India - matrix sim cards....

has anyone here used a matrix sim card for the US????they seem to be offering a pretty decent data plan for $40 a month....that's pretty useful for me since i'll be able to use my iphone....

i would just be interested to hear experiences of people who have used their service....

Hi,

I had used Matrix SIM-USA, and it dint fail me. I was using data services on my blackberry and the mail never refused to hit my mailbox. I will recommend Matrix SIM. Let me know if you have any specific query.

Tarun

welcome to ft tarunsatan....a lot of sims work very well with blackberry services but i'm more interested to know whether it would work with the iphone....

Hi,

Well I just checked up with a couple who took their iphone and ipad to US for their honeymoon. They were quite happy with their service and yes, the data service worked on both. And I guess they just came out with some prepaid plans. Matrix is well known in the market for their plans and service. I'm sure they wont disappoint you.
Shoot if you have any more queries.

Tarun

tarun, do you by any chance work for matrix????

I will be contrarian here and say that its far cheaper for you to get yourself a local prepaid sim card .. which you can in most countries by just walking into a convenience store, no nonsense about passport size photographs and ID photocopies.

If you visit the country regularly you can keep the sim topped up for future visits. For example, when traveling to the USA, I have an ATT gophone sim that works with any unlocked gsm phone .. the call rates are a bit expensive on the basic plan but there's multiple plans available.

Unlike Matrix (and no I dont work for matrix) your phone # stays the same that way.

I will be contrarian here and say that its far cheaper for you to get yourself a local prepaid sim card .. which you can in most countries by just walking into a convenience store, no nonsense about passport size photographs and ID photocopies.

If you visit the country regularly you can keep the sim topped up for future visits. For example, when traveling to the USA, I have an ATT gophone sim that works with any unlocked gsm phone .. the call rates are a bit expensive on the basic plan but there's multiple plans available.

Unlike Matrix (and no I dont work for matrix) your phone # stays the same that way.

i have a gophone number that i have been using for over 5 years now....but that sim does not work on an iphone for data....

Keyser, is your iPhone unlocked/able to work on the AT&T network in the US?

For local sim cards, I recommend using a prepaid plan with an AT&T MVNO:

H2O Wireless (https://www.h2owirelessnow.com/pageControl.php?page=plans&category=W)
Red Pocket (http://goredpocket.com/plans)
Pure Talk (http://www.puretalkusa.com/cell-plans.php)
Jolt Mobile (http://www.joltmobile.com/rateplans.aspx)

There are others AT&T MVNOs, but that list should be a good springboard. You can purchase sim cards for close to nothing on eBay and load them instead of purchasing a new one from the provider.

You can also try T-Mobile or T-Mobile MVNOs, but if you plan to use data frequently, you are probably better off with the AT&T network (faster on average). One caveat to using MVNOs... you probably won't have visual voicemail, if you care about that.

Keyser, is your iPhone unlocked/able to work on the AT&T network in the US?

For local sim cards, I recommend using a prepaid plan with an AT&T MVNO:

H2O Wireless (https://www.h2owirelessnow.com/pageControl.php?page=plans&category=W)
Red Pocket (http://goredpocket.com/plans)
Pure Talk (http://www.puretalkusa.com/cell-plans.php)
Jolt Mobile (http://www.joltmobile.com/rateplans.aspx)

There are others AT&T MVNOs, but that list should be a good springboard. You can purchase sim cards for close to nothing on eBay and load them instead of purchasing a new one from the provider.

You can also try T-Mobile or T-Mobile MVNOs, but if you plan to use data frequently, you are probably better off with the AT&T network (faster on average). One caveat to using MVNOs... you probably won't have visual voicemail, if you care about that.

thanks for the links....have you used any of these services????

my phone is factory unlocked so it will work with any sim....on my last couple of trips to the us i used t-mobile but as you mentioned, the speed was poor....i was only getting edge....i asked at&t but they said that they do not provide pre-paid sims with data for the iphone....

i'm basically looking for a service that can give me data at a reasonable speed....i'm not looking for calling, texting, etc....i have my gophone which i can use for all of that....

