??? for tech savy people and iphone

[ChisJo]

Is there any way to use my phone in the states to access wireless internet without acquiring roaming charges?

 

[ccudmore]

A few things for you. First there's a whole thread on this:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1648835

Most carriers have US data roaming packs where you can pre-purchase data usage in the US. It's more expensive than using your data in Canada but it's a lot cheaper than just going across the border and using data roaming. Talk to your carrier about what your options are.

If you're really daring, you can unlock your iPhone (this is not the same as jailbreaking, it's riskier and harder to do). Do a google search on this if you want. Unlocking it means that you can put another SIM card into the phone from another carrier. If you do this, you can go across the border and buy data plan from a US carrier and get a SIM card from them that you put in the phone. If you've updated to the latest iOS on the iPhone you probably can't do this.

My recommendation is to always to get one of the US data roaming packages.

 

[stefanospops]

My understanding is that if you turn off roaming on your phone but enable WIFI then if you find a hot spot, such as at the Orlando airport, then you are surfing for free since you are on the internet as opposed to any providers cell towers. To be absolutely certain I would contact your provider to verify this, but I am fairly confident that a wifi connection bypasses roaming.

 

[potzie2]

My understanding is that if you turn off roaming on your phone but enable WIFI then if you find a hot spot, such as at the Orlando airport, then you are surfing for free since you are on the internet as opposed to any providers cell towers. To be absolutely certain I would contact your provider to verify this, but I am fairly confident that a wifi connection bypasses roaming.

Exactly right, go to Settings -> General -> Network and turn off Data Roaming. This will leave wifi on so you can use wireless signals that are available but it tells your phone not to use data on the phone. If you desperately need data and there is no wifi then you can turn data roaming back on while you use it, but make sure you turn off all Push notifications and turn your email off so that it doesn't pull a bunch of other data than what you expected.

Cheers,

Brian

 

[corster]

If you get your iPhone unlocked, T-Mobile has a pretty good (2G) data roaming package on prepaid, something like $1.50 a day unlimited.

 

[Tower]

A bit off topic here, but along the same lines:
If I turn off the data and go exclusively wifi to collect my emails, when I turn my wireless back on, do I get all those emails back again to my phone? Would kind of defeat the purpose wouldn't it?
(I like to keep messages on the server as it's my work email addy and I need most emails sent to my main desktop in my office eventually)

 

[ccudmore]

A bit off topic here, but along the same lines:
If I turn off the data and go exclusively wifi to collect my emails, when I turn my wireless back on, do I get all those emails back again to my phone? Would kind of defeat the purpose wouldn't it?
(I like to keep messages on the server as it's my work email addy and I need most emails sent to my main desktop in my office eventually)

Your e-mail program doesn't care how it's connecting to the server. Once you pull the messages down once, it won't do it again, even if you switch how you're connecting.

 

[ChisJo]

Exactly right, go to Settings -> General -> Network and turn off Data Roaming. This will leave wifi on so you can use wireless signals that are available but it tells your phone not to use data on the phone. If you desperately need data and there is no wifi then you can turn data roaming back on while you use it, but make sure you turn off all Push notifications and turn your email off so that it doesn't pull a bunch of other data than what you expected.

Cheers,

Brian

Awesome! Thank you!