Best Phone option for travel to USA

[pshepvic]

There is a work around to enable data on iphones with AT&T prepaid. Just need to edit the APN settings. One option for doing this is given in the link that Schomers87 posted. You can also use the iPhone Configuration Utility that can be downloaded from Apple's website. See instuctions on www dot amirnaor dot com/?p=49. This worked perfectly with my unlocked iPhone 3GS from Telstra.

Ah thanks for that - wish I'd known about this 3 months ago!!

 

[drewbles]

Hi all!


These are the options I've seen (Note, I have an iPhone 4 and require a micro sim):
- I've looked at Flight Centre's "eKit" range, and was looking at the "Passport" service. This is OK, considering it is free to receive incoming calls, but costs $0.69 per SMS. There is also NO data.

Trust me, there *is* data on this service

If you want data, take a look here:
HOW TO: A guide for Australians using their iPhone 3G’s data services on AT&T in the USA. — perfectdarkmike

AT&T is going to offer the best speeds for data on your iPhone 4. You can use T-Mobile or some of the other MVNO's, but you'll be stuck on GPRS or EDGE and it'll be sloooooooowwwwwww. AT&T is 100mb for $20 so it's not cheap, but it works a treat, I use my iPhone 4 with AT&T in the USA for data, and my work SIM card for voice calls (in another handset, but it also works just fine in the iPhone 4; I just dislike swapping SIM cards all the time).

Keep in mind that jailbreaking iPhones purchased in the USA will not allow you to use them on other networks. Some older handsets (iPhone, iPhone 3G and 3GS) did have some baseband hacks developed, but in general, they were not reliable. We get customers calling saying they 'jailbroke it' and it simply is borked. It sometimes will recognise the SIM, but seldom ever actually work.

iPhone 4's are sold unlocked in most markets, just not the USA. Each version of software usually sees Apple updating the GSM Modem baseband, which kills hacks again.

I also did a long guide on this last year if anyone wants to read it, check here: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ternet/guide-mobile-voice-data-usa-25580.html

(mods: perhaps that should be a sticky FYI purposes??)

 

[dfcatch]

Drewbles' advice is good.

I'm still on the 3GS, but for the last two years have been enjoying data on AT&T prepaid perfectly fine

 

[neon_crossing]

Hi all!

I am going to the USA for just over a month somewhat soon, and I was looking into what mobile device, if any, would be most appropriate for my travels?

- Otherwise would it be best to leave my iPhone 4 here, and buy a pre-paid sim and phone bundle once in the US? This seems a bit of a waste, as it's only 5 weeks I'm there, and it costs more...

Are there any suggestions? I'm a little confused at this stage :-|

Cheers,


LJ.

Hi LJ,

Last year I was in the EXACT same position you are in and I did a TON of research and I found out a few things.

Background:
2 years ago I brought an extra phone to bring with me and buy a prepaid sim (seems easy enough, they are in every service station here in australia), I touched down in LA and went to around 5 phone stores, best buy, 7/11's NO-ONE had heard of a prepaid sim card you can put in an unlocked phone. You can get them but its better to order them over the net. Long story short....That trip cost me $900 in international roaming charges for a two week trip!

I had learnt my lesson.

Then last year when I was heading over again, I (like alot of others ) am a iPhone junkie and use mine all the time, I thought I had learnt my lesson, I'll be smart and buy a sim before I head over, so I started to enquire about pre-paid sims that will work in an iphone..... here lies another problem, all iPhones in the USA are contracted to one mobile provider, so there are NO unlocked phones sold locally over there hence no prepaid sim cards designed for iphones and it is hard to find pre-paid sims with alot of data included on them....

I did alot of research and stumbled across a website..... www.mrsimcard.com
The website looks a little amateurish but their service isnt, these guys were GREAT, I paid like $100 odd bucks for a 15 day plan (they have 15, 30, 60 day plans etc etc) with data included and the iphone was the best travel buddy you can have, especially if you download the skype app and use that for long phonecalls home when you are connected to wifi) I am sure those guys have micro sims that fit in iphone 4's. I can't recommend them enough, they seemed to be the only site that had exactly what I was looking for.

I suggest you switch your current sim card into an old phone you can take with you so you can check your voicemail etc if you really need to, and buy a simcard from iPhone Prepaid Sim Cards USA, UK, Caribbean, Israel, Jordan, Thailand... and use it in your iPhone.


[Feel free to hit me up with any questions...I also recommend buying a local skype number in australia which diverts to your skype account which you can divert to your american sim card (sounds complicated I know) but basically you can set up a local number in australia that your friends and family can call and instead of them paying huge international rates or you paying expensive phone roaming rates you only pay normal skype rates for the diverted calls, it works out to be very cheap.]

 

[Fnordish]

I'm heading stateside shortly as well.

