Traveling in Europe: ATT says if I use the phone as an iPod, it'll cost me!

Leave it in airplane mode and you ought to be fine i'd think.

In Airplane mode, there is no chance of voice or data roaming charges. If you just have Data Roaming turned off in Settings, you will not use cell data (but you will be charged for calls, if made or received). Note that in Airplane mode, you can also turn WiFi back on - no chance of charges there, and you can connect to WiFi hotspots for email, etc.

Hope this helps...

However why don't ATT pple tell me the same thing?

Because they simply don't know. If you were around these boards at all in the few weeks before the 3G iPhone launch, think back to all the posts by people wanting to upgrade, stating they had called AT&T and been told this, told that, told something else, mostly conflicting information, mostly wrong. First off, unless you enable international roaming with AT&T, you won't even be able to use your iPhone overseas (except as an iPod), so you won't incur charges at all.

You should read AT&T's web page on international travel with the iPhone:

http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/iphone-travel-tips.jsp

Also, the following is from the iPhone Manual:

+*Using iPhone Abroad*+
+You can use iPhone to make calls in many countries around the world. You must first+
+enable your carrier’s service plan for international roaming.+

+Enable international roaming: Contact your carrier.+

+Set iPhone to add the correct prefix when dialing from another country: In Settings,+
+tap Phone, then turn International Assist on. This lets you make calls to your home+
+country using the numbers in your contacts and favorites, without having to add a+
+prefix or your country code.1+

+Set the carrier to use: In Settings, tap Carrier, then select the carrier you prefer. This+
+option is available only when you’re traveling outside your carrier’s network. You can+
+make calls only on carriers that have roaming agreements with your iPhone service+
+provider. For more information, see “Carrier” on page 101.+

+Important: Voice and data roaming charges may apply. *_To avoid data roaming charges,*_+
+_*turn Data Roaming off_*.+

+Turn Data Roaming on or off: In Settings, choose General > Network and turn Data+
+Roaming on or off. Data Roaming is turned off by default.+

Note that visual voicemail does use data (and if you are outside your carrier's area it will not work with data roaming turned off).

i agree with the others...there is no way they could charge you if you use it for ipod only...there is no signal generated from ipod use

If you're still unsure, you could always remove the sim card, thereby turning your iPhone into an iPod with wifi for your mails and web where available, and the guarantee of no roaming charges.

Chris

How do you interpret what ATT wrote in the text:
"Check email manually using Wi-Fi instead of having email downloaded automatically to your iPhone. This way you can control the flow of data coming to your iPhone.[...]

This means changing Settings > Fetch New Data to manual instead of one of the automatic options. If it's set to check every 30 minutes, for example, it will do that over the cellular data connection if you're not connected to WiFi. Setting it to manual means you control when email is checked, and can make sure you are connected to a WiFi hotspot first.

What worries me is "control".... "all data associated to emails"... "safari uses more data"...

These just mean that the iPhone is a "full-featured" email/web client. Most cell phones/PDAs have limited web capabilities (e.g. they can only access mobile web sites, which are stripped-down versions of regular websites). The iPhone can handle the most regular browsing, but that means more data transferred (over whatever connecting you are using, cell or WiFi).

1) Does a text email has data?

A text email is still data, yes. A plain text email is less data than an HTML-formatted email, though.

2) would browsing the web using a free wifi connection cost me?

No, if you have a free WiFi connection, there is no charge for data from any carrier.

The bottom line here is that if you don't need to make/receive calls overseas, you can set your iPhone to Airplane Mode, then turn Wi-Fi back on, and you can be very sure that you will not incur any charges (unless you need to pay for Wi-Fi access somewhere).

If you need to make/receive calls, but do not want to pay data roaming charges, first call AT&T to activate international roaming on your account, then be sure Data Roaming is set to off. Note that in that case, you may be prompted to turn it on, for example, if you open an app that needs a data connection, like Weather or Maps, and you are not connected to WiFi, a pop-up will ask if you want to enable data roaming - if you tap yes, you'll be paying for it. The same applies to Visual Voicemail.

Hope this clarifies...

Either put it in airplane mode (this turns off all radios so no chance of data use). Or pull out the sim card, this will make it so it will not be able to connect to any cell network, but you will still be able to use wifi if you find free ones on your travels.

There are two things to worry about, data and phone calls. You can turn off data roaming in settings. No data will be used if this is off. Thats probably the biggest $$ saver. IF you don't want to have anyone call you or use the phone, you could put in airplane mode or don't answer your phone. You won't be charged for using the iPod. Whoever told you that at AT&T doesn't know what they are talking about. The iPod doesn't use data.

The other option is to set up sim pin. If you set it up and on wake up, don't put in the pin code, the iPhone will work with all features except those that depend on a carrier. Even wi-fi will work at local hot spots.

Glor