Do you pay for using Maps on IPhone whilst abroad

rose28454

My oh and I are going to be driving back from Switzerland next week and as we my Sat Nav only has UK mas I was thinking of using the maps on my IPhone. Is this a chargeable service.

jayme1

for google maps, YES and it will be one hell of a charge aswell. (easily hundreds though you should be capped at £50)

but if your phone is in offline/airplane mode and you are using a satnav app such as tomtom then it would be free to navigate home.

System

Not forgetting that Switzerland isn't in the EU so the roaming cap will not apply while using a Swiss provider.

LillythePink

I put on the maps on my Iphone for approx 15 mins when we got off the boat at Weymouth in early december - we were driving to Farnborough - my provider sent me a text to say that I was up to x amount of download etc so I turned it off.

didn't think much about it until I got my monthly statement and I'd been charged £66!!!

I will never use that again!

d123

Look at buying one of the European satnav apps (with maps downloaded to your iPhone) in the app store, co-pilot was pretty cheap last time I looked and would be a lot cheaper than using the maps app, all mapping data would be downloaded at roaming rate!

Cash-Strapped.T32

Just get a moderately cheap Sat-Nav program for the iPhone; One with a selection of offline maps?

I tend to avoid anything iRelated, so I can't speak from experience here, but both Win-Mo & Android both have several very capable offline apps - often, but not always - based on pre-existing software ported over from "traditional" hardware sat-nav devices such as TomToms or Garmins (plural?).

I would have been very disappointed if the all-singing iPhone can't use GPS without a charge.

I'm using Win-Mo on an aging 2006 smartphone (HTC s620) with a £7 bluetooth GPS receiver.
I use Garmin XT which doesn't cost (you have to provide your own maps, but these can be taken off a Garmin device or from the internet), & it doesn't cost a penny.

*EDIT* d123 beat me to it

snowy128

Easier way of doing it -- "preload" your route on your iPhone before you get to Switzerland / in your car -- use wifi if your already abroad (ie. get directions, zoom in to the point you'll be utilizing it, then follow it). It won't give you your location, but it's a decent alternative, and as long as you make sure you turn off 3G (put it in airplane mode), and as it's not turn by turn, it functions as it would usually.

Exhortation

Go into somewhere like McDonalds that has free wi-fi and download skobbler_lite from the app store for free. This app loads the maps onto your iPhone so avoids data charges. As previous posters have said, ensure you have 3G switched of before you set off.

rose28454

snowy128 wrote: »

Easier way of doing it -- "preload" your route on your iPhone before you get to Switzerland / in your car -- use wifi if your already abroad (ie. get directions, zoom in to the point you'll be utilizing it, then follow it). It won't give you your location, but it's a decent alternative, and as long as you make sure you turn off 3G (put it in airplane mode), and as it's not turn by turn, it functions as it would usually.

Many thanks took your advice and it worked fine.