I've done both the roaming thing via AT&T and Tel$tra but only for messages and sms.
Call costs were rediculous.
I ended up buying a throw away nokia POS from Radio Shack for $25 which was good enough to make local calls on. Combined with a calling card from the YHA (I think it was called eKit) it was pretty cheap. Top up over the net and all is fine.

For my pending trip I've ordered a prepaid SIM from a crowd called TRUphone that I saw on lifehacker. Looks like their network covers the US, AUS and UK. Calls within their network are cheap (free Tru-Tru) no matter where you are and includes pretty reasonable data. You can also link 3 phone numbers to it (US/AUS/UK) so that people can call you like a local mobile call wherever they are. Seems pretty neat.
I have no idea if it's any good (will post an update in May hopefully) but figured it's worth a $30 gamble.

 

[pshepvic]

The site I used to order an AT&T sim before I went was USA SIM card - delivery was fairly quick too. They have sims for other providers as well.

 

[drewbles]

As per usual, anyone that wants info on the place I work for drop me an IM (I won't advertise, as previously mentioned, my first love is travel, it's just co-incidental I work for a company that does pre-paid global roaming SIM Cards ).

 

[Princess Fiona]

As per usual, anyone that wants info on the place I work for drop me an IM (I won't advertise, as previously mentioned, my first love is travel, it's just co-incidental I work for a company that does pre-paid global roaming SIM Cards ).

And I have bought and used a pre-paid sim from your company both in US and UK, worked perfectly well. Able to find out and distribute my US number prior to leaving Oz and a fixed UK number is provided with the sim card. I too have an iPhone 4 but use my Nokia 2730 when traveling as I haven't got around to un-locking it yet !!

 

[drewbles]

And I have bought and used a pre-paid sim from your company both in US and UK, worked perfectly well. Able to find out and distribute my US number prior to leaving Oz and a fixed UK number is provided with the sim card. I too have an iPhone 4 but use my Nokia 2730 when traveling as I haven't got around to un-locking it yet !!

Good to hear a happy customer (keeps me in a job!). They do work fine with iPhone 4's as well. We do actually have Micro SIM's available upon request (I saw the batch the other day) but I just use my SIM cutter for my test SIM's (the desk is littered with 'em! )

 

[Aggi]

I used the TRUphone pre-paid sim card last year when i went to the US and it worked fine. The call charges are reasonable and it is easy to top up your credit online. Qantas are selling the TRUphone sim cards in their inflight duty free magazine and they are 20% cheaper.

 

[DC3]

I used the TRUphone pre-paid sim card last year when i went to the US and it worked fine. The call charges are reasonable and it is easy to top up your credit online. Qantas are selling the TRUphone sim cards in their inflight duty free magazine and they are 20% cheaper.

Does that come with any included data, at all, or is it for voice, only?

 

[Fnordish]

Does that come with any included data, at all, or is it for voice, only?

As far as I can see, it comes with $15 credit which can be used for calls or data.
Phone calls are pretty reasonable rates. Data isn't as cheap as a normal contract phone, but far better than any roaming deal.

I wish I'd seen this earlier, I could have saved $10! It's $30 on the TRU website.

 

[Keith009]

I'm on a 3GS and prepaid SIMs do seem the way to go. Make sure your phone is unlocked.

You don't say where you're going but avoid T-Mobile if in California as you'd only get EDGE. And also the worst reception. (though this might soon change as they're getting taken over by AT&T)

I'm on an AT&T $75/month pre-paid SIM - unlimited calls and texts (including overseas texts), but a miniscule 200MB data. They are obliged by policy to tell you that you can't access data if using prepaid SIM on an iPhone (so that you cannot claim a refund by citing that as a reason) - but all you need to do is change your phone's APN (unlockit.co.nz) to access data.

 

[timster]

Latest Qantas inflight mag summarizes 3 travel sim card options.
http://www.qantas.com.au/infodetail/flying/inTheAir/inflightMagazine/technology.pdf

This one seems to be best and can be bought duty-free on Qantas flights or online.
Tru - the world's first global mobile network - Tru

 

[luckyjohn888]

Try this. Around $20 includes credit see all details etc at the website of " simple calling "
I have used this a number of times in US and allover Europe incl Russia. It lasts forever as long as topped up and at least 1 15c Txt sent every 3 mths.

Cheers, John.

 

[themaiz]

Um... it's not that hard to get a phone account in the US. I picked up an ATT GoPhone plan which I've run continuously since 2006. ATT's coverage is fine... no worse than many carriers in Sydney. I had a T-Mobile a long time ago, but ATT definitely has cheaper plans for itinerant use (reconfirmed in January 2011).

I started the service by going to an ATT corporate store, got a SIM, popped it in my Australian phone, and voila. On the air. That SIM has worked in at least four different GSM phones, so there's no particular problem with phones or the network.

