Traveling with your smart phone

We get asked every day – “Will my phone work?” Now we don’t have all of the answers, but we have some guidance to get you on the path right for your needs.

With a bit of careful pre-trip planning you can stay connected while abroad. Everyone likes to stay connected, to check with your office, to stay in contact with your family, or post your travels to Facebook and other sites. Smart phones and cell phones are changing and upgrading their features every day.  Traveling in the USA generally requires no changes to your current plan, but once you head out internationally, it's typically a different and sometimes expensive story and no one likes to get an unexpected high bill at the end of their holiday.

AT&T and T-Mobile have the broadest and most flexible international plans, Verizon and Sprint work great in the US, but can offer limited options abroad, so it's best to start with a few questions with your carrier to avoid miscommunications.  Plan to pay them a face to face visit at a retail location if you do not feel comfortable with finding the answers over the internet or by phone.

What do you want to be able to do?

Make Phone Calls
Most of the time your current plan will let you call from the US to other countries.  Advise them that you want to be able to call back to the US and other Countries while you are abroad. Make sure you understand what you will also need to dial in front of the country code as well (ie, +01704-372-4231), such as the + symbol.  Keep in mind that when you make or receive phone calls while away, you are using another countries local carrier and these calls can cost from .50 to $2.50 per minute and are not part of your normal plan.

Text
Consider texting as an inexpensive alternative to emails and phone calls to stay in touch.  It’s fast and available wherever you have cell service and photos can be attached to help you share the moment with others back home. Just mention to your provider that you would like to text "while out of the country" as this feature is not generally part of the standard texting plans in the US.

Use Apps and other Smart Phone Features
Phones can do some pretty amazing things these days, from making simple calls to giving you the current weather report or surfing the web for a local address.  But, once you are abroad, some of these features and apps may not work as you planned.  Apps that rely on the Internet to provide you with content, can use more megabites than you realize and once again, the allowance you have here in the US won't apply so limits and overages need your attention as well.  So it's best to spend some quality time with your phone to test out some of their features without internet or cell service

Give your Phone a “Test Run”
First, switch your phone to Airplane Mode.  When airplane mode is on, a small plane appears in the status bar at the top of the screen, and emits no Wi-Fi, cellular (4G or 3G models), or Bluetooth signals. You won’t be able to use apps or features that depend on these connections. This disconnects your phone from Wi-Fi and cellular access.  Now, try each one of your apps. You might be surprised to find that many will not work.  It's best to know this now, than discover later that a favorite app might not be available that you intended to rely on.  This will also give you a chance to see if the app has an offline version available for download or if another app might be better.  Switch your phone back to the normal settings for full access.

Next, turn off "Data Roaming" and try your apps again. Turning off Data Roaming avoids accessing the web via the celluar network.  Foreign carrier charges may arise when using a network provided by a different carrier and will prevent the phone from using the cellular network for downloads and updates.  Some apps are sneaky and will update with out you even knowing it!  This is the setting you should consider using while abroad.  Online access to your apps will now rely solely when you are in Wi-Fi range Fast food restaurant often have free Wi-Fi and are a mecca for surfing.