[Cajone1963]

Hi,

I'm on a monthly contract with Vodaphone (600 minutes & unlimited texts) and I'm going on holiday to the USA. I won't be intending to make calls back to the UK when I'm away but I do want to make internal / domestic calls within the USA to make reservations etc. How much will this cost?

Also one of my friends who I am travelling with is also on Vodaphone - how much will it cost me to ring her mobile bearing in mind we will both be in the USA presumeably using the same network our mobiles have decided to find?

[legends wear 7]

Does America have PAYG would prob be best to get a local SIM

[Inkblot]

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/pho...-roaming-calls

I used uk2abroad.com when I went to the US earlier this year. It's a slightly clunky system but as we needed to call friends and relations in the USA to arrange where to meet up etc, and call family in the UK, it was worth it. Of course your phone has to be unlocked and you still need to keep an eye on data (or turn it off).

[clonmult]

Quote:

Originally Posted by legends wear 7

Does America have PAYG would prob be best to get a local SIM

That tends to be the best alternative when travelling. I don't recall any of the UK telcos offering decent roaming tariffs. Vodafones partner in the US is Verizon (they own 45% of them, not allowed any more).

Catch is - do you have an unlocked phone? Most Voda/Orange/T-Mob contract phones tend to be network locked, so using a local SIM may not be an option.

Incidentally, its "Vodafone". There is no "ph" in the name

[misar]

Don't think the original question has been answered except to point out it will be expensive. The standard Vodafone UK rate for USA use is £1.35/min to make and £1.00/min to receive calls. Calling a USA domestic number or a Vodafone mobile also in the USA are both irrelevant if you have a standard contract - so calling your friend would cost you both a total of £2.35/min!

[Cajone1963]

Quote:

Originally Posted by misar

Don't think the original question has been answered except to point out it will be expensive. The standard Vodafone UK rate for USA use is £1.35/min to make and £1.00/min to receive calls. Calling a USA domestic number or a Vodafone mobile also in the USA are both irrelevant if you have a standard contract - so calling your friend would cost you both a total of £2.35/min!

Thanks......what about sending and receiving a text? Also is there anyway i can switch off iphone for calls but still use it for texting and internet if in a free wifi zone?

[The Lord Lucan]

Airplane mode then switch the wifi on. Only way to guarantee you don't get charged. Only iMessage texts will work though, Internet and emails will work as normal when on wifi too.

[Cajone1963]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Lord Lucan

Airplane mode then switch the wifi on. Only way to guarantee you don't get charged. Only iMessage texts will work though, Internet and emails will work as normal when on wifi too.

Why only iphone texts?

[darkone338]

because you will have turned the mobile network off. iMessages use data not the SMS delivery system. IIRC its 35p/text if you send a normal SMS.

[clonmult]

Another option - tied in with the wifi - is to go for a third party, cross platform messenging solution like Whatsapp.

I use it extensively, along with quite a lot of family/friends. Primarily use it for sending pictures, videos and occasionally even regular texts. Works perfectly between Symbian, Android, iOS and Blackberry platforms.

[Blofeld]

Another vote for Whatsapp here. I use it on 3G in the UK and it's totally free. I send pictures and texts to my cousin in the USA almost daily and my friends on holiday can send things back and it doesn't cost a penny! It also works on wifi, so perfect when overseas and the 3G would be too costly. Of course you need to be in a wifi zone!

I am on Vodafone and travel to the USA fairly regularly and if I can't use wifi or send a text message then I just use a payphone. Buy a calling card from a newsagent for, say $10, and you'll be able to call landlines and mobiles all over the USA for next to nothing. You'll probably get something like an hours worth of calls for $10. Payphones are still pretty popular in the USA, more so than here and you'll find them pretty much everywhere. You may need a quarter to make the call needed to activate the card, so just be sure to have some on you. Even without a calling card, making internal landline calls in the USA from a payphone won't cost much at all. For a 5 minute call to a hotel, for example, you're probably only looking at around $2. But you will need change!

If you need to call abroad then the you'll need a more expensive calling card. You can also put credit cards in most payphones over there, but you'll probably be charged a foreign transaction fee each time.


It sounds old fashioned but it's the way I still communicate in the USA and it costs hardly anything!

[gold fire 201]

I would strongly advise you not to roam with your Vodafone in the USA and to be fair any uk network.I did this with my Vodafone mobile a few years ago and i come back to a £500 bill.To be fair the usa which i never understood is one of the most expensive countries to roam to..Even thought both handsets will be roaming on the same network your still be paying roaming charges to each handset and call receive charges.For me to make out going calls to the uk was £1 a minute.

On my next vist to the usa i bought two AT&T usa simcards pay as you go and that worked out much cheaper.

[Cajone1963]

Apologies if this is a basic question but is their a setting on my iphone that will allow me to switch everything off except sending and receiving text messages? Ive decided I dont need to make or receive any calls but want to use text and also the option to connect to free wifi when it is available!

[mikey86uk]

Well you can turn DATA Roaming off, which turns off Mobile Internet,Email, MMS and other DATA, so all you would have to do it ditch the phone call, because i dont think you can turn off making/receiving calls?

Anyway to turn off DATA Roaming:

Settings>General>Cellular: Then at the bottom of that menu turn DATA Roaming OFF.

[davybhoy]

You can't have it so that only txts come through, you'd have to just not answer calls