iPhone wi-fi question

[abbekit]

We are about to get an iPhone and want to use it for e-mail and internet on our upcoming trip to Canada. I can't quite figure out what kind of rate we will pay to use it. Our timeshares have wi-fi available in the units (free at one location, a $10.95 daily fee at our second location).

Will we have to pay another other fee to AT&T to connect to the internet at these locations?

I'm aware of the international roaming fee to make phone calls but I'm not sure about internet fees.

 

[Icarus]

I don't know about roaming fees in canada for the cell phone part of it, but, no, you won't be fees to AT&T for using wifi where you stay. You will pay for wifi if the place you stay at charges for it. If not, it will be free.

It's just like any other device with wifi. If the wifi is free, you can use it. If it isn't free, you can decide to pay for it or not.

-David

 

[lynne]

Your AT&T data charge for the iPhone (US $30/month in addition to your BAU phone service) will cover your internet and email access available though the AT&T network.

 

[Diane]

My son recently gave me his iPhone of last year after getting himself the new 3G version. So, I am new to iPhone, but here is my experience.

When I am in an area without the wi-fi to which I subscribe, which is often even around town here, not just when I am out of town, a screen appears asking me if I want to sign into such-and-such a wi-fi system. I touch "cancel" and the iPhone uses the default Edge system through ATT towers. Your iPhone toolbar at the top left will show an E in a small black box. You can search the web, etc on the Edge system. Some people complain that it is slow, but I have no problem with it. The other day while waiting in my dentist's office I remembered that I had wanted to send flowers to someone in the family having surgery that day. I opened my iPhone, got on the web, found a florist near her house and then went to AnyWho.com to get her address and phone for the florist. Called the florist. Flowers delivered before she got home a few hours later.

Bottom line, I don't miss not having wi-fi when it is not available, which more than just while I m out of town.

Diane

 

[pjrose]

My son has been using it like that since he got his 1st iPhone. He'll be in the car with Dad driving somewhere, will pull up where to find the cheapest gas, a map, movie times, etc.
I could use his old iPhone now that he has the new one, but I don't want to pay the higher price to use it vs my regular phone.

 

[abbekit]

Thanks everyone. That's what I thought but I've read horror stories of people thinking they are getting free roaming or some such thing then coming home to huge phone bills.

We don't want to receive phone calls on this phone while we are out of the country. We just want to use it for the internet.

 

[Icarus]

Thanks everyone. That's what I thought but I've read horror stories of people thinking they are getting free roaming or some such thing then coming home to huge phone bills.

We don't want to receive phone calls on this phone while we are out of the country. We just want to use it for the internet.

ok, that's a different question than what I thought you were asking. I think you are asking about roaming charges for data.

For data usage, when you are not using wifi, you will use the edge or 3g network of AT&Ts roaming partner in Canada, if roaming in Canada is not part of your plan. The things you have to watch out for is if you have your iphone setup to automatically check for email or download anything from the network, it will still do that even if you are roaming, and you may have to pay extra data charges when you do that.

There are probably ways to turn that stuff off, so you should look into it before you go.

-David

 

[Helaine]

To eliminate extra charges from roaming, you can go to SETTINGS and turn AIRPLANE MODE - ON - that will turn the telephone part off.

Under FETCH NEW DATA, turn PUSH, OFF - that will turn push email off.

And under GENERAL choose NETWORK and turn DATA ROAMING OFF. The Network Data Roaming will really kill you with extra charges.

If you decide to make phone calls, turn AIRPLANE MODE back OFF.

 

[abbekit]

Okay now I'm confused again. Here's how we want to use the iPhone:

We will NOT use it to make or receive phones calls (the iPhone is my DH's business number - we will use my personal cell phone if we need to make call).

We will NOT use it to check e-mail.

We will only use the iPhone to surf the internet via wi-fi. We will have free wi-fi available in our condo. We also have over two hours of free wi-fi on our Starbucks account (and there is a Starbucks in Banff).

Do we have to pay any international roaming charges or data charges to do this?

 

[Icarus]

Do we have to pay any international roaming charges or data charges to do this?

No, just do everything Helaine said, and it will never connect to the cellular network when roaming. That will stop it from connecting on its own to check for new email or anything else it might decide to do on its own.

-David

 

[abbekit]

No, just do everything Helaine said, and it will never connect to the cellular network when roaming. That will stop it from connecting on its own to check for new email or anything else it might decide to do on its own.

-David

Okay. Thanks!