A Question about traveling to Hawaii.

Since you live in Florida and are an AT&T subscriber, Hawaii is a U.S. state and where AT&T has coverage so international roaming does not apply. You will not be roaming while there and will have no extra charges.

Hawaii is part of the US, it works exactly the same as the continental US. There are no extra charges.

You can't change EDGE, but you do have to manually turn on *data roaming* if you want to access the internet/email abroad. So you won't be charged for using the internet unless you specifically turn it on. If you can get Wi-Fi, then just use that, assuming you can get on to a free Wi-Fi service, and leave data roaming off; you'll still be able to make calls and texts over the normal mobile phone line.

I assume Hawaii has AT&T? If so, then you might find that accessing the internet over EDGE is the same cost as anywhere else in the US? Even so, Wi-Fi will be quicker for you if you have it.

Message was edited by: jia10

Um...Hawaii is a US state, so given that the original poster also appears to be in the US, I don't understand how roaming charges would apply. The AT&T data plan is a national plan, is it not? I don't think there would be any extra charges whatsoever using the phone in Hawaii.

-SB

News flash: Hawai'i became the 50th state in 1959. There are no data roaming charges imposed by at&t of the sort you would reasonably expect in a foreign nation.

Take a look at the at&t coverage map.

Okay: it's true that we went to school barefoot, and that's different enough. But I can remember tourists expressing surprise at the 'modern conveniences' like indoor plumbing. Honolulu has long been like Los Angeles or Miami, in the tropics. And, that's true for mobile telephone coverage: most of Honolulu is blanketed by 3G data service from at&t.

iPhone is available for sale and use in 48 states. But not the 48 contiguous states. Alaska and Vermont don't offer it. Has to do with AT&T mainly. While AT&T has coverage in Alaska, it is done via another carrier they have a deal with. Not really their towers. Thus they pay a fee to them to have you on it. While you can visit there, too much time on the networks up there in the end cost AT&T money and thus they push on restrictions. So the issue with Alaska is unrelated to Hawaii. Hawaii is covered and will be just like being at home.

I think you've missed the point for whatever reason. Since AT&T has blanket 3G coverage there, there is EDGE blanket coverage also with greater coverage than 3G more than likely so even better without having a 3G iPhone in regards to internet access coverage there.

Perhaps our experience is different in the UK? Ironically 02 has excellent 3G coverage, but had very poor EDGE capabilities, at least until they made a deal with Apple, at which time they updated their towers to also provide EDGE, and are still doing so in many areas. So perhaps they simply leap-frogged EDGE thinking that most new phones would have 3G, whilst AT&T went predictably from GPRS to EDGE to 3G?

That information is not quite accurate.

AT&T bought out Cell One last year. At the beginning of November 2007, AT&T assumed ownership / branding and offered the iPhone to Alaska at that time.

AT&T has been doing business in Alaska for many decades providing long distance service.

Currently, AT&T coverage in Alaska is provided by AT&T, just as in the Lower 48 or "Outside" as we call it, there will be areas where you will connect through another providers equipment. However there is no additional charge for iPhone users with the standard plan.

So there is no "issue" with Alaska.

As for the poster who was allegedly charged $400 for his visit to Alaska. That would be between him and his carrier at the time. Some carriers do charge you for "roaming" away from their network. It depends on your carrier and plan. For many years I have been with a local Alaska provider and had a plan that included nationwide long distance and no roaming charges. I only hope that AT&T can match their coverage and reliability.

I still have my cell with the Alaska carrier and will not discontinue the service until I can verify AT&T matches or exceeds their system.

Well I know I am not well versed in all the information (just went to look up before I posted). My wording about not having any towers it appears is wrong. However, the reports did talk about the fact that Vermont and Alaska are the two states where the iPhone is not available. For Alaska, a lot had to do with the coverage and the fact that many times you will be roaming on another network. In AT&T's data plans deep in the clauses, they do state they can charge (or cancel you) if you roam with data too much during a month (because they pay the othe company for use of thier networks). For those in Alaska, it would almost be a given they would roam too much. Thus the iPhone is not offered. Now don't know about call usage, but know it did deal with the data plans. $20 a month for data for a user is fine and dandy when going across thier towers, but if they have to pay another company that cost could add up and thus they take a loss.

For Vermont, I forget the reasons there...not sure if it is some backwards laws or what there, but AT&T and Apple didn't want to deal with it.

Note, this is old information and may of changed now (as you said, they bought them out in 2007). It was just that way perhaps at first and that may be when that person got that bill.

Message was edited by: DaVBMan

I live in Florida. I bought and activated my iPhone while in Honolulu. The only issue you may have could be signal strength in different areas of the islands. Roaming and other data charges do not apply. Enjoy your trip!

If you are roaming more than 50% of the time on a regular basis - if during a single month only you may be contacted by AT&T but this would need to be on a regular basis such as living in Alaska or Vermont where you would likely be roaming the vast majority of the time.

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