Jolt Mobile (http://www.joltmobile.com/rateplans.aspx)

this looks promising....good plans....i might give this a go....thanks once again....

thanks for the links....have you used any of these services????

my phone is factory unlocked so it will work with any sim....on my last couple of trips to the us i used t-mobile but as you mentioned, the speed was poor....i was only getting edge....i asked at&t but they said that they do not provide pre-paid sims with data for the iphone....

i'm basically looking for a service that can give me data at a reasonable speed....i'm not looking for calling, texting, etc....i have my gophone which i can use for all of that....

Here is something you might want to consider.
Unlimited Talk Text and Web for $3 a day (T-mobile) (http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/pay-by-the-day-cell-phone-plans)

The first 500 MB are at "4G" speed. But you need a different phone for T-mobile SIM to provide you anything better than 2G or EDGE
The most likely reason you were getting 2G speeds on iPhone is that the iPhone does not wwork at T-mobile's 3G band, which is AWS- band IV (with download in 2100 MHz band and upload in 1700 MHz band ) AT&T's 3G operates in PCS and CLR bands (850 and 1900 MHz) for download and upload. Your iPhone is handicapped with T-mobile. There are some other prepaid virtual operators who might be operating in CLR or PCS operrtors who offer services in PCS or CL bands. I will look around ad see if I can find them for you.
I don't know if any of the ones mentioned above work in 3G PCS or CLR bands.
How many 3G bands does your iPhone have? Your iPhone probably works in PCS (band II), CLR (Band V) and IMT (band I) bands.

How much data do you need?
Do you plan to use data only on the phone, laptop or both, or do you plan to tether your laptop?
StraightTalk (http://www.straighttalk.com/ServicePlans)
will give you 30 days of unlimited talk text and data for $45.

I am not positive, but as far as I know PureTalk does not have 3G service.

Keyser, is your iPhone unlocked/able to work on the AT&T network in the US?

For local sim cards, I recommend using a prepaid plan with an AT&T MVNO:

H2O Wireless (https://www.h2owirelessnow.com/pageControl.php?page=plans&category=W)
Red Pocket (http://goredpocket.com/plans)
Pure Talk (http://www.puretalkusa.com/cell-plans.php)
Jolt Mobile (http://www.joltmobile.com/rateplans.aspx)

There are others AT&T MVNOs, but that list should be a good springboard. You can purchase sim cards for close to nothing on eBay and load them instead of purchasing a new one from the provider.

You can also try T-Mobile or T-Mobile MVNOs, but if you plan to use data frequently, you are probably better off with the AT&T network (faster on average). One caveat to using MVNOs... you probably won't have visual voicemail, if you care about that.

Are you sure about PureTalk?

Here is something you might want to consider.
Unlimited Talk, Text and Data for $3 a day (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=17758672)

this link doesn't work....it just takes me to a reply for my own post....

The first 500 MB are at "4G" speed. But you need a different phone for T-mobile SIM to provide you anything better than 2G or EDGE
The most likely reason you were getting 2G speeds on iPhone is that the iPhone does not wwork at T-mobile's 3G band, which is AWS- band IV (with download in 2100 MHz band and upload in 1700 MHz band ) AT&T's 3G operates in PCS and CLR bands (850 and 1900 MHz) for download and upload. Your iPhone is handicapped with T-mobile.

handicapped is definitely the right word....i used my iphone on t-mobile the last time i was in the us....it worked but it was slow....

There are some other prepaid virtual operators who might be operating in CLR or PCS operrtors who offer services in PCS or CL bands. I will look around ad see if I can find them for you.

thank yaatri....that would be great....

How much data do you need?
Do you plan to use data only on the phone, laptop or both, or do you plan to tether your laptop?

for my trip in march i will only be there for 5 days so i'm just going to stick with my gophone....in may i will be there for almost 4 weeks so i will need at least 2gb of data....i have a data card for my laptop so i won't need to tether....

