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Apple Solves International Roaming Problem

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Sep 28 2007 12:00am EDT

Apple Solves International Roaming Problem

Thank you, Apple!

The iPhone is a great product, but one of its biggest weaknesses was the fact that it was incredibly easy to run up enormous cellphone bills if you use the data services abroad, either inadvertently or on purpose. What iPhone users needed was a way to allow wifi to be used (that's free), allow phone calls to be made (you know when you're on the phone, and how much phone calls cost when you're abroad), but not allow the exorbitant data plan to be used (which would charge you $20 to download a single web page, if you weren't on a wifi network).

Well, the iPhone 1.1.1 update is now out, and that's exactly what we've been given: an option to turn off EDGE roaming. Engadget has the screenshot.

Now to spread the word. If you travel abroad for any reason, turn EDGE roaming off. Do not even think about turning it on. And you should be fine.

Update: I just installed 1.1.1 myself. It's actually better than I thought: rather than a cryptic button talking about "EDGE Roaming", there's a simple button called "Data Roaming". Underneath it, in plain English, is this:

When abroad, turning off Data Roaming may avoid roaming charges when using email, web browsing and other data services.

Better yet, the default position for Data Roaming is off, not on.

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