Out of the Country

[mrockwell]

I am going out of the country but want to use my iPhone for wifi use only and not to make calls or use data. How do I turn off my calls and data but still use it for wifi to surf the web?

[Nighthawk · Accepted solution]

There are a few things you could do. What I did was I SIM locked my iPhone. As long as you remember the PIN to unlock it, it works great and can't be accidentally turned back on. 

1. Go to Settings. 
2. Scroll down to Phone.
3. Select SIM PIN and hit the toggle button to enable it.
4. Create a PIN when asked and confirm it.

That's it. The process to unlock it is nearly identical. For step 3 after selecting SIM PIN it will ask for the PIN and then let you disable it. Once disabled, the phone will connect to the cellular network.

One other option is to pull the SIM card entirely but you run the risk of losing it.

[xl]

I'm going to vote SIM card extraction.  There's been stories where people thought they were on the free hotel wifi, but when the wifi was weak.... they were roaming on cellular.

Where are you going?  Perhaps you can get a  SIM card at your destination country?  Love being able to research itineries while travelling.

[Nighthawk]

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@xl wrote:

I'm going to vote SIM card extraction.  There's been stories where people thought they were on the free hotel wifi, but when the wifi was weak.... they were roaming on cellular.

Where are you going?  Perhaps you can get a  SIM card at your destination country?  Love being able to research itineries while travelling.

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That's what the SIM Lock prevents. The cellular connection cannot be re-established until a user goes back into settings, enters the PIN they created, and disables the lock. 

[SuperD]

Definitely take the SIM card right out and leave it at home. It's the only way to be certain.

[SuperFred]

Greetings mrockwell, the solution provided by Nighthawk is effective and your account must have international roaming features activated before being able to connect on a different carrier.  It's a feature that can be block and you won't need to remove your sim card if you do that.