Noobs.

Went to Greece, needed guidance, fired up navigation. Cached 50 MB OTA, at 6 Eur a piece. 300Eur bill. Vodafone says I'm lucky I was on Vodafone GR, otherwise 8-9Eur a Mb.

The SMS I got stated 6 cents. The second message said "per 10Kb". Who sells data in 10K increments? What is this, 1981? Bastards.

Looked at my online bill and it looks like I haven't used any roaming data after all... phew.

I am travelling often between NL, B, F and D. Roaming is quite an annoying problem.

This is what I have to do each time I leave the Netherlands:

1. switch from Dual to GSM in menuapplet. This should disable all 3G connections, but apparently it doesn't completely

2. settings - connectivity -internet connections: automatic connection - WLAN. This as well should prevent 3G connections, but email keeps downloading, and Sygic keeps asking for internetconnection 2 screens 2 times an hour.

3. email: settings - disable automatic download

4. settings - connectivity - Mail for exchange - settings -disable calendar and contacts synchronisation

5. connectivity - location - disable network positioning (for sygic)

I would like an applet to switch all these settings on and off through 1 button.

Of course there is a way to switch of all internet activity except wifi: just don't enter the phone's pin at startup. No telephone, but Maemo OS keeps working. And Sygic keeps asking for internet connection, two screens twice an hour.

Switching off roaming connections means that abroad valuable services are no longer available. No wheater forecast update, no automatic downloads of Opensteetmap, Google maps, Weather radar, email, no internet connection, almost back to the stone age of just phone and sms. That's not why I bought the n900.

So, the best solution is: internet connections available troughout all countries of the EU for the rates charged now in your own country.
Only than can I use my smartphone as it is made for.

As mentioned before in this thread, the high charges for roaming are kind of daylight robbery. Cant we start an EU-wide protest against these silly rates based on 19th-century national borders ?

I set

Internet Connections - Connect automatically: Always Ask
Phone - data roaming: Always ask
Location: Network Positioning disable

willem43L You know that data moves on 2g just fine, right? And that 99.9% of operators charge exactly the same for 2g and 3g data?

From what I'm reading here, it sounds like the best solution is to use only local SIMs in an N900 & use Manual Network selection even when home so that you can't roam on another network when you are near borders, etc. Then when you enter a new country you buy a local SIM for use there. Of course this isn't very user-friendly as you will need to maintain multiple accounts if you travel regularly, etc.

Also, in order to be reachable on your primary local SIM when abroad, you would need another device (perhaps one that has no data capability so there won't be any accidental charges).

For nerds like me though, all this really shouldn't be a problem as we likely have multiple devices anyway.