Going to US with IPhone

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Mis5P

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Hello

I am off to the states in about a month's time and wanted to know what type of sim at should be looking at for national calls and data.
I have an iphone 4 (unlocked from Telstra)
Is it better to buy a sim here or when I get there in?

any help is most welcome
thank you
 
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I did the same thing as Homer, unlimited calls with the data pack. Also meant unlimted calls to AU landlines and unlimited SMSs to AU mobiles. The only thing that cost anything was calls to AU mobiles. Worked great and meant I had service and a number the minute I got off the plane.
 
Homer said:
Just got back. I called Tim at Travel Gear: Everything a traveller needs: travel accessories, SIM cards, backpacks and luggage, outdoor gear, sleeping bags, language courses, etc. and he sold me a T-Mobile SIM cut down to Micro-SIM size which worked perfectly for my iPhone 4. I purchased a pre-paid calls and data pack for, I think, $60 for a month. That gave me unlimited calls to US numbers plus landlines in about 200 other countries. There are other options but this one worked for me.
Click to expand...

What sort of data allowance did you get with that?

TG
 
(for some reason it's not letting me edit my own post i'll blame my browser...)

For transparency for people who don't know, I actually work in the pre-paid global roaming SIM card business as an engineer so any opinions stated are that of me and not my employer (and no, i'm not giving plugs cause I know the rules ;)).
 
I just go into the first AT&T store and buy a GoPhone microSim card, and add however much credit you want plus the data plan. This is what I did in April this year in NYC:

  • - Find an AT&T store. You can go to a dealer, but I find the AT&T stores are the most knowledgeable. Ask for a GoPhone Pay as You Go prepaid SIM card. If you have an iPhone4, ask for a micro-SIM. You’ll need to put some calling credits – it’s $2 a day, so buy as much as you need
  • - If you want to have data access on your mobile (e.g. iPhone), you’ll need to pay an additional $20 for 100MB. It’s expensive but there’s no alternative that I know of. You can do this in store or you can just add the $20 to your new account and transfer $20 to the data access feature via the GoPhone web site later
  • - Pop the new SIM card in and you’re done. You can login to Prepaid cell phone, GoPhone® - Wireless from AT&T check your account and add features like data
 
flyingsyd said:
I just go into the first AT&T store and buy a GoPhone microSim card, and add however much credit you want plus the data plan. This is what I did in April this year in NYC:
  • - Find an AT&T store. You can go to a dealer, but I find the AT&T stores are the most knowledgeable. Ask for a GoPhone Pay as You Go prepaid SIM card. If you have an iPhone4, ask for a micro-SIM. You’ll need to put some calling credits – it’s $2 a day, so buy as much as you need
  • - If you want to have data access on your mobile (e.g. iPhone), you’ll need to pay an additional $20 for 100MB. It’s expensive but there’s no alternative that I know of. You can do this in store or you can just add the $20 to your new account and transfer $20 to the data access feature via the GoPhone web site later
  • - Pop the new SIM card in and you’re done. You can login to Prepaid cell phone, GoPhone® - Wireless from AT&T check your account and add features like data
Click to expand...
Not quite, you don't have to pay $20 for 100mb, it's now $25 for 500mb.

See my guide above, you don't need to do it that way, it's far easier if you follow the guide (and far cheaper!) ;)
 
drewbles said:
Not quite, you don't have to pay $20 for 100mb, it's now $25 for 500mb.

See my guide above, you don't need to do it that way, it's far easier if you follow the guide (and far cheaper!) ;)
Click to expand...
I had a look at your guide - which part makes it "far cheaper"?
 
drewbles said:
(for some reason it's not letting me edit my own post i'll blame my browser...)

For transparency for people who don't know, I actually work in the pre-paid global roaming SIM card business as an engineer so any opinions stated are that of me and not my employer (and no, i'm not giving plugs cause I know the rules ;)).
Click to expand...


Hi there,

would you be able to PM me. I have not racked up 15 posts to send PM as yet.

to discuss how I would be able to do this cheaply.

thanks very much
 
flyingsyd said:
I had a look at your guide - which part makes it "far cheaper"?
Click to expand...

The fact it's now $25 for 500mb rather than $20 for 100mb:)

Also, the $2/day thing is slightly bad. If you receive an SMS on that plan, you are charged $2.

If you use the PAYG option, you do not pay to receive an SMS, only if you send or make/receive a call.
 
llam123 said:
Hi there,

would you be able to PM me. I have not racked up 15 posts to send PM as yet.

to discuss how I would be able to do this cheaply.

thanks very much
Click to expand...

Look at the link above:) AT&T is your best bet for decent speeds. If you're happy with GPRS or EDGE on your iPhone, use the all-you-can-eat T-Mobile MVNO option for $60/month or so, but i'd stick with AT&T simply for coverage if you're going outside big cities.
 
drewbles said:
You won't get 3G on T-Mobile, as they use 1700mHz for their UMTS/HSDPA network.
Click to expand...

That's true, but from what I read online and from my own experiences, the T-Mobile data was fine for email, web browsing and maps. If you want to use Skype or YouTube, etc, then it wouldn't be any good but as there is so much wifi in the US I just did the Skype thing at hotels, etc.
 
I had no problem with the T-mobile data service. I was in LA, Michigan and NYC and it was fine everywhere.

I also liked the free calls to AU landlines and free SMSs to AU mobiles. And as mentioned, it was very useful to have an active phone service the minute I stepped off the plane.
 
Homer said:
That's true, but from what I read online and from my own experiences, the T-Mobile data was fine for email, web browsing and maps. If you want to use Skype or YouTube, etc, then it wouldn't be any good but as there is so much wifi in the US I just did the Skype thing at hotels, etc.
Click to expand...

Having used the T-Mobile GPRS/EDGE Network, i'd prefer to not be on it if I can avoid it. Think Optus and Vodafone when their 3G was bad, and it was slower than that when I used it 12 months ago ;)

And as you say, wifi is wide spread in the USA. Doesn't take too much looking to find some free access somewhere:)
 
From my experience using Optus here now (and Vodafone for about 5 seconds) the T-mobile data service was much faster. YMMV of course.
 
I'm currently facing a similar issue with Europe, specifically Suisse /Italy/ Greece.
Truckloads of info about, but mostly not including nitty gritty details like calls to Aus and calls to the sim from Aus.
Any guidance/ opinions ?
 
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