International roaming

[bradsbrew]

Off to NZ for a few weeks but will need set the phone to roam.

What's the tricks to cut the costs down. I will be turning off data and using wifi for free where possible but also grab a prepaid sim for my iPad so I can hotspot off that where required.
Any other tips.

Cheers

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Depending on who you're with you can also buy international roaming data packs which while still expensive, will mean that if you accidentally use mobile data or have to in a quasi-emergency, the damage bill won't be so great.

 

[pk.sax]

I just bought a local prepaid sim and top up as I was there for 2 weeks and didn't find the hassle with roaming worth it.

 

[Florian]

Unless you need yur current number for work etc just get a local sim. I've got a skinny mobile sim that i use a few times per year when over there.

EDIT: if you're in the Marlborough region next week I can point you in the direction of some good wines. I'm there from Thursday for a a few days.

 

[mckenry]

Off to NZ for a few weeks but will need set the phone to roam.

What's the tricks to cut the costs down. I will be turning off data and using wifi for free where possible but also grab a prepaid sim for my iPad so I can hotspot off that where required.
Any other tips.

Cheers

Just been there. I had my phone set to use international roam (using the telstra 24/7 app), so I could get SMS and calls (if necessary) I just set the cellular data and data roaming to off. Turning off the cellular data over-rides the data roaming (it closes it) but I turned data roaming off, before turning cellular data off, to be sure. No horror bill when I came home. This is with an iphone, but others will have a similar setup I suppose.
**Note just turning data roaming off and leaving cellular data on is what gets most AUSTRALIAN people in trouble** - it works differently for phone owners in the USA for example, which is why there are two choices.