Going abroad? Tips to keep phone bill down
IT’S a sure-fire way to dampen the holiday cheers: Spend a week on a dream vacation abroad, then come back to find a much larger cellphone bill.
Leaving your phone off isn't practical these days. But you don’t have to pay a fortune if you follow these tips.
1 GET A PLAN ABROAD
This is the most economical choice, but also the least practical for many people. Carriers typically block your phone from other carriers’ plans until you've paid off the hardware, typically after two years. They might make a temporary exception if you’re traveling, but it’s on you to get that set up. You might have an old phone to use instead, or you can rent or buy a cheap one for your trip.
2 STEP UP YOUR PLAN
Check with your carrier on an international package. You might find this adequate for emergencies, such as when you need directions back to the hotel. Use your hotel’s Wi-Fi as much as possible.
Your Instagram pictures can wait, especially if your friends are asleep anyway.
3 LEAVE CELLULAR DATA OFF MOST OF THE TIME
Turn off "Cellular Data" under the "Cellular" settings on iPhones or "Mobile data" on Android (the location in the settings varies by device). You can go further by enabling airplane mode, but that also blocks incoming calls and texts, as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
4 LIMIT DATA USE
Even if you have cellular on just briefly, tons of data-hungry messages could still flood in while the gate is open. To prevent that, you can prevent apps from using cellulardata at all. And be sure to disable automatic app updates over cellular. It might already be set to Wi-Fi only, but double check in the “iTunes & App Stores” settings on iPhones and the Play Store settings on Android.
5 DOWNLOAD BEFORE YOU GO
Get and set up apps for museums and other places you’re visiting before you leave home or the hotel. Using the apps will consume data, but not as much as starting from scratch.
Likewise, download map data for Google Maps ahead of time.
6 TRACK YOUR USAGE
Check the settings regularly to see how much data you’re using and adjust accordingly. On iPhones, check "Current Period Roaming" in the "Cellular" settings. Hit "Reset Statistics" at the start of your trip. On Android, check "Data usage." Android also keeps track of which apps use how much data, so you can identify culprits more easily. These are estimates, though, and your phone company might measure differently.