Taking iPhone abroad?

Hey people,

I'll be traveling to NY in a few weeks (from Manchester airport, to chicago and then onto NY ) and Im concerned about the phone going through the scanner things when you have to get all your stuff scanned for security and such .. I dont want it coming out the other end and the whole thing being wiped or something. Am I being paranoid or is their an actual danger that the iPhone could be damaged by it?

It should be fine, If apple designed a phone that broke when it was scanned then there would be an outroar and the phone would be near enough useless.

One thing to watch though, you know all thoes cool little applications that use the internet while your out and about to update things like weather reports. well they will still do this when your abroad and charges may be exeptionaly high when your are out of the country. this is a problem quite a lot of people have had.

if your going to be abroad, chances are your not going to be making calls on the phone? if so, just turn it in airplane mode, problem solved.

aahhh right thanks, i never thought of that! Do i get charged for using Wi-fi abroad too? The hotel has free wi-fi access which is the main reason why I want to take it

EDIT: thanks kgeier82, i only saw your post when the page refreshed when I posted No i wont be making calls, i just wanted to be able to use the internet of a night time for something to do

You will be fine taking your phone through the xray machine. I fly twice a month and my iPhone does just well.

Since your phone plan is in England, and you will most likely be data roaming, and you still want to use your wireless. You don't want to turn it onto airplane mode because it also turns off your wireless capabilities. So go to Settings>General>Network. Then turn off Data Roaming. This will turn off EDGE when it's roaming so you wont be charged a bunch of money.

Using EDGE outside your service region (roaming) will make your phone bill look ugly.
But using your regular wireless to connect to wireless networks around you will not cost you anything. It's just like using wireless in laptops- but on your iPhone.

Hope that helps, and enjoy visiting! NY is fun. Where all are you going?

EuphLlama said:

You will be fine taking your phone through the xray machine. I fly twice a month and my iPhone does just well.

Since your phone plan is in England, and you will most likely be data roaming, and you still want to use your wireless. You don't want to turn it onto airplane mode because it also turns off your wireless capabilities. So go to Settings>General>Network. Then turn off Data Roaming. This will turn off EDGE when it's roaming so you wont be charged a bunch of money.

Using EDGE outside your service region (roaming) will make your phone bill look ugly.
But using your regular wireless to connect to wireless networks around you will not cost you anything. It's just like using wireless in laptops- but on your iPhone.

Hope that helps, and enjoy visiting! NY is fun. Where all are you going?

Click to expand...

Thanks for that! thats a great help! Me and my family are just doing all the touristy stuff..ya know, statue of liberty, empire state building, central park, Macys...Apple store Even if my dad is forced to wait outside (he's a PC User... last time I took him into an apple store was to show him the new iMacs. He turned to me and went in the loudest possible voice- 'Thats just ridiculous. How do these nerds cope without a startbar??'... I walked out in embarrassment ... so ive banned him from ever coming in to an Apple store with me again ) But im really looking forward to it Only ever been to Florida in the US so New York is a big thing for me

but thanks for the help! i can now travel worry-free!

careful leaving the EDGE on while in US. itll use itself every once in a while.

i didnt know you needed wifi, i cant comment on how you should go about this using the apple software

Those are all of the things I did when I went. Go to the M&M and Hershey Chocolate store in time square! MMm, chocolate.

The Apple Store on 5th is awesome (the glass cube). It was packed!

many people here in the USA have traveled to the UK and come home to find a very LARGE phone bill due to data roaming, even with the phone was turned off.

http://ipod.about.com/od/internationaliphone/qt/iph_data_roam.htm


Better make sure you get it set up correctly yo avoid and HUGE phone bills

Being a Frequent Traveller to NYC, I'm going to give you a list of things to see and/or do:

