Mobile App in Foreign Countries

[+debfnp07]

I am in the U.S. and will be traveling next month to four European countries. I have tried to plan as best I could, and have downloaded caches to my GPS; however, I would like the flexibility of locating other caches on my iPhone 4S as well. During a recent trip to Canada, despite having an international data plan, my Geocaching app would not function. I am concerned that this will be the case while in Europe. Has anyone encountered a similar situation, or can anyone offer any pointers on what I may have done wrong in Settings? Any advice or comments would be appreciated. Thank you!

[+Ben0w]

1. Check with your provider. Data roaming should be in the contract. Maybe you have to activate it first. With mine, I have to book a special data roaming plan by sending a SMS code word to a specific number.

 

2. On the iphone, enable "mobile data" and "data roaming". Switch off the aviation mode. Before doing so better be sure to have an acceptable data roaming contract - see #1.

 

3. Consider using WLAN access instead. This may be available much cheaper or even for free at certain places of your travel. Hotels, public places or restaurants (McDonalds, ...) may offer that.

 

4. Consider using an offline capable app (I'd recommend "Looking4Cache Pro", since it's totally designed for offline usage, including maps, cache data and offline logging) and pre-plan your trip ahead with pocket queries.

 

Have a nice trip!

Edited September 9, 2014 by Ben0w

[+The A-Team]

2. On the iphone, enable "mobile data" and "data roaming".

^This is likely why it didn't work for the OP. On iPhones, the data roaming setting defaults to off. Even if you buy an international data package, your phone still needs to be able to "roam"; it's just that you'll be roaming under that package rather than the exorbitant standard roaming rate.

[+geodarts]

I am in the U.S. and will be traveling next month to four European countries. I have tried to plan as best I could, and have downloaded caches to my GPS; however, I would like the flexibility of locating other caches on my iPhone 4S as well. During a recent trip to Canada, despite having an international data plan, my Geocaching app would not function. I am concerned that this will be the case while in Europe. Has anyone encountered a similar situation, or can anyone offer any pointers on what I may have done wrong in Settings? Any advice or comments would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

I have cached in Europe and just recently returned from a trip to Canada. I have never used an international data plan - so have always kept roaming or cellular data off - but never had a problem with using my iphone for caching. On the last trip, I brought my gpsr just in case, but did not use it.

 

I am not sure what was not functioning for you. If the phone could not receive data, then roaming was probably off. If it was not getting satellite fixes, then it was likely in airplane mode (since that disables the gps on the phone). In Scotland, it seemed like the phone was taking a long time to get a location, but I had forgotten to switch back from airplane mode. It worked fine after that.

 

The app I use (Geosphere) makes it extremely easy to save caches offline, and it interfaces with a number of offline maps, so an international data plan never has seemed necessary for me. When we were in the UK, we used a cheap flip phone with a local SIM so that we could make calls when needed, but wifi has always been easy to access, with all the flexibility I needed for caching.

Edited September 10, 2014 by geodarts

[+redsox_mark]

I have used the mobile app on iPhone roaming in different countries. Apart from the cost for the international data plan, it works fine.

 

When you had problems, was the data roaming working at all? E.g. could you get internet access?

[+debfnp07]

1. Check with your provider. Data roaming should be in the contract. Maybe you have to activate it first. With mine, I have to book a special data roaming plan by sending a SMS code word to a specific number.

 

2. On the iphone, enable "mobile data" and "data roaming". Switch off the aviation mode. Before doing so better be sure to have an acceptable data roaming contract - see #1.

 

3. Consider using WLAN access instead. This may be available much cheaper or even for free at certain places of your travel. Hotels, public places or restaurants (McDonalds, ...) may offer that.

 

4. Consider using an offline capable app (I'd recommend "Looking4Cache Pro", since it's totally designed for offline usage, including maps, cache data and offline logging) and pre-plan your trip ahead with pocket queries.

 

Have a nice trip!

[+debfnp07]

Thank you so much for all of your suggestions. I thought I had the settings correct while attempting to use the app on the iPhone, but maybe I had something wrong. I appreciate your feedback!

