[Mhoram]

I'm off to France tomorrow so I checked with O2 to make sure I could make calls abroad without having to unlock something first (which I can - so far so obvious) but I also wanted to know about recieving emails.

The answer I got was that I would be better off not receiving them or using the web at all becuase it is quite expensive.

I was also told that I could buy a bolt on for £20 that enabled my to receive and send 10meg of data - interestingly though (and the O2 guy said they had only just been told this) is that it is pro rata.

In other words I buy today and start accrueing (spelling) from today so when I go tomorrow I have only accrued (10meg/31)*2 worth of data - so if I use 2meg tomorrow I will have to pay for the extra 1.36meg I have used.

He advised me not to bother buying it and just make sure my Iphone was set with roaming off.

I then asked him about Wifi (my hotel has wifi) and he said 'he thought' I would still be charged.

But I don't buy the last bit - surely I won't be charged for receiving emails and browsing the web on wifi...

Or am I wrong ? (happened before )

Cheers

Andy

[landwomble]

your bolt on is for use in this country, i'd have thought, so you'd still get stuck for data roaming charges at ludicrous rates. wifi will cost you nowt though. given you can't readily see how much n/w traffic the iphones' used, i'd turn data off and stick to the wifi...

[Moogle]

The wi-fi will be free unless the place providing it decides to charge you. You certainly won't get charged by O2.

Having roaming on and making and receiving calls will be expensive so I would only use it for emergencies.

[Mhoram]

thanks guys, as I suspected but nice to have it in triplicate

[Gary D]

A friend at work has just got back from 3 weeks in Nice, she used her phone extensively while in france (maps email, text messsages, calls) she returned to a nice £450 bill from o2!!!!! so be careful.

as for wifi put the phone in airplane mode and turn on wifi that way you know you wont be charged as the phone will be unable to access the mobile network.


have a nice holiday!!!


G

[daveb975]

Originally Posted by Gary D

A friend at work has just got back from 3 weeks in Nice, she used her phone extensively while in france (maps email, text messsages, calls) she returned to a nice £450 bill from o2!!!!! so be careful.

as for wifi put the phone in airplane mode and turn on wifi that way you know you wont be charged as the phone will be unable to access the mobile network.


have a nice holiday!!!


G

Ouch! I went to Malta the week after I got my iPhone. I left data roaming off most of the time, but couldn't resist having a 30 minute session with it one morning. I got charged £60 for a very small amount of data!

[broooce]

in Florida at the moment, using a wifi acccess point but have date roaming turned off and location services, hoping this will be enough to avoid data charges. Also have around 200 of my monthly texts left which equates to 50 from here.

Fingers crossed.

[SeedyR]

Does anyone know if the GPS function actually uses data on the o2 network? i.e if I'm on holiday abroad and use GPS, will it cost me anything?

[Gary D]

Originally Posted by SeedyR

Does anyone know if the GPS function actually uses data on the o2 network? i.e if I'm on holiday abroad and use GPS, will it cost me anything?

yes its all data, so yes i think it will. Check with O2 to be sure though but i'm 95% sure.

G

[dejongj]

I just came back from Portugal, and bought their £50 data bolt on package for international roaming....To me it was well worth the money as I was able to close a deal worth 30000 times that! But otherwise it would be overpriced and for personal life e-mails only I would suggest to learn to live without your e-mails for a few days/weeks just like we all did no more than 10 years ago...

[Saldawop]

SO does that mean that if you are abroad ,even taking photos could cost you money ?(if you use the location function)

[Gary D]

Originally Posted by Saldawop

SO does that mean that if you are abroad ,even taking photos could cost you money ?(if you use the location function)

I would assume so as its going to pull data from the GPS network.


G

[Moogle]

Originally Posted by Gary D

I would assume so as its going to pull data from the GPS network.


G

Which kind of defeats the purpose as you're more likely to take photos abroad. Having said that I would imagine most people would use a regular camera as even a basic point and shoot digital camera is going to give you better pictures.

[dejongj]

I didn't think the location services are based upon downloading data! Wouldn't it use the build in GPS, and/or assisted by triangulation for which no data package is required...

[haggisman]

To me it was well worth the money as I was able to close a deal worth 30000 times that!

So pretty small beer then

Just jealous:cool

[Greg66]

Here's a real life experience.

I left the UK on 1 Aug for LA. My billing date was the 12th. So on 23 Jul I rang O2 to buy the £50/50mb data roaming bolt on. I was told this was effective immediately, but would not get used until I was abroad (if that makes sense - I wouldn't be using those 50mb in the UK, and I couldn't spec the bolt on to start on the date of departure - billing dates only). I was also told that it was set to automatically not renew on 11 Aug. Perfect.

So I get here and reset my usage stats so as to keep track of the data usage. First thing I notice is that using gps tracking chews through data at an incredible rate (I assume becuase it is pulling down maps/sat photos constantly as you move). Second is that because the iphone downloads emails and web pages in "full format" (cf the sawn down format for html used on BBs) that chews through data pretty quickly too. But the real culprit seems to be maps.

Upshot: in four days I've gone through >40mb. At which point I revert to data roaming off.

Second big thing is that I check my account balance online and see no reference to a data roaming bolt on. I email o2 and get told that the bolt on is set to be activated on 11 Aug, not before. So I get that sorted - sort of. I get told that the data bolt on will be effective from 3 Aug (interestingly, therefore, not a billing date), and that any data I'm charged for on 1-3 Aug will be refunded provided I'm still within my 50mb limit overall.

The upshot of this, to me, is straightforward. The iphone is not yet an internationally usable device, due to the crazy price of data when roaming, combined with the amount of data that the iphone can download. Even the roaming packages are not going to provide you with real freedom, and I've no idea what O2's solution is if you want to use more than 50mb of roaming data in a month.

As for wi-fi, I'm pretty certain that data downloaded over wifi falls outside the o2 charging structure altogether, so is notionally free. I say notionally, because in the US it is relatively difficult to find free wi-fi. You can find unsecured networks aplenty, but they usually take you to a intro screen which invites you to pay for internet access. Properly free wifi I've found in museums and the like, but not many other places.

[Moogle]

I guess the only viable option abroad is wi-fi assuming you can get access to a free or reasonably priced at least connection. This obviously wouldn't work for GPS and maps but should for everything else