Taking Smartphone abroad - stop data charges/hefty bills?

Goodadvice75

Hi,

We're going on hols shortly (Europe) and want to take smart phone with us just for emergency use and to possibly receive calls. It's on contract with 3 All you can eat plan.

The hotel has free wi-fi - so does this mean if we only use the phone to access the hotel's wi-fi we can still get online to check emails and the web without charge?

If so please can anyone advise how we can be 100% SURE we are accessing via the hotel's wi-fi and not Three's 3G which would mean we'd probably have to re-mortgage when we return!! How do we link to the hotel's wi-fi - never done this before so a bit clueless.

The phone is a Samsung Galaxy S2,

We rang Three yesterday and they said they would switch off "international data roaming" so we couldn't get charged whilst away and they said this wouldn't affect our ability to use the hotel's wi-fi - just wanted to check if this info is correct?

Many thx for any advice on this.

m5rcc

Yes you can use the hotels wi-fi, but I would make sure data roaming is switched off on your phone. If you are not expecting any calls at all, then switch off the network signal and leave wi-fi only to eliminate any risk.

reehsetin

(actual steps may depend on the rom you have)

Settings > mobile networks > untick data enabled and data roaming.

Even with data is off you can still use WiFi just connect as normal

paddyrg

I visited UAE and Nepal with the 'no roaming data' option set on my phone (tucked away under settings/network), used wifi extensively, and didn't get hit by any data bills when I got home, so it appears to work!

By the way, if you have BT broadband, your BTFON minutes will work at hotspots in Europe too, handy for occasional email updates

Figment

Goodadvice75 wrote: »

Hi,

How do we link to the hotel's wi-fi - never done this before so a bit clueless.

Your phone should find the hotel wifi as a new network. On first connection you will probably be asked to enter a network key / pass phrase - enquire at the hotel reception for this info.

Im_just_careful

If you have another (not smart) phone the 3 SIM will work in, use that.

Get a 3 PAYG SIM for your smart phone and put it in. No danger of bill shock.

Having said that the advice of "reehsetin" should do the job but personally I feel much happier with a PAYG SIM in when abroad.

Goodadvice75

Hi

Many thanks to all for the excellent advice.

I've found the bits on the phone for "use packet data" and "data roaming" so will ensure these are both unticked.

For a belt and braces/supersafe approach though I like the idea of putting in a PAYG SIM if I can manage to get one of these before we go away. As it's a contract phone will it accept the change of SIM card OK or might it affect the phone's ability to work if it recognises that you've changed the SIM card? (Apols if this is a "dim" question!)

And would I just have to put a few pound onto the PAYG SIM card to get this to work, even though it wouldn't presumably be using the balance if all I'm using the phone for is to connect to the hotel's wi-fi?

Many thanks for everyone's time in replying to this.

Richard_T_

I am with three, and ( last time i checked - ) they charge £1.28 per Mb of data. in order for your phone not to use anyy mobile data you have to be realy realy careful.

As mentioned above I put a pay as you go sim inside my phone, and my standard sim into an older non smart phone.
At the time, for a UK sim card, vodafone offered the cheapest deal ( as i wanted to use some mobile data abroad) and as my phone is unlocked that was no problem.
if your phone is locked to three, then it may be worth investigating getting it unlocked for any network.

Now with an unlocked phone youve got two options, a pre pay sim card purchased in the country that you are going to, these often come with data pre-loaded ( ie 2GB data for €20 ) - but you need to check online to see whats available, or a UK pay as you go sim, when i went to Holland vodafone had ( and probably still hav) a data passport offer, where you pay £2.00 for 25mb of data, while this doesnt sound like a lot it was more than enough for my purposes, whcih were sending e-mails with photo attachemnts, web browsing using google maps and a few other apps that required data.
with a bit of planning you can cut your data use to well below the 25mb/day rate easily...
( asuming your using an android device)
turn off background data, ( settings/accounts and sync) if you need it to download an app - ie the local bus companys, or to use an app, turn it on then off again once your done.
change your browser - opera mini uses less data as it connects via a proxy that compresses data in images pictures etc etc this will drasticly reduce what you use.
dont send texts - e-mail, a text costs much more than a short e-mail sent using data, even if your paying £1.28/mb an email at 44kb will cost pennies, a text will cost more.
If your sending pictures via e-mail use an app to reduce the size ( i used one called reduce photo size)
Train yourself and your phone to use less data, install a data monitoring app, use your phone as normal and see how much you use, then use the apps above ( alternative browser/reduce photo) for a while to see exactly how much you use.
dont forget the chargers for both of your phones ( the old non smart phone to keep in touch with in the event of an emergency etc) and any power adaptors you may need.

One more thing, do you have access to a voip phone account? if you can access wifi abroad using your voip account on your phone will slash (outgoing) call charges to zero, or to noraml as if your in the UK rates.
my ISP offers 240 minutes of voip calls to 01/02 numbers per month, using this allowance i was able to cal the UK from abroad at an aditional cost of zero.

Goodadvice75

Hi Richard_T

Thanks so much for your helpful reply. Lots of good tips in here which, although I may not be able to put them all into practice for this trip, I'll definitely get sorted when we return for future use, esp. whilst travelling.

The phone is not currently unlocked and probably won't be able to get this sorted before we leave but will look into it for the future.

So I'd be limited to popping in a Three PAYG SIM, probably loaded with the barest minimum top up and this will give me peace of mind that the phone will then be physically unable to use data if there is no credit. I do plan to use the hotel's wifi almost exclusively so that should work fine.

It's interesting that 25mb of data can go so far - my only need if I were to use mobile data would be just to check on/send emails (no photos/attachments, all basic stuff), so something like the Vodafone passport you mentioned could well suit me another time.

Getting the data monitoring app was something I had planned to do immediately, but several months down the line I haven't added it yet, but will get around to this. I got lazy/complacent with Three's One Plan as I don't need to worry about data usage at home with this.

I don't have VOIP account other than Skype which I guess I could use via the hotel's wifi to save on any call costs, thanks for reminding me about this.

Anyway, thanks again for all the advice.

Richard_T_

If your on an all you can eat plan, then you may be surprised ny how mutch data your phone can get through with everything turned on.
its also surprising how easy it is to cut this down signiffacntly.

i dont know what the current set up is with 3 pay as you go for data roaming, last time i checked data wasnt available on 3 payg sims outside the UK, even if it doesnt work, a pay as you go sim will ringfence your mobile costs.

As for skype, you could look into skype out, this costs a little, but will alow you to conect to normal phone numbers.

again, take a look inot getting your phone unlocked, it may save money in the long run.

and if you do put a pay as you go sim inside make sure that youve set it up so you can top it up using a credit card, you may need to test this while still in the UK in the case of vodafone, youcant register a credit card for toping up when not in the UK, it must be registered while in the UK, and then you can top up abroad if needed.

As for battery life, keeping accounts and sync/background data off, as well as wifi and GPS off when not in use, screen time out set to a minimum, etc will save on power signifficantly.

inmypocketnottheirs

Is there not an option to disable data roaming, as per iPhone 4?