop, so I guess I’ll just skip taking my Iphone…Thanks!
July 12th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
A great string. I just returned from UK, Greece, Used my Iphone with roaming off and 3g off. got 24 minutes of phone for $48 when I returned and $78 data for the few times I switched on roaming to use maps. I talked with my provider and if I had bought a plan I would have saved about $20 and had a few unused Mbps in hand. I will DEFINITELY jailbreak next trip. I will use the Rock your Phone free jailbreak- takes about 5 minutes.
Europe has recently brought a cap on roaming charges of $60 without prior client approval. The industry was out of control on this so the EU government acted. +
July 12th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
I really like the airplane mode op[tion. I didn’t realize that the wifi still worked. Kind of defeats the purpose of the airplane mode. We never found a shortage of Wifi. Practically every restaurant had it.
July 12th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
This is all great info i can use on my upcoming trip to Croatia. I’m meeting a friend who has been traveling the world with her iphone since December. She says the main way locals connect with you when you are visiting is by text, and that it will be imperative for me to have text capability on my iphone. i already have skype that is a no brainer, but i will absolutely need texting capabilities – so it sounds like i need some sort of AT&T plan for the 2 weeks i’m there?
Also, has anyone who has bought a cheap local phone and paid by minute abroad bought one used off of a traveler who is leaving the country (i.e. going back to US) or know of a website where people coming and going can find or sell used ones – which will be even cheaper than buying a new one there? Or, are they really so cheap that it isn’t worth trying to find a used one?
Thanks!
Amy
July 14th, 2010 at 9:50 am
Bypass the outrageous fees charged by AT&T and get the full iPhone experience while paying a reasonable local fee for service while abroad. Just research data/phone providers before you depart…maybe even order the SIM and have it shipped to you before your trip (if possible). A week or two before you depart (or now), jailbreak and unlock your iPhone for FREE. Do NOT ship your expensive iPhone to a complete stranger and pay them to do something that you can do for free…and in less time than it takes to go to the post office. See 5 reasons not to pay someone to jailbreak/unlock your iPhone below.
Afraid of voiding your warranty? Neither the act of jailbreaking nor unlocking affect your hardware directly…they only modify the software that controls your hardware. If something goes wrong, simply put your phone in DFU recovery mode and restore it using iTunes. Apple won’t know your phone is/was jailbroken…unless you take your phone to the Apple store and hand it to them WITHOUT using iTunes/recovery mode to restore the phone to an unjailbroken/locked status. If your phone has hardware issues and you can’t access it (even DFU recovery mode doesn’t work), then Apple won’t be able to access your phone either. They replace your phone (under warranty) and refurbish the faulty one (disassemble, reformat harddrive, replace faulty hardware, etc). If/when you choose to jailbreak/unlock your iPhone, make sure you change the default SSH password (google it) and use Cydia to backup your SHSH (allows you to maintain jailbreak/unlock ability should you ever need to restore your phone). Probably the most important advice: Do NOT update your phone’s OS or modem firmware (disable automatic updates in iTunes) until a jailbreak program and an unlock program has been completed for the newest updates. If you update as soon it is released by Apple, there may be no going back…especially for unlocking your phone because the modem firmware update can’t be undone.
5 reasons NOT to pay someone to jailbreak/unlock your iPhone:
1) They are likely using FREE software that someone else wrote and made available for everyone to use: Spirit (iOS4 jailbreak – will be released soon) and Ultrasn0w (iOS4 unlock – ready as soon as jailbreak completed)
2) What if they drop it? Are they going to buy you a new one? Doubt it!
3) Are they knowledgeable? Do they know to change the default SSH password (default is alpine)? Do they know to backup your phone OS’s SHSH for FREE using Cydia so that you can always restore to your current version of the OS? If they don’t change the password, anyone can gain access to the files on your phone! If they don’t backup the OS SHSH, and you end up having to restore your phone using iTunes, you will be forces (by iTunes) to install the LATEST version of the OS…which might make it impossible to jailbreak/unlock for some time. With the SHSH backed up, you can ALWAYS go back to the previous version of the OS…meaning that you can use the same jailbreak/unlock method that you used initially.
