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Using your iPhone overseas without getting screwed

We all know about turning off data roaming (Settings/General/Network/Data Roaming), so our phone doesn’t run up our bill checking email when traveling out of your service area, but recently someone asked me how they could turn off the phone altogether (so they don’t make a phone call @ $2.00/minute or text @ $0.50/message by mistake), but also they wanted to keep the Wireless on, so they can still email, etc., if they are in a wireless hot spot. Initially, I thought you couldn’t do that, because going into Airplane Mode (Settings/Airplane Mode) by default turns off the phone and the wireless. But actually what you want to do is perfectly obvious (once Google helped me):

First go into your Settings - Turn on Airplane Mode - and then turn your Wi-Fi connection (back) on.

Doh!

I just checked it out and it works perfectly. If you try to make a phone call or text, it tells you you have to turn off Airplane Mode, and gives you choice of not making the call or turning the phone back on. Ditto if you try to text. But I can still surf, email, use AIM, etc. Nice!

How To: Turn on WiFi While the iPhone 3G/EDGE Radio is Off | The iPhone Blog