Best way to take a phone

[Bear]

One of the engineers here is taking a long awaited trip to Europe, even taking some of his kids, grandkids and Grandma.  He, by chance, called AT&T to find out what if he could use his iPhone and what t would cost him to use his iPhone and gotting a whopping surprise!!  "Don't take it or turn it off while there until needed."  The iPhone constantly polls for info and updates.  Which gets you roaming charges of @ $1.29/minute.  Lets see $1.29/min x 60 minutes/hr x 24 hrs/day X 7 days/wk x 3 weeks = $39,009.60.  That just can't be true? Even texting?  He had to have misunderstood!

So what can I suggest to him so he can maintain communication ties with the real world.  I've seen posts about triple chip phones but didn't pay attention to them.  Not even sure if those posts apply to Europe.

The Bear Family

[texassingledad]

OMG    thanks Bear. I have an iPhone and was going to take it with me to Colombia. BUT NOT NOW.

Les

[jm21-2]

Get a sim card from the country he's in on a pay per minute/pre-pay/etc. plan. I paid about $8 for one in China and never got anywhere near using it up. Just call AT&T for international unlock instructions and remember that it's different on touchscreens because you have to enter the codes differently...he should google some instructions for the iphone before he goes. I had to go to an internet cafe and look up how to do it. They give you instructions for if you have a keypad and it's totally different. However, the month of internet access I bought didn't work with my smartphone (LG incite, I assume the same applies to iphones). I had to use my AT&T sim card for checking e-mail occasionally to check for emergencies at work but haven't seen the bill yet.