4) Are they trustworthy? What if this person likes to install spyware/malware on the phones? Heck, you probably won’t know the difference since you obviously don’t care enough to learn how to jailbreak in the first place. If you’re not knowledgable, you won’t know the difference. Want someone seeing your pictures, videos, etc? Or they could even track your iPhone’s location for free. Stalker anyone?! Got a phone full of clients’ phone numbers? Corporate espionage anyone?! You get the idea…don’t let strangers use your phone, just like you wouldn’t let them use your computer.
5) If something goes wrong, you don’t have time to get it fixed. Living without your iPhone for more than 5 minutes is unbearable, right?! If you pay someone else to do it, you won’t have any clue how to fix it. Do it yourself so you can always fix it in the future.
July 14th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Forgot to mention, you’re really only jailbreaking your phone so that you can unlock it (you can’t unlock until it is jailbroken). However, there are some perks to jailbreaking, other than being able to unlock your phone for use with different carriers/SIM cards, such as: data tethering (PDANet), supporting more than 1 exchange server (AddExchange), free iPhone tracking (Cerebro), a much brighter version of Apple’s flashlight app, a Google Voice app (GV Mobile), bluetooth file sharing/etc, TV out options, save PDF and/or Office files on your phone and be able to access them, etc. The list goes on and on. Those are just a few that I like. Obviously if you use features like data tethering (using your phone to provide Internet access to your computer), you should be considerate to the community…cellular data systems weren’t designed to provide everyone with high-speed Internet service on their computers. But in a pinch, it’s nice to have the option…especially if you need to use a website that uses Adobe Flash. GRRRRRRR!
July 15th, 2010 at 2:33 am
I took my iPhone to China last year & left it in Airplane Mode the entire time. Free WiFi was available everywhere we went.
We’re going to Italy in a week & plan to bring a laptop & iPhone for business use. There’s no Internet where we are staying, just a few hotspots around town & none of them are free. So we will be trying out a new service from Xcom Global that rents a MiFi unit that lets us create our own secure hotspot for up to 5 devices. It’s $17 per day, but data is unlimited & we won’t have to search or worry about using an unsecured cybercafe.
I’ll be trying out Skype for phone calls.
July 16th, 2010 at 12:26 am
Gizmo, if you jailbreak it and purchase PDANet (like $5 I think), and purchase a data plan (I read that Orange charges $11/month for unlimited data), you can use your iPhone as a secure hotspot for your laptop. I’ve used it before (just not overseas)…and it works beautifully. And it’s a HECK of a lot cheaper than MiFi! To be fair though, I don’t know about the data rate…we could be comparing apples to oranges. If you’re just using the computer for casual browsing though (not downloading HD movies, etc), the PDANet app will be plenty fast enough (assuming your provider has coverage in that location of course)…it’ll probably be on par with a low-to-average DSL connection speed.
July 21st, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Great info!!!
We are going to Spain for a month and planning to take iPhone. I thought we could use PingChat or WhatsUp apps to text our friends in Spain and US. If I do the airplane mode and connect to a WiFi will I be able to use these apps?? Does anybody know??
July 22nd, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Back from Europe, here’s what happened:
1) tried to jailbreak and unlock my old 3G, got nearly all the way through the process and it wouldn’t work. Guy gave me my $$ back but for all I know, it still shows up as having been done.
2) bought the AT&T international plan for ~$70/month as I knew I’d need the phone functions at least part of the time.
3) when I got to London, I found a dongle that worked great. It was 3.com, it worked fine with my MacBook Pro, so I didn’t need to worry about tethering.
4) Kept the phone on airplane mode most of the time. Only once or twice used a data app (which was too bad, because I had one that would tell me which Underground lines weren’t working, but I couldn’t use it).
5) The phone automatically switched to Orange in London, and occasionally another carrier when I traveled outside the city. I didn’t need to do anything to pick up the proper service.
6) The phone picked up Orange in Paris, but once I traveled to the Eastern part of France, it stopped working entirely. No service, no WiFi, etc, up in the mountains where I was.
7) AT&T charged me a little over $200 each month for my use of the phone. If you remove the $70 for the international plan, that was $130 for the very few calls I made. Not happiness, but not the over $1000 it could have been.
