On vacation in another country? Knowing new frontiers is something that is in our DNA, we all dream of knowing many places and making the whole planet our home. For this, it is necessary to take various precautions before traveling , among which it is obviously to enable data roaming or roaming , a service that will allow us to maintain the mobile operating in any country in the world.
As you know, each country has a radio spectrum used by telephone companies to offer their different services . This entails agreements with the government of each nation, which means that in each of them there are different telephone access points. Roaming is the service that allows you to connect your mobile with access points in other countries without having to buy a new line.
This carries additional costs, but it is extremely useful to keep you informed with your loved ones once you land at your destination away from home. In this guide we will show you how to activate data roaming on your Smartphone Android, iOS, Windows Mobile or Blackberry , as well as answer some questions that arise in this regard.
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Steps to enable or disable data roaming or roaming
Previously, this was a problem for many users since the first cell phones automatically activated it when you left your coverage area . This did not necessarily imply leaving your country; with a simple trip from one province to another, they would activate and start charging more than the account for each call you made.
Fortunately, smartphones allow you to activate and deactivate this service manually , so if you prefer to acquire a new line in the country you are visiting you can do it perfectly.
There are two ways to do it:
- The first is by contacting your telephone company. Enter the official website of the same and locate your customer service number to indicate that you are traveling and want to have data roaming as appropriate.
- The second Way is to do it manually, which varies depending on the device you have. Here we show you the step-by-step process for the main operating systems of modern smartphones.
On Android
On Android it is very easy to activate them, for this you must follow the following instructions:
- First you must go to the « Settings » or « Settings » of the mobile and look for the option “ Wireless Connections and Networks ” In it you can basically modify any aspect of your internet connection and telephone network.
- You will find four sections:
- WiFi
- Bluetooth
- Data Usage
- More
- By tapping on the last of these, you will see many more options in the section.
- The next thing you should do is look for the option “ Mobile Networks ”, which is the section for everything that has to do with your telephone service.
- The first two sections will be “ Data Use ” and “ Data Roaming “.
- Mark or uncheck the second of these to activate or deactivate Roaming as appropriate and you will have finished the process.
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In case you have two phone SIMs on your mobile and one of them offers more accessible rates, you can determine it as the main one by entering the option “ Network Operators “Found at the end of the” Mobile Networks “section that we just taught you to enter earlier.
On iOS
To perform this process on devices with iOS operating system, either any iPhone phone or even an iPad tablet follows the following recommendations:
- First you must go to the “ Settings ” to which you can enter from the main menu or by dragging your finger from the bottom up to break down the control center.
- Once in this section, you will find a series of options grouped according to their nature. The first correspond to the different connections of the mobile. In it you should look for the option “ Mobile Data ” and touch.
- Within this section you will find three switches:
- Mobile Data
- Activate 3G
- Data Roaming
- The first and last of these are the ones that they will allow you to control Roaming , they are usually on, so if you want to turn them off you will simply have to touch on both.
If you want to keep roaming active, you can scroll down to find the option “ Data Use ” and determine which applications you want to keep active with data usage, so you can save on your bill when you return to your country.
In Windows 10 Mobile
On these devices you must do the following:
- Go directly to the “ Settings “, which you can enter by sliding your finger from the status bar at the top of the screen down, and look for the option “ Network and Wireless ”and then“ Mobile Network and SIM ”where you will find a number of options.
- Locate“ Data Roaming Options ”and in it you can turn it on or off as appropriate.
Again we recommend that turn off mobile data in case you want to deactivate Roaming since Windows Phone devices have had various problems in this aspect , generating multiple demands from their users.
To do this you must enter again in the section “ Mobile Network and SIM ” but this time you will deactivate the switch “ Data Connection ” to turn off your connection to the internet.
On Blackberry phones
On Blackberry devices you must do the following:
- Enter “ Configuration ” and look for the option “ Network Connections ”
- Within this you must place “ Mobile Network ”since in this section you will see a series of options.
- The one that interests us is the“ Roaming data service ”which has a switch that we can turn this option on or off.
Is it still necessary to activate Roaming service when you travel in Europe?
If you travel from a Latin American country to a European one, you will have to continue being careful with this issue . But this will no longer be a problem if you own a mobile in a country of the European Union . The Spaniards have been given things since last month of June 2017 , when the borders between countries were eliminated in terms of telephony.
The end of roaming in Europe represents a huge comfort for Spaniards , especially for those who live on the border and should be careful not to connect to another country’s network. Although care must be taken as not all EU countries are part of this agreement.
Andorra and the United Kingdom , which separated from Europe with Brexit, still have these rates, so when you travel to these countries you should be careful with this.
Does this apply to contract and prepaid customers alike? span >
In general, the answer is yes , but prepaid customers who do not have a data bonus on their rates will have to pay a surcharge of € 7 for each extra GB consumed. It should also be noted that you can only use the data included in your rate, so if you run out of megabytes and want to use more, you will have to pay the extra data at a rate of € 1 per mega.
If you have a mega data rate , those with plans of 20GB or more, you will not have to worry because you can use all this data with total freedom, you just have to keep in mind that when these Finish and need more, the extra megabytes you must pay them with the aforementioned surcharge.
As for calls and messages there is no problem , you can spend your entire rate while roaming without problems. Although there is a limitation; If in the last 4 months you have used your plan being more abroad than in your country, you will receive a warning that if the trend continues for the next 15 days, you will have to pay a surcharge of 24 to 26 euro cents.
The latter does not apply if you justify with your telephone company that you are leaving Erasmus or you will live a season in another country for work or any other reason for a period of one year or more. Although in this case the ideal would be to buy a line from a local telephone company to avoid entanglements.