jonu,


That's still the way as far as I know. The accepted term for that feature is called IMS for Apple devices. The only shortcut that I can think of is, if your carrier has a setting per line or account that blocks charged roaming. I am on T-Mobile, and they have one. It is under: Account-Profile Settings-International, then select the line to modify. My daily voice line has an ON/OFF switch setting labeled: Block International Roaming (Including Charged International Roaming). I leave this setting ON all the time. It has no effect except to never allow that line to connect to a foreign roaming carrier. It saves the trouble and possible expense of picking a non roaming carrier for IMS. I have several free lines from past promotions, and they all get 5Gb of high speed international roaming per month. I use them as my data lines per phone for the IMS featured free calling to and from US numbers while overseas.

I am also a Roamless fanboy, and have two accounts with them for our travel phones. You might explore their offerings and discussions here on FT. With discounts and referral bonuses my per Gb cost is effectively $1.16 in Europe and many other locations. That is on data that never expires. Great customer support and a simple, easy App also. A big reason I have Roamless accounts is, they have low calling rates to foreign carriers. Typically in the $0.02-$0.10 a minute rate while roaming or home. T-Mobile charges $0.25 while roaming, and $3 a minute when calling from the US!