Overseas question

[apocalypse_later]

Im going to be in Italy soon and I want to use my phone as a phone occasionally but I do not want to pay for international data, which sounds crazy expensive, but I do want to get on wifi whenever its available. Is it possible to disable 3G yet have the phone do GSM voice and wifi?

 

[wildblue]

Im going to be in Italy soon and I want to use my phone as a phone occasionally but I do not want to pay for international data, which sounds crazy expensive, but I do want to get on wifi whenever its available. Is it possible to disable 3G yet have the phone do GSM voice and wifi?

Here's what I believe is the case: If you disable "Data roaming" (Settings > Wireless and Network > Mobile networks) and keep wifi enabled you should be able to make and receive calls, but only access data connections when you have a wifi link.

If you plan to make or receive many calls in Italy it would be much cheaper to purchase a local SIM. To answer your question, you can disable 3G (WCDMA) if you want and force the phone to use only 2G (GSM). (Settings > Wireless and Network > Network Mode). But I'm not aware that this would have any affect on the cost of calls.

 

[apocalypse_later]

Thanks. I disabled data roaming.

I dont plan on making too many calls. Maybe 4 or 5 at most, I just didnt want some data thirsty app to start downloading stuff.

 

[wildblue]

Couple of other points:

1. You may also want to turn off background and auto sync (Settings > Accounts and sync > Background Data and Auto-Sync). In addition, some apps may enable data sync which could use data access via your 3G/2G connection even if you have data roaming turned off. On the iPhone for example there's an extra option to turn off "cellular data" but far as I can determine this is not available on Android phones. You can put the phone in airplane mode, which should prevent any cellular data access (wifi will still work), but of course you wouldn't be able to make or receive calls. You could just disable airplane mode to make a call, but if you want to be able to receive calls at random then airplane mode may not be a good option.

2. You will need to get your phone's account enabled by TMO for international roaming. Without that turned on you can't make calls overseas. Also, even though the TMO support person tells you your phone has been enabled for international use I would advise verifying this with them before you travel. On a recent trip I got to France and needed to make an urgent call only to discover TMO had failed to actually activate my phone, even though they said they had. I got a month's bill credit when I got back due to their mistake, but it was a significant hassle. Just my advice.

 

[davidtheprof]

I was recently in Europe, with wife and 2 TMob Vibrants...


I put in UK orange SIM cards, but mostly trying to use WiFi calling.
Nimbuzz+nimbuzzout seems to work very well, great sound quality, but cannot leave it on due to battery drain, and no number for folks to call you (though there is if I use sipgate with it).

Truphone has decent call quality, not as good as Nimbuzz, people on receiving end complained of echo,
but you can leave it in background all the time with minor extra battery drain, and people can reach me on wifi using my US number.

And yes, turn off roaming, auto sync, background data, and set email check to manual. Ought to be an easier way to do all that (there is some ap, I've heard...)