Cell phone use at WDW

[Maddysdaddy]

Originally Posted by grover

This is probably a silly question..but I will ask anyways

I won't buy a extra plan for my iphone in order to use it at Disney.
So is this what I should do/anticipate how it will work:

Switch it to airplane mode in order to turn off all the data functions?
When I go into the park the phone will automatically pick up on the wifi when I go to use any of my apps or check my email?

Just want to be sure I do things correctly to avoid any charges.

I am so glad they finally have wifi, Rogers charges a arm and leg for data! Between the wifi at the resorts and the parks I should be totally fine with not buying there travel packs!

Nope - not quite.

Turning your phone to airplane mode will disable wifi. You need to go into your settings and turn off data roaming instead. Airplane mode essentially turns your iPhone into an iPod.

The downside to your plan is that the actual "phone" part of your iPhone will still be working, so you run the risk of some fairly significant phone bills if you make or receive any calls.

I "think" (and you should double check this), that even with data roaming disabled, you will still receive text messages as well, the cost of which could be quite significant. I am not 100% certain of this though.

[Geodoc]

Originally Posted by grover

This is probably a silly question..but I will ask anyways

I won't buy a extra plan for my iphone in order to use it at Disney.
So is this what I should do/anticipate how it will work:

Switch it to airplane mode in order to turn off all the data functions?
When I go into the park the phone will automatically pick up on the wifi when I go to use any of my apps or check my email?

Just want to be sure I do things correctly to avoid any charges.

I am so glad they finally have wifi, Rogers charges a arm and leg for data! Between the wifi at the resorts and the parks I should be totally fine with not buying there travel packs!

Hi Grover

Airplane mode will likely turn off your wifi! What you need to do is make sure data roaming is off.....for most iPhones the default is off....so no 3G data usage occurs unless you turn it on. Data roaming is found in settings/General/Network So for our recent trip.....I left my iPhone on as usual, and used the wifi at MK and the resorts. My wife and I did buy a texting bundle for texting home, and for when we were in non wifi areas. The price for that is reasonable if you need it. The only charges we incurred were for the US text package. There is no charge for keeping your phone on......of course making phone calls will be extra. Hope that helps!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

[grover]

Originally Posted by Maddysdaddy

Nope - not quite.

Turning your phone to airplane mode will disable wifi. You need to go into your settings and turn off data roaming instead. Airplane mode essentially turns your iPhone into an iPod.

The downside to your plan is that the actual "phone" part of your iPhone will still be working, so you run the risk of some fairly significant phone bills if you make or receive any calls.

I "think" (and you should double check this), that even with data roaming disabled, you will still receive text messages as well, the cost of which could be quite significant. I am not 100% certain of this though.

thanks for the tip ..I have not had to turn off the data for so long..I am glad I asked because I never would have gone into the screens you mentioned..I know I have in the past now that I checked it is coming back to me..lol! I rarely use my phone as a phone..so should be good there.

[grover]

Originally Posted by Geodoc

Hi Grover

Airplane mode will likely turn off your wifi! What you need to do is make sure data roaming is off.....for most iPhones the default is off....so no 3G data usage occurs unless you turn it on. Data roaming is found in settings/General/Network So for our recent trip.....I left my iPhone on as usual, and used the wifi at MK and the resorts. My wife and I did buy a texting bundle for texting home, and for when we were in non wifi areas. The price for that is reasonable if you need it. The only charges we incurred were for the US text package. There is no charge for keeping your phone on......of course making phone calls will be extra. Hope that helps!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Very helpful! Thanks..you guys are awesome

[Geodoc]

More good news...EPCOT has free wifi..... http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busin...,4402263.story

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

[MaMudduck]

Originally Posted by grover

Very helpful! Thanks..you guys are awesome

Hey Grover
I haven't spoking with you in ages...when are your dates for WDW. Looks like all us Cdn. go the same time when we return the WDW. We are going Sept 29-Oct 6.

[chimo2u]

Originally Posted by MaMudduck

Hey Grover
I haven't spoking with you in ages...when are your dates for WDW. Looks like all us Cdn. go the same time when we return the WDW. We are going Sept 29-Oct 6.

It's looking like it might be more busy than I thought! I too, will be there Sept 28-Oct 4.... Then move over to Universal Oct 4,5,6 and depart home Oct 7. I hope it's not toooo busy
Thanks for the cell phone tips. I am buying my son unlimited US text for $40 (Telus) for his iPhone, and I'll buy 200 outgoing, unlimited incoming text for $30 (BELL) for my iPhone. And I'll use wifi where I can....POLY, MK and Epcot....I figure that should keep us connected in the event we split up, and give me enough texts to say ui to DH who'll be holding the fort down at home with our FUR BABY/ FELINE!