All in all, I was disappointed not to have my slick iPhone apps. I could’ve bought a cheap smartphone with a European SIM for much less. I bought the iPhone because of its cool apps, but couldn’t use them in Europe. However, I’m traveling within the US now, and it’s great to have my GPS, my Where-type apps, and other cool features.
July 27th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
AstroNee, were you paying someone to jailbreak and unlock your phone? Once your phone is restored using DFU mode, it’s like reformatting a harddrive on your computer…the jailbreak and unlock is undone (if you’re worried about warranty issues). My guess is that whoever attempted to jailbreak your phone didn’t use the proper software based on your OS version (and the proper unlock software based on your baseband version). I’m sorry he didn’t know what he was doing! $200/month is insane and would’ve been completely avoided if the jailbreak/unlock had been done properly.
July 28th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
I simply unlocked my phone, took out the ATT sim card, and put in a European one. I got all the data i need and I could make phone calls. When I went back to the states, I relocked the phone and put the ATT sim card back in.
July 28th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Being a Flight Attendant, I am VERY careful with my iPhone. My rule? Keep it simple.
I leave my iPhone in Airplane Mode, but have WIFI on. I also have Truphone, an internet based phone service similar to Skype, probably very compareable, but Turphone is what I’ve used most.
I do this in every country, always. Because I travel so extensively, everyone knows to leave a voicemail, which I can retrieve by calling through my Truphone.
I find WIFI is not always easy to find, but many hotels have free WIFI in their lobbies. Try surfing the web to find one before you leave home. Be respectful and remember: You don’t have to be a hotel guest to visit their lobby. You can also find a coffee joint with WIFI. Don’t forget that many public libraries, especially in Cananda and Europe, have free WIFI.
In Hong Kong, I buy an internet access card for $20HKD (about $2USD). WIFI seems to be everywhere!
July 28th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Anyone who pays for incoming calls in Europe is being ripped-off big time. Get an unlocked phone, buy a local SIM card and pay considerably less than your American carrier will charge.
July 28th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
My husband and I traveled to the Philippines in June/July for a two week trip with our 2 year old and my in-laws. There were 10 Americans in our traveling party, including my husband’s parents, 2 siblings (plus a spouse and kids). We were not all staying together, instead the 10 of us were split among 3 local families.
We knew we would need to use our iPhones while traveling. I expected to want to check some email, use some of the apps we had (to find local things, read news, etc.), send a few texts either to those in our traveling party or the people we were visiting, as well as a few to my family in the states. Hubby and I both investigated how to do this without racking up a $1K bill in the weeks before our trip and got surprisingly different answers from At&T reps on the phone and online.
I ended up adding the following to our phones:
1. global text 50 packages to both phones: allowed us to each send/receive 50 texts for 5.99/mo. We each sent a lot of texts
2. I added the cheapest international calling plan (to get a slightly discounted rate) to my husband’s phone.
3. Planned to turn off data roaming, put phone on airplane mode and use our host’s in house wifi.
The plan was perfect. But it didn’t work. First, our family just did not plan our activities well enough in advance and we ended up making and receiving a ton of calls. Our other family members didn’t have access to their cell phones so we ended up making a ton of calls to local family trying to get through to them. It was a big waste and the total bill for the calls while roaming internationally was $193 for two weeks.
Second, my husband did NOT turn off his data roaming as he was supposed to, and instead was using it all the time. AT&T alerted us in the middle of the trip when our charges got crazy excessive and allowed us to add the $24.99 2MG data package to his phone and back date the start so it swallowed up that crazy expense, but I was still annoyed and I didn’t even know about the calls yet!
In the end we paid for the global text 50 package for both phones, and used it well and got our $12 worth from it. We also paid $3 or so for the international discount plan for calls and spent way too much making and recieving calls. We also paid $24.99 for the data plan and I’m not sure how much my husband used but we didn’t go over it. As for using wifi, it was hard to come by and not reliable even when it was offered. If we had to rely on it exclusivley we would have been very out of touch for most of the two weeks.
Next time we are buying and using locally purchased take and toss phones and skipping the iPhones for communicating at all, which is a huge bummer since they are such a great tool.
