advice please - Phones in Florida

Hi, We are off to florida in a few weeks times but the grandchildren are getting very concerned because their parents have said that the 'Blackberry' phone stays in the uk Being separated from "this lifeline to our world" is causing them anxiety.

When we went to Florida last year, my daughter used her old model i-phone constantly and sadly she ignored the warning message from O2 - which then resulted in an enormous bill waiting for her on returning back to the uk.
I believe the i-phone is staying at home this time, so that's ok

Is there any advice that you can give me re the teenagers being able to take the Blackberry and using it without running up any expensive bills? O2 are not being very helpful, but then again I think they'd be only too pleased to hand out a couple of hundred pounds bill. Appreciate any advice if available. Thanks.











edit to thread title for clarity...... Nick

cheapest way to do it, take abroad, disable data roaming and 3g if possible (switch the internet off) and if you want to make calls look into international bolt on packages that make them cheaper abroad. If they want to use the internet, it's going to cost. Or, of course you could go somewhere with wifi and only connect that way - make sure data is turned off though.

May I perhaps suggest that they should use the time to take a break from this type of technology and maybe have an internet free holiday.

Data roaming in the USA is expensive. Do the phones have wifi? You would still need to switch data roaming off, but if a child accidentally switched it back on......!
Another option would be to buy note book computer (£250 ish) and connect with (sometimes free) wifi. At least there is no risk of roaming charges.

And I agree with Miss G - have a break from the virtual world.

I can't help with the tech but I'd tell them to leave the phones at home - unless they are prepared to pay the bills themselves from their savings and not their parents (or grand parents)!

I assume you will be taking a laptop so let them use it in the mornings and evenings to check up on FB/Twitter and all the other sites 'young people' use these days.

I was in NYC last week and went to the 'Top of the Rock'. Ahead of me in the queue were a school party - young teens. When I got to the top they were all sat down using their mobile phones/BBs etc. Not one was actually looking at the views (or even ventured outside). They were more interested in texting each other than seeing anything. A waste of money sending them to NYC in the first place !

Let that be a lesson to your grand kids !

As long as you are careful you can still use your phones without running up a high data bill.

This is only the case if you have wifi. I disabled data roaming on my iphone before I went, this can also be done on the BB. Then only connect to the internet using free wifi when out and about.

Orlando has so many places with free wifi, I could often connect for free!

Starbucks at citywalk, at busch gardens, at the mall, at most restaurants on idrive due to their proximity to the local hotels offering free wifi.

If used like this, it can be cheap!

I even used my Skype to call home at the starbucks in Mall at Millenia a few times, pefect and v cheap!

An escape from the virtual world is not a concept understood by many youngsters!! The new to check their FB/Twitter will be the most important thing LOL, good luck!

Luke

[mitchja]

Last year O2 changed their roaming/data roaming bolt-on system. The data roaming bolt-on was removed and replaced with a universal roaming data capping system.

I *believe* they will now cap all roaming usage at a maximum of £40 worldwide now for all monthly contract users (regardless of handset). Once you reach 50Mb usage your data is blocked completely.

Take a look at this page for for info.

I think this only applies to monthly contract users though and not PAYG users.

I'm a BlackBerry user & fairly frequent visitor to Orlando. All I do to reduce my bill is what others have already said... i.e. turn OFF data whilst roaming and use free WiFi hotspots to connect to the internet. Just about all the places I've stayed at in Orlando have offered free WiFi in the rooms (admittedly, we've not been in budget accommodation) so this allowed us to use the netbook in the evenings. In the daytime, you're not normally too far from somewhere with WiFi.

It probably also helps that I am not obsessed with always being online / updating my facebook status. As long as I can get net access a few times a day to keep on top of emails / check bank accounts as needed etc, then I am happy - I go on holiday to get away from it all!

Thank you all so much for your replies, very much appreciated.

I absolutely agree with the point that 'they' should have a break from all this modern technology, the art of face to face conversation is not a concept kids understand but then again I used to send an e-mail to a colleague who was sitting in the same office.

Yes I'll be taking my little netbook and after a few days in Orlando we'll be down in the Sarasota beach area. The apartment we've rented has got free wi-fi so the kids can go onto FB if they really wanted to. However I really appreciate this info re turning off data, roaming etc. and I'll pass this over to my son (coz in reality I've not got a clue about all these modern words - I still write letters but I am learning, slowly).

