willardguy - 2-9-2012 at 10:41 AM
any of you nomads have a at&t dumbphone that allows you to turn roaming on and off? I can get a good bleed off signal from san diego with a
straight talk phone but all others lock onto a telcel tower.
woody with a view - 2-9-2012 at 10:49 AM
my att 5 year old "backup" for baja trips will roam and pickup what is there. are you saying you can pick a network like with a computer? and not have
the phone do it?
more info please!
willardguy - 2-9-2012 at 10:59 AM
If I had a phone that would allow me to turn off roaming I could talk to the states (as if I were in san diego) without roaming charges. my straight
talk phone will do this but I need the option to roam anywhere south of my location. all I can find so far are smartphones with this option
goldhuntress - 2-9-2012 at 11:58 AM
I don't think there is a phone that does that. If your out of your calling plan area, then your roaming. It's not something you turn on and off. On a
smartphone, data roaming is different, it's for email and web browsing and you can turn that off. If you don't, and you have a USA plan but are in
Baja, you will get the heart stopping bill at the end of the billing cycle. Are you near the border? Maybe your phone has a good antenna and that's
why you pick up the SD signal.
Riom - 2-10-2012 at 05:45 PM
Depends on the make and model of the phone, but there should be an option to set the network manually.
For example on a Nokia (even a very basic one) the menu option is usually Tools / Settings / Phone / Network. Then there's a choice of Manual or
Automatic. Select manual, and wait a couple of minutes for it to search for and give you a list of the available networks. Choose a network (such as
AT&T) from the list the manual search gives you, it'll then stay on that network until you switch to another network or to automatic.
On some other phone, that's what you're looking for, a menu option to set the network, manual or automatic, rather than an option which says turn off
roaming.
Rob
willardguy - 2-10-2012 at 05:54 PM
thats great news rob. gracias amigo, what im looking for does exist. now I know what to ask for at the phone store.
john68 - 2-10-2012 at 06:21 PM
I realize this doesn't answer your question, but an option would be the AT&T Viva Mexico plan. It lets you use your phone in Mexico for an extra
$10/month, more or less, and no roaming charges. You can discontinue it when you return to the States.
john68 - 2-11-2012 at 07:53 AM
You get 450 minutes per month or more, depending on the plan you select, and there's no per-minute or roaming charge. Minutes roll over. Good for
calls within Mexico, from U.S. to Mexico or Mexico to the U.S. Family plans. I think it's a great deal, but, like everything, you need to read the
fine print. Data and texting are extra. Pretty good coverage in most of Baja, but there are dead zones in the middle of the desert, etc.
Here's the deal:
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/viva-mexico....