Nothing can put a damper on fond memories of a trip faster than sticker shock from your wireless bill. To help customers keep charges predictable when traveling internationally, AT&T offers these tips:
· First, check service availability where you’re traveling.
· Determine wireless device compatibility with your travel destination.
· Check for provider hotspots where you’re traveling.
· If you want to use data and track your usage abroad, purchase an international data package. An international data package can significantly reduce the cost of using data abroad. When evaluating which data package to purchase, look at your average monthly data usage on past statements and estimate your data needs based on the number of days you’ll be traveling internationally. Remember, streaming audio/video can use a lot of data very quickly.
· Track your usage upon arrival abroad. Some devices (like iPhones) have native usage trackers, and most communication manager software for laptops will have usage tracking capabilities. If your device does not offer an embedded usage tracker, check to see if your provider has an app that will. For example, AT&T offers the myAT&T app
· If you don’t want to receive email automatically, disable your device’s autocheck functionality. You may then use WiFi as a supplement to 3G/GPRS/EDGE to download and manually check email.
· If you want to place calls but not use data, check the settings on your device before traveling abroad. By default, the setting for international data roaming will typically be in the “OFF” position.
Turning data roaming “OFF” blocks email, browsing, visual voicemail and downloads, but it will not block text messages. International roaming rates apply when you send text or picture/video messages.
Let’s face it, in a time when gas is sky-rocketing, the groceries are going up, the last thing we need to be faced with is another increase of a monthly bill.
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