July 28th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
Not quite sure why everyone’s so afraid of Airplane Mode; I love it. I took my phone to Mexico with me and left it on Airplane mode the whole time.
Want to make calls? Find some wifi and use the handy (and free) Skype App. You can even buy credit with Skype and call land lines for significantly cheaper than making a call with your phone.
Plus, with Facebook (at least with my age range 18-25) it’s pretty easy to get messages to people without calling or using text messages. Skype also has instant messaging for free to other SKype users and you can use your credit to send text messages to cell phones internationally, once again, for much cheaper than AT&T.
The only problem with this situation is you need to find a Wifi base of operations, but if your hotel or a cafe nearby has internet, it’s easy to send messages to friends you’re meeting or to get information.
July 28th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Or you could jailbreak/unlock it and purchase a SIM card locally in whatever country you visit…and not be ripped off by AT&T AND get to use your iPhone in its full glory (assuming there’s a 3g network there). Just saying!
July 29th, 2010 at 9:30 am
If you jailbreak your iPhone, aren’t you then unable to update the iPhone?
July 29th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
I think turning on airplane mode the whole time makes the whole point of an iPhone meaningless. Just leave it at home if you’re going to do that.
Since I’ve done a bit of research and used my iPhone overseas a bit, I wrote up all the options (and my opinions) here: http://patik.com/blog/how-to-use-your-iphone-overseas/
July 31st, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Scott,
If you jailbreak your iPhone, you do have to wait to update your iPhone until they release the new jailbreak. However, with that being said, you will have so many features (and more) via the jailbreak that not even the latest update from Apple will provide. I had the ability to use multiple apps a year ago…and I’m not limited by Apple in terms of which apps I keep open or even how many I open. Obviously though, the more you open, the bigger the drain on the battery. I’m still running iOS 3.1.2. I didn’t update to 3.1.3 because they didn’t really change anything. As far as iOS4 goes, I’m not really worried about my phone showing a more “accurate” number of bars for reception…and I already have all of the other features that I want. Eventually I’ll update to iOS4, but I’m in no hurry.
Sometimes those updates can provide new “features,” but at a cost. Apparently iOS4 (or iPhone4) allows official data tethering…which is like $20/month from what I’ve read. Or you can jailbreak your iPhone and get unofficial data tethering and not get double-billed for your data. Hmmm….hard decision. Obviously everyone needs to make their own decision based on their needs. But jailbreaking is so easy, and you can undo it when you get back to the US if you’re worried about warranty stuff. Also, there is a way (you’d have to research it) to back up your SHSH blobs from your iPhone in case you decide you might want to jailbreak your phone. It does NOTHING to your phone…just saves some data from it that will allow it to be jailbroken in the future.
However, if you update before saving those SHSH blobs, you will lose the opportunity to jailbreak until a new jailbreak is released for that update. If you back up the SHSH blobs and then update, you can go back to the pre-update iOS and jailbreak it. Kinda confusing, I know. But if you know you’re going overseas in the near future, you might as well take a few minutes and back it up so you are at least much more likely to have the option to jailbreak in the future.
July 31st, 2010 at 12:52 pm
Jeez Ellsass… I really enjoy using my iPhone in Airplane mode. Truphone is a great WIFI phone service, and it works perfectly for me.
I’ve used my iPhone in China, Hong Kong, Germany, England, Japan, Brazil, France, The Netherlands, Canada and Mexico.
Using it in Airplane mode has kept my mode of use as simple as possible.
Shouldn’t we be able to use the iPhone as we see fit? If I leave it at home, how am I going to use all the many other functions of the iPhone? The iPod, currency exchange, translator, notes, e-mail, etc?
August 15th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
Listen to Anthony!!! He knows what he’s talking about and he’s trying to help all of you save some major money and frustration.
August 19th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Hi,
my friend in New York has an old iPhone and is wondering how to use it like an iPod Touch. I told him about using Airplane Mode all the time and it works like a charm.
Thanks,
Katemhen
August 19th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
next time get a SKYPE account. you can made phone calls to anywhere on WI-FI. Skype OUT calls cost about 2 cents a min to a landline or cell phone anywhere. so for $10.00, you can sit in a coffee shop in Paris or your florence hotel, call your mommy in New York for 500 minutes.
