How to avoid mobile phone data charges.

[Andrew*A]

hello all.

We will be on holiday in November and we usually just switch off our mobile phones for the whole duration of our stay. However with the new "My Magic Plus" and the "My Disney Experience" app, and the implementation of wifi in the parks and resorts, I would like to stay connected to the internet to make use of the new systems. We will also have friends with us on this trip and they are staying in a different resort so it would be useful to be able to stay in touch using either facebook or iMessage.

I was just wondering what people do to avoid mobile phone data charges. I do not want to make or receive phone calls. Nor do i want to use text messaging.

will switching off data roaming in the phone be enough? What about leaving the phone in aeroplane mode, will this then also disable my wifi? What if I remove the sim card, would i then be able to just use the phone as a wifi device?

Any advice or experiences would be appreciated.

 

[BethEJo]

Hi

I pop it in airplane mode and then turn wifi back on. As far as I know that disables calling and texting (accept for iMessage I think). As someone mentioned on another thread recently, it's like your iPhone is now just like an iPod touch

Of course, to go back, just turn airplane mode off.

 

[Andrew*A]

Hi

I pop it in airplane mode and then turn wifi back on. As far as I know that disables calling and texting (accept for iMessage I think). As someone mentioned on another thread recently, it's like your iPhone is now just like an iPod touch

Of course, to go back, just turn airplane mode off.

Will this also work with an android phone? I use a Samsung galaxy s2?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[BethEJo]

Will this also work with an android phone? I use a Samsung galaxy s2?

Yes, I believe it will. I just found this to make sure: http://portables.about.com/od/other...-Tutorial-Using-Wi-Fi-Only-With-3g-4g-Off.htm

Hope that helps

 

[paulh]

i just turn off mobile data (always have roaming turned off anyway ) and have Wi-fi turned on
Paul

 

[chocolateMinnie]

last year someone on these boards put out the tip to remove your sim and then you are guaranteed that you are only using the wifi in the parks as you have no data roaming availability. We were able to email and get internet wifi access without any worry that we were running up a bill.

 

[Laszkowicz]

Great thread. Thanks.

 

[anniemck]

last year someone on these boards put out the tip to remove your sim and then you are guaranteed that you are only using the wifi in the parks as you have no data roaming availability. We were able to email and get internet wifi access without any worry that we were running up a bill.

I have done this, and it works... I also have the google voice app on my phone and can use it to make/receive calls with wifi.

 

[2Tiggies]

Will this also work with an android phone? I use a Samsung galaxy s2?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

last year someone on these boards put out the tip to remove your sim and then you are guaranteed that you are only using the wifi in the parks as you have no data roaming availability. We were able to email and get internet wifi access without any worry that we were running up a bill.

This

I am trying to remember the name of the DISer who gave so much useful information on this - on the tip of my tongue but just can't remember.

On his advice I whipped the sim out of my DD's phone and she used hers on wifi only. It worked better than my stupid BlackBerry did the whole trip

Just remember to REMEMBER where you put the sim card when you take it out ..... just saying

EDIT TO ADD: It was Bazzanoid who gave us all the info

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

Just remember to REMEMBER where you put the sim card when you take it out ..... just saying

Mmmmm would this be a confession Lee

 

[fairytale]

Again we always simply turn our Data Romin off or keep on flight mode and have never had any problems.

WI-FI is becoming more freely available nowadays so you should be ok to connect somewhere close by whenever you need to.

Annette

 

[2Tiggies]

Mmmmm would this be a confession Lee

[hangs head sheepishly] erm, yes We had to wait for our luggage when we got to MCO due to a heavy thunderstorm. I thought I would put my time to good use and sort out the phone while we waited. I eventually found it a week later when I had to do a battery pull on my own phone .... I'd slipped it into the back casing of my phone and closed it and totally forgotten where it was. The amount of time I spent going through every pouch and pocket I could think of hunting for the darn thing

Me and phones at WDW do not have a good history lol. The year before I had my phone in a little cross the body purse. It got jammed in the turnstile on our way into DHS on our first morning and in the 5 minutes it was stuck in there I managed to send nearly 100 blank text messages (ok they all had the letter p in them!) to the first UK number in my phone book. That cost me a good £40 odd over and above my tariff - which I had capped thank goodness but I only found out when I got a text from my service provider advising I had exceeded my usage limit and did I want to increase it ....

