USA

Can't be done with an iPhone.

Originally Posted by battye

USA
Can't be done with an iPhone.

Huh? How about T-Mobile? I've used their prepaid service without problems.

Originally Posted by ciprol

Huh? How about T-Mobile? I've used their prepaid service without problems.

Including data? When I went into a T-Mobile store, they said it couldn't be done. AT&T also tried - they even created a fake SIM to try it, but it wouldn't work.

I'm sure you could get a SIM for text and voice though.

Hi all,

sorry if this leads to people repeating themselves but I'm off to the States later in the year. I want to take my unlocked iphone (virgin mobile) with me to make/receive calls & sms and to use the net and all it's apps glory! Can someone who has done this or is clued in let me know what I have to do and is it feasible?

Cheers!

Originally Posted by MackingmyMac

Hi all,

sorry if this leads to people repeating themselves but I'm off to the States later in the year. I want to take my unlocked iphone (virgin mobile) with me to make/receive calls & sms and to use the net and all it's apps glory! Can someone who has done this or is clued in let me know what I have to do and is it feasible?

Cheers!

There is a bit of info in the other thread (http://forums.mactalk.com.au/31/5454...ata-usa-2.html). But unless things have changed in the last few months, you can't use prepaid data. Both T-Mobile and AT&T couldn't do it when I went into their stores and asked them. AT&T (good service) even tried creating a fake SIM/account to use, and no luck.

Unsecured Wi-Fi from peoples apartments/small businesses is readily available if you need to quickly do a Google search or Maps search on the go, and Starbucks offer Wi-Fi for a one-off $5 fee on their Starbucks card (I linked to an article I wrote about my experiences in America in the thread I gave above) - this is probably the best option.

Ideally they would have some sort of data package for prepaid, but as far as mobile networks go I reckon the USA is quite a long way behind Australia.

would love to know about thailand

off topic, but godboyfrost, do you know what is happening there right now?

In the UK the best pre-paid deal (or pay as you go, as they say over here) is with O2. None of the other carriers really give good rates for data. The rates I am on give me 100 free international minutes if I top up £15 or 200 if I top up £20. Data is £7.50 a month and is unlimited and also includes free wifi at all of O2's hotspots (which is quite a lot).

The only thing though is that you should not tell them you have an iPhone. They don't understand the idea of being able to legitimately unlock them in Australia and if you say you are using it in an iPhone then they won't sell it to you. Just say you want a 3G pay as you go sim card, and tell them what rate plan you want to go on.

Apn: payandgo.o2.co.uk
User: vertigo
Pass: password

The data is pretty quick too, and coverage has been great from what I have experienced.

Originally Posted by huntjd

off topic, but godboyfrost, do you know what is happening there right now?

while the news can paint a negative image of the situation right now, believe it or not, life still goes on as usual. i remember being in bali in the aftermath of the bombings (2002), and to be honest, i felt as if i was in my own backyard, there was nothing to be scared of.

sometimes its the psychological mindset that makes the situation worse then what it is.

Anything for Hong Kong and China?

Thanks for the info Battye. AT&T will be first port of call!

Originally Posted by kogi

Anything for Hong Kong and China?

With Honkers, I've used Three prepaid kits.
They have heaps of different types of prepaid kits, but the best one to look for is the "HSDPA Broadband Access Rechargeable Sim"
Costs HKD28 per day unlimited.

three.com.hk 3G ??

No worries MackingmyMac.

Originally Posted by Mister_Peterman

In the UK the best pre-paid deal (or pay as you go, as they say over here) is with O2. None of the other carriers really give good rates for data. The rates I am on give me 100 free international minutes if I top up £15 or 200 if I top up £20. Data is £7.50 a month and is unlimited and also includes free wifi at all of O2's hotspots (which is quite a lot).

The only thing though is that you should not tell them you have an iPhone. They don't understand the idea of being able to legitimately unlock them in Australia and if you say you are using it in an iPhone then they won't sell it to you. Just say you want a 3G pay as you go sim card, and tell them what rate plan you want to go on.

Apn: payandgo.o2.co.uk
User: vertigo
Pass: password

The data is pretty quick too, and coverage has been great from what I have experienced.

Thanks, I have been interested in England's prepaid deals myself. I will keep a note of this post.

I'm currently in California. In the US there are a number of 3G providers, including Virgin, but you'll possibly face difficulty in simple terminology: it is very uncommon in the US to have an unlocked phone, and even the fact that you might want a SIM without a phone is unusual (prepare for quizzical looks from sales people :-). I think the US market is very new to prepaid, there are not nearly as many options as AU.

I've had some good experiences, particularly with a bloke on the phone at AT&T (their GoPhone prepaid product). I was careful to say I had a 3G phone and I wanted voice and Internet, as others have noted you'll just confuse people if you let on you have an iPhone. He explained it's entirely doable, but that I'd have to go into a shop and explicitly ask for a SIM-only product, $US25 with no initial credit (!). Then add voice credit (min $10), and a data option at $20/month for 100 MB. Oh, and in one shop I found the bloke didn't understand what I meant by "data", I had to say web browsing / Internet.

Anyway, I have direct quotes from people using 3G phones on TMobile and AT&T and they apparently both have good coverage in most of California at least. Problem is, they're expensive on prepaid.

In short, they're all fair to good coverage in major centres, and for light use AT&T's GoPhone is currently the best value (not saying much).

Generally you can only use roaming when on a contract and not on pre paid. Not sure about Telstra, but I assume they would be the same.

Telstra prepaid should work overseas, it has for me in the past (in Singapore) so I see no reason why it wouldn't work in the USA.

I was only using a cheap phone for calls/SMS - so I can't comment first hand on data. I have heard that it works though.