1. Chrysler & Empire State Buildings.
2. NY Transit Museum
3. Trailer Park Inn - good burgers and fries (chips) in the middle of the day
4. The best way to get around is by subway & bus. Forget the taxis. The MTA has 7-day unlimited-use metro cards for about $40 per person. A bus or subway ride is $2 and you'll quickly see them pay for themselves.
5. I forget the name of it, but there is an Irish pub on 7th Avenue, between 56th and 54th streets, that is MOST EXCELLENT. We've taken our friends from Barrow-in-Furness there, and it cured their homesickness for British cooking.
6. Do something incredibly cool and geeky: Take a Segway Tour. Only thing is, it isn't a tour. It's a 2-hour class in how to use the Segway as a personal transporter in an urban environment. You start at the United Nations and wander the East Side of Manhattan. Contact Itsi at http://www.nysegwaytours.com/ContactUs/tabid/214/Default.aspx and tell him I sent you.
7. The American Museum of Natural History - where "Night at the Museum" was filmed.
8. The Stage Deli - obnoxious staff, incredible food. Right across from Carnegie Hall at 56th & 7th. Interestingly enough, the office building that is directly across from Carnegie Hall on the North side of 56th is the building that Bill Clinton first selected for his post-Presidential offices. And the only reason I can think of as to why he selected it was the Hooters on the first floor.
9. Two Boots Pizza in the Basement level of Grand Central Station. Also, the Little Pie Company on the same level for good cheese cake, and of course, Oren's is the only place to get coffee. Forget Starbucks.
10. To get the best view of the former site of the World Trade Centers, once you are done at the Statue of Liberty, take the M6 bus uptown. Tell the driver you want off at Ground Zero, and they'll help you out. From that stop, there are observation platforms so you can view the current activities on the site, and as you are a geek, you'll also be in walking distance from J&R - the most bizarre computer & electronics store on the island.

those sound like some great eating places that in also going yp have to check out next time on up there.thanks!

Wow thanks PerryLynch! i'll denfinatly put those on my list! we're only going for 5 days but theres a 99% chance we'll be going back there again in 2009 to finnish off all the stuff we didnt do (We did that for Florida) so i'll bookmark those pages and suggest them to my family, thanks!

I travelled to Dubai last November and checked a few e-mails and a tiny (and I do mean tiny) bit of browsing only to find a bill of 400 Euros ALONE for the data roaming.

I was shocked and complained to my provider (Vodafone in Ireland) and they agreed that it was extortionate and seeing as I'm such a good customer, credited my account with 400 Euro's!!!

Be wary when abroad, turn off Data roaming!

Khaiyrah:
Something to consider, if you're up for it. If your phone has the older bootloader (3.something, NOT 4.something, go to Settings->General->About and read "Modem Version") then you can Jailbreak your phone, use the software unlocking tool, then buy a pre-paid SIM once you get to the states. You'd be able to make calls if you need to, and even use EDGE data. And no ugly bills to worry about.

Something to think about.

Im only a student so If i where to come home and find a bill like that, i'd probably have to sell the phone just to pay for it! So turning data-roaming off will defiantly be the first thing I do! and snoslicer8, i dont really want to jailbreak it, not until after Nov 9th 08 anyway (1 year warranty runs out then) but thanks anyway!

Hey.

Erm not too sure. But don't they usually give you a tray or basket to put keys, phones and such in. So you don't have them in your pocket through the machines.

Stung on Roaming

Yeah just came back from a 1 week trip to LA. Called up to ask about data roaming before I went but didnt appreciate what the cost implications were. For emails and a little browsing my roaming bill came to £540. Total bill (£90 phone - didnt actually make that many calls) was £690. Bang goes the summer holiday fund for the family..

So do yourself a favor and TURN ROAMING OFF when abroad. Just use Wi-Fi

WiFi and Skype when you need to call. Yeah Skype costs a bit to call phones but pretty cheap compared to international roaming

+1 on using Skype for calling abroad -- use free wifi and Skype and your long distance is, seriously, pennies.

I went to NY from Manchester in June with Airplane mode on during the flight and it was fine going through the scanner/x-ray machine.

Calls and text were cheap but 3G data was really expensive.

I spent a month driving to Vegas and back and no problems with AT&T. It switched from O2 within seconds