[+debfnp07]

2. On the iphone, enable "mobile data" and "data roaming".

^This is likely why it didn't work for the OP. On iPhones, the data roaming setting defaults to off. Even if you buy an international data package, your phone still needs to be able to "roam"; it's just that you'll be roaming under that package rather than the exorbitant standard roaming rate.

[+debfnp07]

Thanks so much. I'll be sure to double check this while there.

[+debfnp07]

I am in the U.S. and will be traveling next month to four European countries. I have tried to plan as best I could, and have downloaded caches to my GPS; however, I would like the flexibility of locating other caches on my iPhone 4S as well. During a recent trip to Canada, despite having an international data plan, my Geocaching app would not function. I am concerned that this will be the case while in Europe. Has anyone encountered a similar situation, or can anyone offer any pointers on what I may have done wrong in Settings? Any advice or comments would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

I have cached in Europe and just recently returned from a trip to Canada. I have never used an international data plan - so have always kept roaming or cellular data off - but never had a problem with using my iphone for caching. On the last trip, I brought my gpsr just in case, but did not use it.

 

I am not sure what was not functioning for you. If the phone could not receive data, then roaming was probably off. If it was not getting satellite fixes, then it was likely in airplane mode (since that disables the gps on the phone). In Scotland, it seemed like the phone was taking a long time to get a location, but I had forgotten to switch back from airplane mode. It worked fine after that.

 

The app I use (Geosphere) makes it extremely easy to save caches offline, and it interfaces with a number of offline maps, so an international data plan never has seemed necessary for me. When we were in the UK, we used a cheap flip phone with a local SIM so that we could make calls when needed, but wifi has always been easy to access, with all the flexibility I needed for caching.

[+debfnp07]

I am in the U.S. and will be traveling next month to four European countries. I have tried to plan as best I could, and have downloaded caches to my GPS; however, I would like the flexibility of locating other caches on my iPhone 4S as well. During a recent trip to Canada, despite having an international data plan, my Geocaching app would not function. I am concerned that this will be the case while in Europe. Has anyone encountered a similar situation, or can anyone offer any pointers on what I may have done wrong in Settings? Any advice or comments would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

I have cached in Europe and just recently returned from a trip to Canada. I have never used an international data plan - so have always kept roaming or cellular data off - but never had a problem with using my iphone for caching. On the last trip, I brought my gpsr just in case, but did not use it.

 

I am not sure what was not functioning for you. If the phone could not receive data, then roaming was probably off. If it was not getting satellite fixes, then it was likely in airplane mode (since that disables the gps on the phone). In Scotland, it seemed like the phone was taking a long time to get a location, but I had forgotten to switch back from airplane mode. It worked fine after that.

 

The app I use (Geosphere) makes it extremely easy to save caches offline, and it interfaces with a number of offline maps, so an international data plan never has seemed necessary for me. When we were in the UK, we used a cheap flip phone with a local SIM so that we could make calls when needed, but wifi has always been easy to access, with all the flexibility I needed for caching.

[+debfnp07]

Thanks very much for your thoughtful reply. I appreciate all of the information. I am wondering if perhaps it had to do with the app that I use (Geocaching by Groundspeak). I think I will download Geosphere just to be on the safe side! I have tried to plan ahead as much as possible based upon the information I have regarding where we expect to be, but I like having the flexibility of searching for caches with an app once I am at a specific location. Thank you again for the feedback. I appreciate your help :-)

[+debfnp07]

I have used the mobile app on iPhone roaming in different countries. Apart from the cost for the international data plan, it works fine.

 

When you had problems, was the data roaming working at all? E.g. could you get internet access?

[+debfnp07]

Hi, thanks so much for replying. Yes, I was able to get internet access, so I'm not sure what the issue was. Perhaps it was the specific app I was using (Groundspeak's Geocaching app). I think I may download another app just in case! Thanks again.

[+redsox_mark]

Hi, thanks so much for replying. Yes, I was able to get internet access, so I'm not sure what the issue was. Perhaps it was the specific app I was using (Groundspeak's Geocaching app). I think I may download another app just in case! Thanks again.

 

If you had internet access, then it doesn't sound like a problem with your data roaming settings. I can't explain how you could have internet access but the app not work. Perhaps the way the app is accessing the internet is blocked by the local roaming provider.