[grover]

omgohs..Hi!! how are you?

lol..okay..i see now i have not updated my ticker that is from last year..lol! we are not going until next fall..plan to take my nephew!

Originally Posted by MaMudduck

Hey Grover
I haven't spoking with you in ages...when are your dates for WDW. Looks like all us Cdn. go the same time when we return the WDW. We are going Sept 29-Oct 6.

[HeatherLassell]

Yay! Thanks for posting how to turn off data! I'm not used to my iPhone yet!

I'm also going this month!!

Sept 29-Oct 10 at POR!

[sare]

I called Telus (my provider) and asked them the best way to avoid data roaming charges (iPhone), unwanted calls/texts while im in the park, and to still be able to use the wifi. They told me, outside of buying a travel package, what they can do is put a temporary block (1 week for me) on my data, calling, texting while I am away and this will insure no fees will incure. They also said that it may be possible for me to retrieve these texts when I return and cancel the block. They also said that this would be free of charge for them to do. My phone would still work perfectly with wifi for email, imessage, facetime, apps etc. Im sure Rogers will do a similar thing.

[poppypetal]

So confused.
We go to Disney next week and just learned a huge mistake by my husband going to PA for 4 days. Came home with 100.00 in roaming charges and text. 50.00 for each.... ridiculous.
We are with Telus.

But what should we do, or where to go to make this as easy as possible. Can we go to Walmart and get a prepaid with data and text on it? We would like something so if we need to check maps or anything as we are doing a mini tour in Florida...

Anyone have any suggestions? I'm tired of giving money to Telus.

[Kurby]

MK and all the resorts have free wifi now. turn roaming off and get one of the apps that use wifi for im's instead of texting.

we only used it that way when we were down in july and came back to a normal bill after 4 weeks in the states not just disney.

if you absolutely must text then pay the text fee otherwise wait until you connect to wifi for free.

[poppypetal]

What is a free IM app? or what app should we download for that?

[Tiger926]

Originally Posted by poppypetal

So confused.
We go to Disney next week and just learned a huge mistake by my husband going to PA for 4 days. Came home with 100.00 in roaming charges and text. 50.00 for each.... ridiculous.
We are with Telus.

But what should we do, or where to go to make this as easy as possible. Can we go to Walmart and get a prepaid with data and text on it? We would like something so if we need to check maps or anything as we are doing a mini tour in Florida...

Anyone have any suggestions? I'm tired of giving money to Telus.

Texting is an SMS system, which means it's separate from data, and there is no Canadian carrier who gives free US texting. And you have Telus, and they actually charge for received texts as well. The only way to deal with that is to block texting on your phone in that regard. So bottom line for texting is that you have 3 choices:

- pay per use
- buy a text pack
- don't text at all (and block incoming texts)

If you don't want to give money to Telus, you can buy a prepaid phone. We just did that (MetroPCS), but after 8 weeks we are done with it. It didn't work in many areas while driving down i-75 and is extremely slow. We will use the phone around the house like an iPod, but we have since cancelled the monthly fee (60.00/month) and added a special Blackberry Canada/US monthly rate to our phones (Rogers is the only carrier who offers this - One Rate), and will just add a long distance phone pack during our next trip. I will not pay for US texting ever again, as it's very expensive for a small amount of texts. MetroPCS charged 10.00/month for unlimited texting to Canada, yet Rogers charges $49.00/month!!!!!

We did research Tracfone, but they seemed yucky and cheap, as well as some other phones at Target and Walmart in the states.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by Kurby

MK and all the resorts have free wifi now. turn roaming off and get one of the apps that use wifi for im's instead of texting.

we only used it that way when we were down in july and came back to a normal bill after 4 weeks in the states not just disney.

if you absolutely must text then pay the text fee otherwise wait until you connect to wifi for free.

Yes, MK as well as Epcot, resorts and Water Parks all have free wi-fi. The wi-fi @ MK was a bit slow and very glitchy for Face Timing on our iPad, but for small things it would be fine, and it's free!

Some good data apps are What's App and Text Plus.

Tiger

[poppypetal]

So if we go to Walmart, we should be able to find a prepaid phone there, in the US?
Will we be able to put some data on it?
Like I said we are doing some driving so if we have the data, it can be a back up GPS for us if incase we need something...