Do not use your phone abroad without preparing or your bill will be shocking!

The difference between American and European mobile phone providers are vast, and the modern traveler is likely to run afoul if they are unprepared, running up a surprisingly large bill! Here’s a rundown of my standard techniques to prepare my American mobile phone for travel abroad.

Frequency Compatibility

The first thing to do when considering a trip abroad is checking whether your phone supports the technology and frequencies used by the carriers in the country will visit. The majority of European carriers rely on the 900 and 1800 MHz bands for GSM voice, SMS, and low-speed data, and the 2100 MHz band for high-speed 3G HSPA data service.

Only AT&T and T-Mobile use the same GSM technology as most European and other international providers, but this does not mean that all of their phones will function correctly overseas. Although nearly every American GSM phone is capable of voice calling and text messaging in Europe, 3G data service is another story entirely.

Neither AT&T nor T-Mobile uses the same 3G HSPA frequencies that are standard in Europe. Many phones, including my iPhone 4S, support the European frequencies as well, offering high-speed data in both Europe and America. But others only support one or the other set of frequencies for high-speed data. This is the reason my unlocked Huawei E585 is useless in the USA.

Check the specifications of your phone to see if it supports the 900/1800/2100 MHz bands for both GSM and HSPA. Note that Verizon, Sprint, and many smaller operators using entirely different technology that isn’t compatible at all with European providers. These companies do sell a few “world phones”, including the iPhone 4S. But the earlier Verizon iPhone 4 will not work in Europe.

Preparing Your AT&T Account for Use Abroad

Assuming your phone will work abroad, it is wise to consider the cost of various services while roaming. There are essentially three considerations when using the phone outside its home territory:

• Voice calling can be expensive unless a special plan is purchased at a time. Note that European carriers do not charge for incoming calls, though American carriers do.
• SMS text messaging can also be surprisingly expensive when roaming. Although most Europeans have unlimited messaging plans, and their carriers do not charge for incoming messages, many Americans have only a small allowance of text messages and are charged in both directions.
• Data service can be the biggest shocker when traveling abroad. It is not unheard of for a few days of casual e-mail, navigation, and web use to cost over $1000 while roaming abroad.

When I’m traveling abroad, I always contact AT&T ahead of time and activate features on my plan to offset these costs. Here are my recommended settings:

• AT&T’s “World Traveler” plan costs $5.99 per month but reduces the cost of voice calls from of $1.39 to $.99 per minute. If you plan to talk for more than 40 minutes, this is a win.
• AT&T also offers a variety of “Global Messaging” plans, which allow you to send SMS text messages much cheaper. I usually purchase the $10 “Global Messaging 50” plan, which includes 50 prepaid outbound text messages. This works out to $.20 per message rather than the normal rate of $.50, giving you a break even point at 34 messages.
• Data remains a problem, even though AT&T offers a variety of “Data Global” add-on packages. I usually purchase the cheapest 50 MB “Data Global Add-On” package, which includes 50 MB of data for $24.99. This may seem expensive, but it’s nowhere near as much as AT&T’s normal rate of almost $.02 per kilobyte. 50 MB of Data Global is an astonishing $973.41 (40 times) less expensive!

Don’t Rely on Data Roaming

I highly recommend purchasing a local mobile broadband device to avoid extortionate roaming charges

Even with Data Global, however, it really is not practical to use data roaming outside the United States. This is why I recommend purchasing a local “MiFi” device and 3G data plan in whatever country you will be visiting. I am bringing my Huawei E585 with me to the UK for Dell Storage Forum, recharged with 3 GB of data for just £15.

I’m really only purchasing AT&T Data Global as insurance in case I need data and the MiFi is not available for some reason. You can ring up $24.99 of data roaming charges in less than 5 seconds after using just 1.25 MB without a plan like that. It’s extortion, but that’s AT&T for you.

I will often call AT&T to activate these services a few days before leaving. They are sometimes offered to automatically cancel the service when I return, or at least give me a call back so I can cancel it. If you activate these features online, remember to deactivate them afterwards since they offer no value if you are not traveling.

You should also read An Inexpensive Mobile Broadband Alternative When Traveling in the UK and Wireless Internet Access During My Trip To The Netherlands

Stephen’s Stance

Before traveling abroad with an AT&T phone, I recommend going online or calling the company and activating 3 features: “World Traveler” for voice, “Global Messaging” for SMS, and “Data Global” for data service. I also advise purchasing a local 3G “MiFi” and turning off Data Roaming on your iPhone, even though this would seem a waste of the $24.99 Data Global plan. I imagine T-Mobile has similar offerings for world travelers, and Verizon and Sprint as well as long as a “world phone” is used.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2012. | How to Prepare Your AT&T Phone for Travel Abroad
This post was categorized as Personal, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

I love using TripIt, but is Pro worth the price?

