Euro travel, taking iphone4. advice please

[Maidn]

I cant find info specific to my need, so please any helpful reponses would be grately appreciated.

We are taking two iphone 4's to Austria, Vienna (3 days), Croatia (24 days), Greece (5 days).
We need to be able to call or sms back home to Oz and need to be able to do internet banking and view maps etc...

i was thinking i should;
phone a. which will be used for calls - Replace the Tesltra sim (leave it at home) with a European sim for calls and data.

phone b. leave the Tesltra sim in (they made me believe that if they block from their end and i turn off data roaming- i will not get a usgae charge??) But after reading others posts on this forum I cant fully believe Tesltra ??

• Turn off Data Roaming
• Turn off 3G
• Avoid using Calendar and "push" mail
• Get Telstra to block all data at their end
• Turn my iPhone into an iPod by setting it to Airplane Mode and then turning WiFi back on

Questions
- phone a. is there a sim I can buy today in Melbourne that will work from Australia via Dubai- and in Euro giving me good call rates and data?

- phone b. what does airplane mode really do? im hoping that it will disable all calling an allow me to use data free in wifi hotspots?
Or do i trust Teltra that all Roaming will we off. And then i can use their sim to sms. And maybe make calls to other iphone users using Viber and then i wont get a huge bill anyway?

I am pretty confused!!!

any suggestions welcome

 

[samh004]

Turning on Airplane Mode will disable all radio signals, [-]so that means no wifi either[/-]. You use it on a plane, conveniently, to avoid turning your phone on mid-flight for use as an iPod and interfering with the plane systems.

I would think your best bet is to buy a SIM in Europe, maybe even in each country you go to, or look into one of those universal SIM’s that have been mentioned time and time again on this forum, yet I still forget who make them. Often they’ll give you a local number in each country you want and the call costs will be substantially lower than roaming, even though you’ll be using it in multiple countries.

As for Data Roaming on Telstra, simply keeping Data Roaming off will stop it from downloading anything. My parents often use this in Australia (with their HK-based phones) and if they need an email they quickly turn it on, download it, and turn it off again.

 

[Maca44]

I take a 10" Asus netbook with me overseas (usually USA/CAN), then use wifi at various locations (cafes/McDonalds etc) to do banking/email and skype the kids. You can access wifi at most hotels. Works for me and avoids telcos hitting me up for additional costs. You can pick up one of the netbooks very cheaps nowadays.

 

[samh004]

I take a 10" Asus netbook with me overseas (usually USA/CAN), then use wifi at various locations (cafes/McDonalds etc) to do banking/email and skype the kids. You can access wifi at most hotels. Works for me and avoids telcos hitting me up for additional costs. You can pick up one of the netbooks very cheaps nowadays.

You could use wifi on the iPhone 4 the OP already owns for no additional charge If they were worried they’d only need to take the SIM out and they’d be fine, but I understand you’re saying, go the wifi route!

 

[pshepvic]

Few things to clarify here:

1. What Telstra is telling you is correct, but depending what you need it might not be necessary to get them to do anything.
2. If you want to still be able to make calls, but not use data, just switch off Cellular Data in the settings. You won't be charged any data fees, only calls you make and receive. You can leave wi-fi switched on and use it at free hotspots.
3. If you don't want to pay for calls either, no need to switch to airplane mode - just don't answer the phone or make calls.
4. If you're really paranoid, sure put it to airplane mode. However you actually CAN switch wi-fi back on despite what's been said before. There are some airlines that offer in flight wi-fi, so obviously you need to be able to switch it back on in airplane mode.
5. If you want to be able to make cheap calls and/or use data, get a European SIM - there are several other threads on here about this. Just make sure you call Telstra and get the iPhone unlocked before you go and test it with a different carrier SIM (borrow someone else's SIM who is with Optusnet, Voda etc to test it).