August 19th, 2010 at 10:00 pm
Aww, another person content with a crippled iPhone (err, I mean iPod Touch). Sad! And thanks Dexter. It amazes me how fearful people are about jailbreaking their phone. lol I’ve had a jailbroken iPhone replaced by Apple under warranty for hardware problems…so it seems the fear is unfounded.
August 30th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Thanks for the suggestions. So do you still get charged a monthly service fee from ATT despite the phone being effectively not in use? In other words, is there a way to travel for a month with the Iphone ‘off’ and not getting one monthly bill from ATT?
August 31st, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Anthony – we will be going to France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Prague and Italy soon. I like the sound of your ideas. I assume it will work with 3GS and 4.0 software? Now the silly ? – how do you open the phone to replace the SIM card? Is there a good all Europe card for data? Thanks!
September 1st, 2010 at 8:30 pm
I am going to be in Prague for the next four months and just got the Iphone 4. Do any European cell phone providers have the micro sim card that fits into the phone so that I can get a plan while I am there?
September 6th, 2010 at 9:30 am
Well for the frequent traveller Travelplan now has an offline flight schedule app so no need to have a connection to find flight or hotels when travelling.
September 7th, 2010 at 1:13 am
Jay, there is a small hole the size of a paper clip on the top of your iPhone. Push a paper clip into the hole and the tray that holds the sim card will slide out. Pay attention to the orientation so you don’t put it in backwards…although I don’t think that’s possible because one corner of the card is cut. Anyway, I read that Orange has/had a data plan for like $10/month for unlimited. No clue if that was a special price, or what countries it covered. Maybe someone on here can help you. Here’s the big catch though…I don’t think there’s a jailbreak for the latest version of iOS 4. You’ll have to do some research based on the version that you have installed on your phone. If you don’t have the SHSH blobs backed up in any way, and there isn’t a jailbreak available for your iOS version, then you won’t even be able to jailbreak (until a jailbreak is released for your version of iOS). So long story short, if your phone is completely up to date, you probably won’t be able to jailbreak it. You can send Apple a nice thank you note for helping AT&T to screw you if that’s the case.
Dmitri, wishful thinking. You signed a contract to pay every month for 2 or more years. What you can do is drop your calling plan to the lowest possible minutes, etc, for that month…and/or ask AT&T to credit you…but I doubt they will. If you do drop your calling plan to the lowest minutes, realize that you will lose all accumulated rollover minutes except for the amount equal to the anytime minutes of the calling plan that you drop to….something like that. If you get a good deal or credit from AT&T, let us know the details!
Eileen, you will first need to be able to jailbreak/unlock your phone…which you can’t do if your phone is completely up to date, as I don’t believe a jailbreak has been released for the latest version of iOS. If your iOS version is slightly older, you might be able to jailbreak and unlock. I’ll post a link at the bottom of this post that might help point you in the right direction. Finally, if you can’t secure a micro sim card, you can actually cut a normal sim card. Make sure that the metalic contact side looks identical before/after you cut. In other words, don’t cut the metal contacts. There are some tutorials online, or if you look around hard enough, you can probably find one at a cell shop in Europe. I’d think a razor blade, some hand-eye coordination, and some patience would be all you need.
http://www.iphonehacks.com (look around for jailbreakme link on there)
September 8th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
I too had that misfortunate phone conversation with an ATT rep prior to taking my iphone to Prague this spring. I decided to forgo their expensive options and just kept the airplane mode on. Fortunately, my hotel offered free wifi so I had free access to my email. However, I did need to make a phone call back to the US but was unable to do so even after turning off the airplane mode. Fortunately, I happened upon a pay phone and utilized that instead. When I returned to the states and called ATT to find out why I couldn’t make calls from my iphone in Prague, I was told that I needed to first power off my phone and restart. I thought that a croc because I never had to do that with my LG or Blackberry when I used them in Europe years before.
I have since learned that I should have gotten the Skype app and would have been able to make cheap phone calls from my wifi enabled hotel room. Live and learn.