Without a doubt, TripIt is one of the best online travel tools I’ve come across. With very little effort, TripIt creates consolidated travel itineraries including air, hotel, and car, enabling automatic calendar integration and sharing. They even introduced an iPhone app, putting the itinerary, along with helpful links to maps and flight tracking, right in your pocket whether online or off. The company cleverly combs forwarded confirmation emails from just about every travel company and web site, extracting the pertinent bits.

I’ve become a TripIt ambassador, inviting all of my co-workers and close friends to join in. But free services have their limits, and I have long wondered how TripIt would monetize their business. The company has been partnering with airlines (like Virgin America) and airport shuttle services, but partnerships don’t keep the lights on. Eventually the company would have to find a way to make money.

The answer arrived in my inbox this morning. TripIt is introducing an optional “TripIt Pro” version which adds automatic monitoring of itineraries, notifying if your flight is delayed, for example, as well as mobile alerts. This version will cost end-users $9.95 per month (once the trial period ends).

Although I love TripIt, I’m not sure if this upgrade is worth nearly $120 per year. Airlines already send alerts of delayed or cancelled flights to my phone via email or SMS. I trust that TripIt’s alerts will be more uniform and helpful, but I doubt they’ll be that much better. For now, I’m holding off on TripIt Pro.

The company does have plans to add alternate flight options in the future, which might start adding serious value. If they can say “go to the Delta counter within the next 10 minutes to get re-booked to Boston” I’d be all over it! I’d also like to see better integration with Exchange and iPhone calendars than the current simple ICS subscription. But let’s think bigger than this.

As a frequent flier, I’d love it if TripIt could help manage my airline and hotel mileage accounts. What if it suggested ways of maximizing their value, keeping track of upgrade “stickers” and the like? What if the company monitored the latest mileage promotions? I’d also love it if they included airport tips, like which restaurant at Chicago O’Hare serves edible food (Maccaroni Grill near gate K2) and where to find a power outlet (in the outermost corridor between E and F). TripIt already points to SeatGuru’s amazing aircraft information, but how about integrating this information right into the itinerary? And I’d love to see a combination of TripIt and Kayak!

What do you think? What can TripIt add to make its Pro service worthwhile to the frequent flier?

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2009. | TripIt Goes Pro To Monetize Travel Itinerary Management
This post was categorized as Apple, Personal. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

The iPhone doesn't support more than one Exchange/ActiveSync pairing

One of the major advances introduced in iPhone software version 2.0 was the ability to sync over-the-air to Microsoft Exchange servers using Microsoft’s ActiveSync protocol. This was introduced to much fanfare with the iPhone 3G and is available on older updated iPhone and iPod Touch units, too. Google and NuevaSync also offer over-the-air calendar and contact syncing for the iPhone using ActiveSync.

All of these synchronization options seem like an embarrassment of riches for iPhone users. But, like so many things in life, they’re too good to be true. iPhone OS 2 and 3 can’t sync to more than one Exchange/ActiveSync server at a time! Or, at least, not in the way you’d like.

Note: iPhone OS 4.0 will allow syncing to multiple Exchange ActiveSync accounts! See How To Set Up Multiple Exchange ActiveSync Accounts in iPhone iOS 4.

For the most up-to-date information, see my iPhone Exchange ActiveSync Guide!

This post is part of my series focused on integrating the iPhone with Microsoft Exchange using ActiveSync:

• iPhone OS 3.0 information:
  1. First Look: iPhone 3.0 And Exchange ActiveSync Integration
  2. How To Subscribe To Internet Calendars In iPhone OS 3.0
  3. How To Access LDAP Directories In iPhone OS 3.0
  4. iPhone 3.0 Exchange ActiveSync: Better But Not Perfect
• How To Set Up iPhone Exchange ActiveSync
1. A Few iPhone Exchange ActiveSync Gotchas
2. Can the iPhone Sync With Multiple Exchange Servers?

The Connected iPhone

Let’s back up a minute and talk about how the iPhone integrates with mail, contact, and calendar servers. There are essentially two synchronization engines at work here:

• Like all iPods, iTunes can synchronize your contacts, calendars, and mail account information (though not the mail messages themselves) over a USB connection to the iPhone and iPod Touch. This requires a full copy of Outlook 2003 or later on Windows but works with the built-in address book and iCal calendar on Mac OS X.
• The iPhone can also synchronize some or all components of email, contacts, calendars, and bookmarks using a variety of over-the-air protocols.