We went to Epcot in WDW the very first year it opened. At that time if you wanted to phone back to the uk, you used the very basic phone-card system. We walked into some 'future' land in Epcot and asked them about phone-cards and the guy says "use our e-mail system" What's that we reply. He then explains this is new technology in the making, which will be used via the internet. Needless to say we say "what's that then" How life has changed so quickly, this must have only been in the early 90's.
Thanks again for the info.

If using an iPhone download the 'Free Wi-Fi' app and then check wherever you are (using free Wi-Fi ) to find places you can use it!

Or consider taking an IPOD touch - same free wireless connectivity but no sim and therefore no risk of data being turned back on inadvertently.

Regards
R3dV

[Scrooge]

I'm sorry, I may be old fashioned, but, the kids need to leave their phones at home, if they can't live without them for a week then maybe it's time they had a reality check. Life can go on for a week without their phones.

Hello again, the advice you've given has been very helpful and, with care, it seems the kids can take the Blackberrys.

I think I was perhaps a little unkind to my grand-daughter because she has explained to me that she wants to access the BB and FB in order to share with all her friends back in the uk about the wonderful time she will be having in Florida. Its not just that she can't bear to be parted from her BB.

In my day, we used to send postcards and show the holiday snaps many many weeks after we got home. These days they can send off the pickies within seconds

Thanks again. H

[Darren Wheeler]

In my day, we used to send postcards and show the holiday snaps many many weeks after we got home. These days they can send off the pickies within seconds

Thank god!!!

No more being dragged round to Aunty Doris's to see the 15 slide cassettes from her recent weekend trip to Skegness. Being served warm Panda Pop and fruit cake that you could build a skyscraper out of.

[honey lamb]

No more being dragged round to Aunty Doris's to see the 15 slide cassettes from her recent weekend trip to Skegness. Being served warm Panda Pop and fruit cake that you could build a skyscraper out of.

And no Aunty Doris to tell you that you shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition You have Aunty honey lamb instead

Seriously though, it is great to be able to send the pics off straightaway so that anyone who is interested can look and the rest (usually the majority) aren't bored rigid and you are none the wiser as to which category they belong. "Saw your photos on Facebook" and you beam not knowing whether or not they opened the folder

I think I was perhaps a little unkind to my grand-daughter because she has explained to me that she wants to access the BB and FB in order to share with all her friends back in the uk about the wonderful time she will be having in Florida. Its not just that she can't bear to be parted from her BB.

Sounds like a bit of an excuse that really but fair play to here for trying. You could always try the "imagine how good it would be to relive the experience when you get back" instead.

we have a calling card issued through IDT -its called Global Call. you dial a 1 800 number and then calls to the Uk are about 3c a minute,much cheaper than using conventional methods.

one other thing -tell them not to open incoming or send outgoing texts. Vodafone charges me £1.50 a go either way so whenever i get a text if i cant read enough via the preview or its not important i just delete it. seeing how much kids text these days they could run up huge bills

we have a calling card issued through IDT -its called Global Call. you dial a 1 800 number and then calls to the Uk are about 3c a minute,much cheaper than using conventional methods

'flabound' That's great advice, I'm going to look into this for myself. I use a BT chargecard but this looks far better. May I ask, so when in the US do you use a landline phone or your mobile to make your calls back to uk?

To everyone else - again thanks for your advice. Kids and their Mum are grateful for all your help. Roll on April.

If its cheap calling that you want, also have a look at a tracfone - we have one which is a few years old, battery lasts for ages (because no bluetooth, camera etc) and calls work out around 4p or 5p per minute back to UK.

Works on same principle of dialling freephone number first then number you want to phone - only downside is you can't phone a mobile phone, but you can text them so maybe that helps.

Just google tracfone and you can see phones available - I think they start around $50ish but still works out much cheaper in the long run.

David

[Darren Wheeler]

one other thing -tell them not to open incoming or send outgoing texts. Vodafone charges me £1.50 a go either way so whenever i get a text if i cant read enough via the preview or its not important i just delete it. seeing how much kids text these days they could run up huge bills

If you're getting charged £1.50 for receiving text, then it sounds like you have a subscription to reverse-charge SMS Services such as football. Outside these, I'm not aware of any mechanism to charge for receiving SMS, only for sending.

Also, opening will make no difference to a SMS as it's delivered in it's entirety.

With this talk of overseas phone solutions, I'm reminded of something that I saw in a BA inflight magazine last month.

http://www.truphone.com/

Looks reasonably priced if it works - anybody have any experience with this?