 

[fatdave42]

Does anyone know of a cheep way to use mobiles in the parks. I have got 2 O2 phones that we would like to us over there. Not fused if the number changes. Data would also be good.

 

[2Tiggies]

Does anyone know of a cheep way to use mobiles in the parks. I have got 2 O2 phones that we would like to us over there. Not fused if the number changes. Data would also be good.

Wifi in the parks and resorts is now available and free.

 

[Happy Tappy]

Does anyone know of a cheep way to use mobiles in the parks. I have got 2 O2 phones that we would like to us over there. Not fused if the number changes. Data would also be good.

Use WiFi and then use Viber to call each other.

You can use whatsapp to send messages.

Just make sure your data roaming is set to off or you remove the sim card!

 

[Wolf65]

To avoid data roaming I got a shop to switch it off on my phone (bought a smart phone a few months ago and didn`t have a clue how to use it at first!) .It would however,still mean you can make and receive calls ,which of course isn`t necessarily what you want.I have a USA pay as you go sim so doesn`t cost me to receive calls or texts.
I highly recommend Skype for those who have wifi on their phones (or even netbooks with a headset/mic).It`s so cheap as it connects through the free wifi at Disney and hotels.You do need a good signal to make and receive calls though,but I found enough places where I could do this by just checking signals as I wandered.It`s very cheap to use and easy and you can look up the cost of calling any country with Skype before you call.I only found it when had a problem in Mexico and the hotel`s CC machine kept rejecting my card to pay for hotel and spend all the cash on my phone £50 trying to sort it out with my bank (turned out it was the hotels faulty machine put the payment through multiple times GAHHH!)Skype saved me and I was able to call extremely cheaply.By having data roaming off it also means I never accidently connect to the internet with the very expensive phone line as opposed to the free wifi.

 

[crabbie1]

To avoid data roaming I got a shop to switch it off on my phone (bought a smart phone a few months ago and didn`t have a clue how to use it at first!) .It would however,still mean you can make and receive calls ,which of course isn`t necessarily what you want.I have a USA pay as you go sim so doesn`t cost me to receive calls or texts.
I highly recommend Skype for those who have wifi on their phones (or even netbooks with a headset/mic).It`s so cheap as it connects through the free wifi at Disney and hotels.You do need a good signal to make and receive calls though,but I found enough places where I could do this by just checking signals as I wandered.It`s very cheap to use and easy and you can look up the cost of calling any country with Skype before you call.I only found it when had a problem in Mexico and the hotel`s CC machine kept rejecting my card to pay for hotel and spend all the cash on my phone £50 trying to sort it out with my bank (turned out it was the hotels faulty machine put the payment through multiple times GAHHH!)Skype saved me and I was able to call extremely cheaply.By having data roaming off it also means I never accidently connect to the internet with the very expensive phone line as opposed to the free wifi.

If you put on airplane mode it will also stop calls and messages coming through. My iphone would simply be used as an ipod

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Davscotcar]

On my iphone would i switch off cellular data and data roaming and leave enable 3g on!
Would i need a US sim or would the current one be ok?

 

[Supercod]

Hi, if you think you will need to make phone calls or want to have 4G or 3G access outside of the free wifi you will find in many places, than I can recommend the Net10 sim, I bought mine and a $50 unlimited top up via eBay before coming to the states and I am totally using it like crazy for Internet access, I like to use Foursquare to check in to places, and when I checked in to the M&Ms store in Florida Mall I got a free 15% discount ;-) But having this USA unlimited sim has been magic for ordering taxi and such like.

I transfer from International Drive on Sunday to Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge for 10 nights so will find out how good hotel and park wifi is during this peak Spring break time.

 

[crabbie1]

Hi, if you think you will need to make phone calls or want to have 4G or 3G access outside of the free wifi you will find in many places, than I can recommend the Net10 sim, I bought mine and a $50 unlimited top up via eBay before coming to the states and I am totally using it like crazy for Internet access, I like to use Foursquare to check in to places, and when I checked in to the M&Ms store in Florida Mall I got a free 15% discount ;-) But having this USA unlimited sim has been magic for ordering taxi and such like.

I transfer from International Drive on Sunday to Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge for 10 nights so will find out how good hotel and park wifi is during this peak Spring break time.

Wifi at AKL was great. Never had any issues.