Note that when you configure over-the-air sync, you must disable USB sync, and vice versa.

iPhone Email Sync

Configured mail accounts can synchronize email messages in one of six ways:

1. Periodically pulling message content down using the POP protocol – this is what most older ISPs and mail accounts use
2. Periodically pulling message content down using the more advanced IMAP protocol – this is what newer mail accounts, including Gmail, AOL, and Yahoo use
3. Having mail pushed to the phone using a weird combination of hidden SMS and IMAP – this is what Yahoo push mail uses
4. Having mail pushed to the phone using a proprietary notification system of XMPP (Jabber) and IMAP – this is what Apple’s MobileMe push mail uses
5. Pulling or receiving push messages using Microsoft’s ActiveSync technology – this is what Exchange servers, NuevaSync, Kerio, Zimbra, and Google’s over-the-air calendar and contact (but not email) sync use
6. The iPhone’s software seems to support IMAP Idle, which is a realtime message push technology supported by Gmail and some advanced mail systems, but the phone will not use it unless the mail application is actually open on the phone

The iPhone does not support P-IMAP, BlackBerry, or other over-the-air protocols at this point.

The iPhone can sync email messages to any number of IMAP or POP accounts without a problem, but it can only sync to a single ActiveSync server at once. So you can set up Gmail over IMAP, Yahoo over SMS/IMAP, your local provider over POP, a Gmail Apps account over IMAP, etc at the same time as your work Exchange server without a problem. But you cannot set up more than one Exchange server using ActiveSync.

iPhone Calendar and Contact Sync

Calendar and contact information can only be synced in one of (perhaps) three ways:

1. Over a physical USB connection to iTunes (as in the original iPhone 1.0) to Outlook or OS X
2. Using some unknown protocol that MobileMe uses – can anyone identify this?
3. Using ActiveSync to an Exchange Outlook Web Access (OWA) server

Yes, that’s really it. Every over-the-air calendar-and-contact sync system (other than perhaps MobileMe) uses the ActiveSync protocol, including Microsoft Exchange, NuevaSync, Zimbra, and Google’s service.

Now the punch line: The iPhone can only sync to a single ActiveSync server at once. Read that again. Now consider what that means.

So no matter how cool a service is (Google sync, Zimbra), you cannot use it for over-the-air sync if you are also connected to an Exchange server. So even though the iPhone explicitly supports multiple calendars, you can’t sync them with multiple ActiveSync systems. So I guess the iPhone’s calendar system is even more disappointing than I thought!

Pick One ActiveSync Service

The upshot is this: iPhone users much pick one (and only one) ActiveSync service.

• Need to use the iPhone for work? You’ll probably have to use your work Exchange ActiveSync server, and can forget about (usefully) subscribing to MobileMe or using Google sync. Instead, try to sync everything else into Exchange in other ways (like Google’s Desktop app) and then let Exchange handle the iPhone sync.
• A dedicated Mac head? Subscribe to MobileMe and get all of your data there, to be sent to the iPhone.
• None of the above? Google’s new Sync service looks great!

The Big Mystery

There are many mysteries lurking here, but one is really perplexing to me. The iPhone seems to maintain its own set of contacts in addition to any ActiveSync contact store. Although it doesn’t obviously have multiple contacts pools, it must maintain them internally. But you can see that it does in a simple way:

1. Set up an ActiveSync server (like Exchange)
2. Set up an IMAP email account (like Gmail)
3. Add a unique contact on the phone (call him “Steve Jobs”)
4. Add a unique contact in Exchange (call him “Bill Gates”)
5. Add a unique contact in Gmail (call him “Sergey Brin”)
6. Now turn on and off the accounts one at a time

Notice that turning off the Gmail account will, within a few minutes, cause your “Sergey Brin” contact to disappear! Turn it back on and Sergie is back. Now do the same for Exchange and Bill Gates. All the while, your “Steve Jobs” contact should stay put. And this all happens in a single contact list! If you assigned one of these to a “favorite”, their name will be replaced by their number when you remove their account.

So the is iPhone somehow syncing contacts over IMAP? Or does it use some other Google-specific protocol? And how does MobileMe’s contact sync work? Time will tell!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2009. | Can the iPhone Sync With Multiple Exchange Servers?
This post was categorized as Apple. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.