Data When Abroad

J_B

Apreciar wrote: »

I have a Samsung s4 on contract with Three and plan to spend a few months abroad, I will only want to use my phone for receiving texts and free wifi.

What you *may* be able to do (depending on the length of your contract) is to convert to 'sim zero', which basically turns the phone into PAYG, but with monthly billing. It would save you having to pay your £X per month for inclusive stuff that you won't be able to use!
This can only be done by calling 333

And also turn untick 'data enabled' and 'data roaming'

Richard_T_

if your phone is unlocked i would recommend a pay as you go sim card from Vodafone, you will be charged £2.50 for up to 25mb of data - if want to use it, and you will avoid any risk of bill shock.

IF your phone is locked to three, then you may be able to use a three pay as you go sim, again this will avoid any bill shock as you can only spend what is on the sim card as pay as you go credit.

As for text messages, these are costly to send when abroad, but receiving them is still free, if you can then the best way to reply to these is via e-mail a simple text e-mail uses hardly any data so it will be significantly cheaper to reply via e-mail.

For Web browsing use a browser such as opera mini with image quality set to low, a differnt browser may take a little getting used to, but opera mini will cut your data usage dramatically.

As for pictures etc, if your sending these via e-mail web/facebook etc etc then look for an app called reduce photo size, you can reduce the photo resolution to something like 640x480 and save it as a different file, sending the 640x480 version will drastically reduce the amount of data you use, speed up the amount of time it takes to send the photo, and leave your original photo as it is at full resolution.

For the rest of it turn off sync, turn off data if you can not do this via the notification drawer ( android) then you can download a widget from the play store, this will also save battery life.

NFH

Richard_T_ wrote: »

if your phone is unlocked i would recommend a pay as you go sim card from Vodafone, you will be charged £2.50 for up to 25mb of data - if want to use it, and you will avoid any risk of bill shock.

What? Why use a UK SIM card when he's in another country? That is ridiculous advice. He should get a SIM card from the visited country, not from the UK.

NFH

Apreciar wrote: »

I Already have a separate phone for over there the thing is I want to receive my text messages on my uk number too.

Why not use the more basic phone for receiving text messages from the UK and use your smartphone for everything else with a local SIM card?

Richard_T_

NFH wrote: »

What? Why use a UK SIM card when he's in another country? That is ridiculous advice. He should get a SIM card from the visited country, not from the UK.

Local Sim cards are not always as easy to obtain/set up as they are in the UK, the last place i went to required pay as you go/pre pay sim cards to be registered with the authorities ( name/ local address etc etc) before it could be activated, this will of course vary form country to country, if you start with a UK sim card and you dont know the local situation then you will be covered.

NFH

Richard_T_ wrote: »

Local Sim cards are not always as easy to obtain/set up as they are in the UK, the last place i went to required pay as you go/pre pay sim cards to be registered with the authorities ( name/ local address etc etc) before it could be activated, this will of course vary form country to country, if you start with a UK sim card and you dont know the local situation then you will be covered.

The OP has already said that he is spending a few months in the visited country (and you suggest spending £2 per day), and that he already has a phone there (which I assume means a local SIM card). Particularly as you don't know that the visited country is one of the very few problem countries for obtaining local SIM cards, your advice is not appropriate.

Buzby

Nobody has mentioned which countries are involved. Three offer an international option within the EU that costs a reasonable £5 per day and includes all your data.

More expensive than normal, certainly, but a known expense that can be managed when and where you need it.

grumbler

£5 per day is reasonable for a few days. £150 per month for a few months is not reasonable, especially with a spare phone with a local sim.

Apreciar

Buzby wrote: »

Nobody has mentioned which countries are involved. Three offer an international option within the EU that costs a reasonable £5 per day and includes all your data.

More expensive than normal, certainly, but a known expense that can be managed when and where you need it.

The country is Tenerife, as I said I am more than happy just to use local wifi and friends access when needed. I will check to see if the phone is unlocked, and if it is not to try to get it unlocked and as suggested put the Three sim in the Tenerife phone with no data at all and then use the Samsung with my Spanish Lebara sim which allows me to make calls to the UK for just two pence per minute.

The whole point is to ensure that I get nothing nasty from Three for data, if people text me on the Three number I call them back on the Lebara sim for very little cost.

The contributions have been very useful, thank you to all who responded.

One last point, if the phone is locked to Three would they unlock it for me, as I will not be using any of my substantial allowances in the UK at all but will be still be paying for them.

Buzby

Three offer the data bundle for Spanish networks. If your phone is locked (check first) then three will sell you an unlock code - or go to a Market offering unlocking (unless its an iPhone).