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Disable Data Usage on iPhone 3G

Traveling abroad with you iPhone, and wanting to avoid exorbitant roaming charges? I live in Canada, so anytime I go to the US, I’m subject to Rogers less than– Oh, I don’t know– “equitable” cross-border roaming agreements. A few quick calls and tweets can quickly add up to an unearthly sum– believe me, I know have heard from, erm, others.

Fortunately, there is a quick, easy, & fool-proof way to disable all EDGE/3G traffic on iPhone, and give you piece-of-mind that you will not incur any data or roaming charges. It disables your SIM card entirely, and causes iPhone to operate in “iPod Touch” mode– which is exactly what you want in this situation.

How-to Disable Your SIM Card Using the SIM PIN

1. Choose Settings > Phone > SIM PIN on iPhone

2. Turn the SIM PIN On. You will be prompted to enter the current PIN (iPhone ships with a default SIM PIN, please see this table at Apple.com to determine what should be entered).

3. You can then tap Change PIN to assign a different PIN number.

4. Restart iPhone (hold the “Sleep/Wake” button until you see the “Slide to power off” prompt). Upon restart, you will be prompted to “Unlock SIM”, or just continue.

5. If you continue without unlocking your SIM, iPhone will operate in “iPod Touch” mode, with full WiFi and application access, but no voice or data.

To turn SIM back on again, restart iPhone, and choose to unlock SIM when prompted.

 

Forgotten SIM PIN

You can enter up to 3 incorrect answers for the SIM PIN before iPhone asks you to enter the PUK code. Contact your carrier to get the PUK code. Note: If you enter the incorrect PUK code too many times (10 incorrect guesses), the SIM will become permanently locked and you’ll need to replace the SIM.

Resources:

iPhone: About the SIM PIN (Apple.com)