ATT has a number of GoPhone plans. I'm on the "Minutes" plan, which might no longer be available... costs me $1/day flagfall, $0.20/minute to make or receive a call, and $0.20 for a local SMS or $0.25 for an international SMS. I don't do data, but there's a data add-on that seems to work for others.

Pricing is pretty simple: various recharge amounts, with 90 days to use the credit. If you recharge inside the period, then any credit rolls over. $100 recharge lasts for a year, and so by recharging that amount annually I've rolled over credit without interrupting the service and therefore I get to "keep" the number... which is the goal..

BTW, I recheck plans every trip or so, and I've found no cheaper or more convenient option to keep a US phone number alive for itinerant use. Even though $0.20/minute seems like extortion for local calls, a monthly unlimited plan with any provider would be MUCH more expensive and despite being in the US three or four times a year I've only once ever been able to run down $100/year and that's when I project-managed a family house move .

ATT have a really neat GoPhone plan which is $2/day for unlimited calls... that's appealing, but simple maths says I'd have to be in-country for 50 days or I'd never use up $100 of annual credit.... so it's a wash. If you're in-country for a month, then $60 is, IMHO, a bargain for unlimited local calling or call reception (which could be calls from SkypeIn, or network calls from Oz).

Not sure what the problem might have been getting a SIM in the US; you should be able to do this at the ATT outlet in any mall. You'll probably get better service and maybe better pricing on the SIM at an ATT corporate store, and that's what I'd recommend.

And about my only complaint: ATT doesn't roam into Canada. Seems really stupid, because other networks do, but ATT doesn't. So on the rare occasions that I've been in Canada, I've used my Australian GSM and kept the calls short.

 

[dfcatch]

I have an ATT Gophone SIM on the same old plan as above ($1 per day when used, $0.20 per minute for calls, free to other ATT cell phones), with the $20 data add-on, and APN changer from unlockit.co.nz to enable data).

I also have a Rogers pre-paid SIM card for Canada.

Both work great and I'm saving a fortune when in North America.

 

[FuzzyAUS]

I too used the ATT GOPhone for a few years, then a friend added me to their family plan and it was great.. issue was each time i left the USA they kept charging for the data plan and it always ended in a lot of work to get it credited back (used the method ATT told me to before leaving the country)..

So 28/4/11 will be my next trip and i dont have my old Go Phone account anymore..

Calls i am not too worried about as i dont do many, data is important to me as i need to keep on top of emails on my phone (and iPad) and use my laptop in the hotels.

Was great years ago when the GoPhone had an unlimited data plan (i only ever used 300-400 meg), but now days you only have a 100meg bundle which doesnt last long at all.

 

[beardoc]

I had a recent trip for two weeks in the US and Puerto Rico and after looking at keeping my current phone (AT&T GoPhone and T-Mobile PrePaid) vs buying a US Phone and going on very good value CDMA Prepaid with Virgin Mobile USA.

I have an Android phone, but much of this is equally applicable to iPhone.

I went with the T-Mobile US$80/month (inclusive of taxes) for unlimited calls, unlimited SMS and 2GB/month data. T-Mobile uses the 1700MHz/AWS band for their 3G, so many phones don't work on 3G, but T-Mobile has a comprehensive EDGE network, which is a lot faster than GPRS/2G (the original iPhone was EDGE-only), and whilst it's not as fast as 3G, it's usable. I tethered my laptop to my phone and did fine with EDGE.

Oh, and if you can when you're in the US, sign up for a Google Voice number - it gives you a permanent number in the US that will redirect to any US phone number - so you get a constant US number that doesn't need to be changed every time you go to the US and get a new US SIM card - you just load the Google Voice app on your iPhone or Android phone and it just works. I do this each time I go over - and my friends know my (415) San Francisco number, and just call that, no matter where I am and what US SIM I have. US2c/min calls back to Australia are a nice byproduct, too, as well as voicemail transcription.

 

[dougieboy]

I am currently in the United States and purchased the tru-phone sim card for my iphone 3G (online through truphone.com) Received by courier 2 days later. Tested the sim and phone worked straight away, with data and internet working also after I downloaded an installation program from the website (in the words of Tony Abbot, I'm no tech-head). When I touched down in LA, switched phone on and started working straight away. SMS no problem, it actually works like clockwork. I used the sim card today to purchases wi-fi in-flight on Delta Airlines and book a limo for my arrival in Orlando one hour later. Very good! Don't get scammed by Optus or Telstra offering something similar at a truly astronomical cost for MB data allowance. Their data plans are $20 per MB (optus) versus 15c per MB for tru phone. I'm sold! I have also used the phone to message in LA, New York and now Orlando florida with no problems. It's great being offered the american cell phone number as an option online. And i can close this all down when i come back to OZ without any penalty until next time i travel (most likely Europe).