Straight Talk (http://www.straighttalk.com/ServicePlans)
will give you 30 days of unlimited talk text and data for $45.

this looks interesting....however, no mention anywhere on the site if it will work with an iphone....

this link doesn't work....it just takes me to a reply for my own post....
I do apologise for the goof-up. My eyes were tired and blurry. I posted link to the post I was in. I have corrected the error, but it won;t help you with iPhone as it's T-mobile prepaid.

thank yaatri....that would be great....
SO far, Straight talk is the only other operator other than those mentioned by Mr Bean, that I think will work with PCS and CLR bands (for iPhone)

for my trip in march i will only be there for 5 days so i'm just going to stick with my gophone....in may i will be there for almost 4 weeks so i will need at least 2gb of data....i have a data card for my laptop so i won't need to tether....
If you have a GoPhone and an iPhone, AT&T reseelers (MVNO) are your best bet. I was looking for a no contract phone for my T-mobile service as I did not want to pay for a data plan every month. I tried T-mobile branded Dart, but did not like it. I have now bought a T-mobile branded Wildfire S (android phone by HTC) for $150, which is tolerable, but the screen is rather small. It works in 3G on AWS (Band IV for T-mobile) and IMT (Band I for most of Europe Africa and Asia) and got it unlocked for overseas use. I would prefer a bigger screen, but can't find anything better within my price range. Unless you like T-mobile and/or want to buy no contract T-mobile banded phone, your best bet would be to go with those mentioned by Mr Bean or StraightTalk.

this looks interesting....however, no mention anywhere on the site if it will work with an iphone....

I thought I saw something that indicated it works with AT&T 3G bands. I will check to make sure it does. StraightTalk is AT&T reseller or virtual network operator and it markets 3G phones that work on that network. My inference is that it will work on the same bands as iPhone does. Since your iPhone is unlocked, it should work unless there is some issue with iPhone that I don;t understand.
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor have I ever used, an iPhone.

this looks interesting....however, no mention anywhere on the site if it will work with an iphone....

It can be done, but takes some work (http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1691930-HowTo-StraightTalk-and-iPhone!-Everything-you-need-to-know-to-make-it-work!).

Considering the extra investment and scut work involved, it's probably not worth it for 1 month use.

It can be done, but takes some work (http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1691930-HowTo-StraightTalk-and-iPhone!-Everything-you-need-to-know-to-make-it-work!).

Considering the extra investment and scut work involved, it's probably not worth it for 1 month use.

Does it need more work just for iPhone or for all phones that are not branded StraightTalk but can operate in CLR and PCS bands? A 3G AT&T phone other than iPhone, for example.
I hope LTE eliminates or reduces incompatibility that prevails in the U.S. ,not only because of different technologies such as CDMA and GSM, but also different bands within the same technology (1900 and 850 MHz in the U.S.m versus 900 and 1800 MHz, in most other countries, except Japan and Korea) or different bands such as IMT, CLR, PCS and AWS.

thanks for all the info yaatri & mr. bean....from all the operators mentioned above, jolt mobile looks like one that is most likely to work....in their 'phone setup' section they have configuration settings for the iphone....

their $69.99 plan also looks quite good....unlimited talk & text with 2gb of data & some pretty good international call rates....

It can be done, but takes some work (http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1691930-HowTo-StraightTalk-and-iPhone!-Everything-you-need-to-know-to-make-it-work!).

Considering the extra investment and scut work involved, it's probably not worth it for 1 month use.

If you have apn, port and server names, should it not work? What else do you need other than the following? I think, MCC and MNC for AT&T any AT&T based MVNO should be the sane. It looks like only APN and MMS proxy are different.

APN: att.mvno
Proxy: n/a
Port: 80
Username: n/a
Password: n/a
Server: n/a
MMSC: http://mmsc.cingular.com
MMS Proxy: proxy.mvno.tracfone.com
MMS Port: 80
MCC: 310
Authentication type: n/a
APN type: internet+mm

Does it need more work just for iPhone or for all phones that are not branded StraightTalk but can operate in CLR and PCS bands? A 3G AT&T phone other than iPhone, for example.
I hope LTE eliminates or reduces incompatibility that prevails in the U.S. ,not only because of different technologies such as CDMA and GSM, but also different bands within the same technology (1900 and 850 MHz in the U.S.m versus 900 and 1800 MHz, in most other countries, except Japan and Korea) or different bands such as IMT, CLR, PCS and AWS.

Honestly, I am not sure. It seems that only certain ST phones come with the SIM cards that allow for unlimited smartphone data. The most important aspect of process seems to be about editing the carrier APN info to allow the iPhone to access that data network. I am not sure what APN info other ATT phones would have. They may or may not require further APN editing.