Don't dare take your iPhone abroad before reading this

Don't dare take your iPhone abroad before reading this
Karen Torme Olson
Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune
August 30, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-tc-trav-phone-0825-0830aug30,0,7403227.story


Despite a satisfying three-year relationship with my smart phone, I was seduced into dumping my faithful BlackBerry for a flashy new iPhone.

I was dazzled by ads featuring everything from lightning-fast Internet connections to Mandarin Chinese translators and calorie counters. It seemed like a dream companion for my six-week trip to Central Europe.

I rushed to the nearest AT&T store and claimed a 32 gigabyte 3GS the day it hit the market, which was the day before my trip. The store was jammed, and the salesperson quickly transferred stored information from my BlackBerry to my iPhone, confirmed I had an international data plan and assured me the iPhone would travel the world as smoothly and efficiently as the BlackBerry had.

I later wished I had asked more questions, especially when my husband called midway through my trip, asking why the bill for four days of iPhone use was $500.

By then, I had been in Europe for a month and realized that my next AT&T bill would be astronomical. I had been taking and sending photos, reading and writing e-mails, surfing the Internet, downloading digital newspapers and watching mindless YouTube footage with abandon. What I didn't know was that under the little apple on the iPhone case, a megabyte meter was whirring like a windmill in a hurricane.

The bottom line: about $5,000, and I hadn't made a single phone call. I frantically tried to reach someone at AT&T who could help me unravel the mess, but it took several days and multiple transfers to reach the international desk. From there the process smoothed out. I was signed up for an appropriate global data plan retroactively, neutralizing the outrageous charges. Then I was given this tutorial for international travel:

--Turn off your iPhone's international data-roaming feature. Period. No exceptions.

--Whenever possible, use Wi-Fi instead of the 3G network to access e-mail and the Web.

--Turn off the phone's Fetch feature and download e-mail manually instead of automatically.

There was more, but above all, study up and be sure to read the fine print at wireless.att .com/learn/international/ roaming /travel-guide.jsp before you leave the country, lest you end up with an ohmyphone.