Traveling with Droid

[Raikkonen]

Hey guys,

This is going to be my first time taking my phone on a trip and was wondering if you had any suggestions. I'm going on a cruise, but still want to use my Razr as a music player/gaming device, but obviously don't want a $1000 roaming bill when I get back. Other than turning on airplane mode, should I do anything else? Any other travel tips are welcome too!

 

[TisMyDroid]

Oh Raikkonen, what a wonderful trip! You will surely have a great time. See this thread below, post #3. These are the things I did to set up my son's phone when he went to Venice for 6 weeks... He was able to use his phone everyday and not one single extra charge from Verizon. Your cruise ship probably has wifi, so you will be able to do lots.

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-general-discussions/209635-going-mexico-city-help.html

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[Raikkonen]

Oh Raikkonen, what a wonderful trip! You will surely have a great time. See this thread below, post #3. These are the things I did to set up my son's phone when he went to Venice for 6 weeks... He was able to use his phone everyday and not one single extra charge from Verizon. Your cruise ship probably has wifi, so you will be able to do lots.

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-general-discussions/209635-going-mexico-city-help.html

Sent from my DROID RAZR Maxx using Droid Forums

I actually checked the ship's site and they charge an outrageous fee for wifi, but I wasn't planning on using it for anything but music/offline games anyways as it's only 5 nights. Can I do this on airplane mode, or will my phone still look for data/towers and charge me $$$?

 

[TisMyDroid]

Airplane mode will allow you to do all out that without any worry for charges. You can also use WiFi, if you choose, on airplane mode.

If you take it off airplane mode, do not open any texts until you are not international because you may incur charges (but not 100% sure about this).

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[tjk629]

This is assuming you have ICS:

Go into settings, and do the following:

- Settings > Data Using > Mobile data off. This will completely turn off mobile data on your phone. WiFi & Bluetooth will still work.

The next thing I can't find on ICS, and maybe someone can give further instruction. You can set your mobile preference (I think that's what it's called) from automatic to home. When set to home your phone will only connect to verizon towers, and not any of verizons roaming partners.

When I've gone up to Canada I do the above, and have never been charged anything. I personally like the method above, because I use Bluetooth headphones, and if you go into airplane mode you can't use bluetooth.

 

[TisMyDroid]

Excellent alternative. And thanks, I didn't realize that about bluetooth. To set what used to be the "home"preference for data is now under settings ---> more... ---> Mobile networks ---> Global data roaming access. Select Deny data roaming access.

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[tjk629]

Excellent alternative. And thanks, I didn't realize that about bluetooth. To set what used to be the "home"preference for data is now under settings ---> more... ---> Mobile networks ---> Global data roaming access. Select Deny data roaming access.

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Will the home preference for data also cover call & txts? I forgot to say, but when I went into Canada back in May. In order for me to get the System Select option to be active I had to go from LTE to CDMA only. But, I guess they probably merged it together.

I also thought of something else the OP could do. It's probably the most easiest/simple one, but just remove the sim card. Without the sim card your phone will not connect at all to a mobile network. You can still use WiFi and all that stuff (you're phone will freak out, but it's not that big of a deal). The sim card should still be good when you come back. I believe verizon only deactivates SIM cards that have been deactivated for one month.

Just remember one thing. Some games MAY require data connectivity to play.

 

[TisMyDroid]

The last time I went out of the country, I had GB and I had it set on home, no data roaming and received no calls or texts...so my best guess is that "deny data roaming access" does the same thing.

I believe Verizon deactivates the SIM card if it has been out of the phone for more than 24 hours. The only reason I know this is because I had to use a non 4g Android for a few weeks while my son was trying out my charge. When I went to reactivate it, I couldn't get it to work. I called Verizon and was told that the sim card is automatically deactivated after 24 hours. There are others that have said they did not have that experience so it could be Verizon just made it up because it sounded good.

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[tjk629]

The last time I went out of the country, I had GB and I had it set on home, no data roaming and received no calls or texts...so my best guess is that "deny data roaming access" does the same thing.

I believe Verizon deactivates the SIM card if it has been out of the phone for more than 24 hours. The only reason I know this is because I had to use a non 4g Android for a few weeks while my son was trying out my charge. When I went to reactivate it, I couldn't get it to work. I called Verizon and was told that the sim card is automatically deactivated after 24 hours. There are others that have said they did not have that experience so it could be Verizon just made it up because it sounded good.

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You're probably right then. I just remember hearing something about the 30 day thing a year ago.

 

[MissionImprobable]

You guys might want to check out Tango as well if you're travelling often. You can do all that Text+ does, but also do video calls over WIFI for free.

 

[TisMyDroid]

Text+ does phone over Wi-Fi but not video. Text+ worked really well for us but I have heard good things about tango. Next trip we will have to try that.

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