OT - Smartphone use and tips while at DLP

[DLPdaft]

Help guys please.

I am a complete technology numpty, and have had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the world of touchscreen devices and smartphones.

Both mine and my DD's phones are now smartphones (mine is Android, hers is a Blackberry).

I know I need to switch off data roaming on the phones before we leave the UK, to avoid charges etc. Do I also need to switch off mobile roaming? Whats the difference anyway?

Hoping to be able to use either phone with free wifi in the Village at DLP - with both roamings off, do I then need to go to settings to find and hook up to the free internet?

Specifically for the blackberry - without incurring any extra charges, can my DD use her bbm with roaming switched off, or does she also have to hook up to free wifi in the Village to be able to do that?

Also - WhatsApp. I have this installed to send free texts, does this work abroad or does it eat into data allowances, or am I charged for using this in some way while abroad?

Grateful for all and any tips and advice please, help out a poor old technophobe (I have also kept my little old button phone to use in case I can't figure all this stuff out )

 

[Disneyfoo]

Hi, some of this will depend on the network you are on.

Help guys please.

I am a complete technology numpty, and have had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the world of touchscreen devices and smartphones.

Both mine and my DD's phones are now smartphones (mine is Android, hers is a Blackberry).

I know I need to switch off data roaming on the phones before we leave the UK, to avoid charges etc. Do I also need to switch off mobile roaming? Whats the difference anyway?

As you said you need to turn off data roaming, I also turn off mobile data just to make sure.

I presume mobile roaming means when you piggyback on a network in France to make calls and send texts, there should be no charge for simply leaving it on, however as you know these services will be more expensive with the "roaming" network than your U.K one.

I would check with your network about data charges, as quite a few of them provide special "roaming packages" For example orange provide a £3 a day basic data roaming deal for 30mb and O2 cap the cost of the bill (but they are expensive; £40 cap but a max of 50mb which isn't much at all!)


Hoping to be able to use either phone with free wifi in the Village at DLP - with both roamings off, do I then need to go to settings to find and hook up to the free internet?

Yep, you can leave wi-fi on and connect to open networks however it runs the battery down more Best to turn the wi-fi on when you are in the village and then connect, once you have connected it should provide some option in the phone to remember the network


Specifically for the blackberry - without incurring any extra charges, can my DD use her bbm with roaming switched off, or does she also have to hook up to free wifi in the Village to be able to do that?

I have never used BBM, however having just done a quick google search it appears it will need to connect to either wi-fi or the data roaming network. So if you have the data roaming off you will need to connect to wi-fi.


Also - WhatsApp. I have this installed to send free texts, does this work abroad or does it eat into data allowances, or am I charged for using this in some way while abroad?

Sorry I haven't used this but I presume the app uses your data connection, so once that is off the app will not work. I may be wrong though! EDIT: Just googled it, yes it will use the data roaming so will not work. However it will work over wi-fi.

Grateful for all and any tips and advice please, help out a poor old technophobe (I have also kept my little old button phone to use in case I can't figure all this stuff out )

You may need to ontact your network before you travel and tell them you are going abroad, some networks need to set this up so you can use voice/texts etc., It can be quite difficult and expensive to contact them abroad!

 

[DLPdaft]

thank you so much Disneyfoo .
So, everything roaming switched off, and wifi switched off until we are in the Village and can use wifi there.

I will contact both providers and let them know we are going abroad before we go.

Anything else I should remember to do/not do?

 

[sky13]

Hi - to add on to what Disneyfoo has said:

- I suspect the difference between data roaming and mobile roaming is that data roaming is for data (so internet, emails/etc), while mobile roaming is for voice calls and texts (so if someone texts you while you're away you will still receive the text). I may be wrong on this score though so would be best to check with mobile network!

- Agree about checking with network about data charges - I can use my phone (PAYG with O2) to get data in most of Europe for £1.99/25MB/day, which I'm happy to pay as it's enough for some use of Google maps and email etc. The bonus with this option is I get internet anywhere, and specifically for DLP, means I can use the Disneyland Paris app within the parks (it has wait times!).

- WhatsApp uses mobile data or wifi to send texts. This definitely works abroad (have tried it!), but it will require a data connection...

 

[Jonjo]

I'm with Vodafone and for £3 per day I can use my normal contract tariff in Europe at no extra charge so don't have to worry how much data my smartphone uses when I'm at DLP.

Best to check with your mobile company to see if they have any offers available for you when your outside the UK.

 

[DLPdaft]

thanks all -

DD is on payg, so I'm not that worried about her taking her blackberry, she won't be using it for calls or texts really, just using wifi for bbm/facebook etc, and she'll be happy with going on once a day or so while we're in the Village and can use the free wifi there.

My phone is on a contract though, and I'll want to have the phone switched on for calls and texts (to call rstransports etc for example when we arrive at the airport). If thats going to cost me money in roaming charges on top of my monthly contract charges, I may not bother, and just take my old non-smartphone on payg, bung some credit on that, and use that instead for what I need.

 

[netimka]

My phone is on a contract though, and I'll want to have the phone switched on for calls and texts (to call rstransports etc for example when we arrive at the airport). If thats going to cost me money in roaming charges on top of my monthly contract charges, I may not bother, and just take my old non-smartphone on payg, bung some credit on that, and use that instead for what I need.

yes, you will pay extra for calls in France but it will be in pence, there are not too expensive now... and if you only planing to make one, two calls I would just take your new phones *** you wont add a lot to your bill and with payg you will have to probably pop up at least £5/£10 and you wont need so much...

 

[Jazzy B Bunny]

I'm on O2 I looked on their site and it said £2 a day for up to 25mb of data and they cap you at £40. You can call home for 50p one off if you are on contract, then the rest of the mins comes out of your monthly allowance if on a contract. Otherwise it's 28p a min. So if I phone my mum, for say 30 mins it'll only cost me 50p. I think I get 300 mins a month and I never use all that! My friend is on pay as you go, so I said that if she wants to phone her mum, she can use my phone and give me 50p instead of spending a fortune on pay as you go.

Hope that makes sense!