Roaming with an iPhone on O2

SaLoGo

I'm going to Fuerteventura next week and just wanted to check that I've done everything I need to do to avoid excessive charges...

I've turned off all notifications from all apps ie Facebook, emails etc.

Turned off voicemail.

Data roaming is off but will be switched on if I do want to use the internet and will be switched off straight away when I am done.

Have called O2 and been told there is an automatic cap of £40 for data usage (hopefully I won't use that much! Although I know it can easily be done)
Has anyone actually found this works? I am aware that it can take a while for charges to show up on O2's system, not sure how they would enforce this?

Is there anything else (bar not actually taking my phone!) that I should or could do to keep costs down?

NFH

If you're not going to have frequent access to wireless networks, then you should opt into O2's new Web Daily Europe Service which will cost you £1.50/day for 15MB/day. Assuming you use most of the 15MB each day, your data will then cost you 10p/MB instead of £3/MB.

Most networks offer this kind of European data roaming daily bundle. For example, Vodafone is £2/25MB per day; Orange is £3/30MB per day; and T-Mobile is £1/3MB per day. O2's bundle is probably the most suitable for the average iPhone user with 7 days working out at £10.50.

vicki+1

Why don't you buy yourself a PAYG sim, then divert all calls while your away to that sim. Then you can pay for the data as you use it and know you are not going to get any nasty suprises.
We recently went to paris and i did this, i would have had a break down worrying if i'd takeen my contract sim.
I was with t mobile, then i just paid £1 each day for 3mb of data, (just enough to let me look at face book a couple of times), or sat in macdonalds with the free wifi

Badger_Lady

I go abroad a lot (mostly outside Europe) and my rule is 'if there's no WiFi, you don't need to access the internet'. It's just too expensive to even try, and you have no idea whether you've exceeded your bundle or not. Once you start data roaming, it's very tempting to continue.

So my personal recommendation would be to leave data roaming switched off for the whole duration of the trip.

(Actually I'm cheating now - I recently bought a Kindle 3G so I do have free internet access wherever I go )

Chimpofdoom

Badger_Lady wrote: »

'if there's no WiFi, you don't need to access the internet'.

Agreed, my OH and I were in Riva del garda last year, they had wifi covering the town, free registration at the tourist info.

Instead of phoning home, we skyped over the iphone

vicki+1

NFH wrote: »

If you're not going to have frequent access to wireless networks, then you should opt into O2's new Web Daily Europe Service which will cost you £1.50/day for 15MB/day. Assuming you use most of the 15MB each day, your data will then cost you 10p/MB instead of £3/MB.

Most networks offer this kind of European data roaming daily bundle. For example, Vodafone is £2/25MB per day; Orange is £3/30MB per day; and T-Mobile is £1/3MB per day. O2's bundle is probably the most suitable for the average iPhone user with 7 days working out at £10.50.

are the canary islands included in these bundles, i don't think they are in the t - mobile one ?

SaLoGo

vicki+1 wrote: »

are the canary islands included in these bundles, i don't think they are in the t - mobile one ?

That's what I was wondering. The Canaries are often classed as non EU (like for duty free etc)

NFH

SaLoGo wrote: »

That's what I was wondering. The Canaries are often classed as non EU (like for duty free etc)

Although the Canaries, Ceuta and Melilla are outside the EU VAT area, they are inside the EU and the EEA. Unlike French overseas departments which use different networks from mainland France, these Spanish territories use the same networks as mainland Spain, so there is no distinction (e.g. application of VAT) between usage in mainland Spain and usage in the Canaries, Ceuta and Melilla.