I’m posting all this info for the community, and to document the steps required to get my iphone4s working overseas and make/take inexpensive calls. I travel all over the world and “just use skype” and “just buy a local SIM” do not meet my needs. And I didn’t want to pay Verizon $3/ minute,
so based on this post by Gary Leff I took the following steps:
1. Purchase
From onesimcard.com, I purchased a basic SIM with $10 credit on their website. Amazon is also a distributor. Total cost was $40. Their “Plus” card is intended for those visiting the U.S. and Canada. It’s more expensive, I didn’t buy it.
2. Shipment
Ordered on Saturday, they shipped on Monday via US Mail. Order arrived on Saturday. That's seven days later, but faster shipping is available.
3. Activate Onesimcard
Do not install SIM. Login to onsimcard.com account. Select “Activate”.
4. Setup Voice Mail (optional)
Call: 1-866-703-4770
The VRU is badly configured, but you can get it to work. A male voice gets you to the options menu. But when you tell it you want to record an outgoing message, a female voice asks if you want to listen/delete your messages. If you press enough buttons, you can get it to work. On the web site, I forced all voice mail to be sent to my email address as a .wav file, which is nice. You setup your voicemail password on the onesimcard website. Do NOT setup a password for
incoming voice mail like I did.
5. Let people call your old Verizon number
This is the cool part. By default, The SIM is setup for an Estonian phone number (country code 372). And Verizon won’t forward calls overseas. However, Onesimcard lets you buy a U.S. “Personal Extra Number” (PEN) for $20/year. About 30 area codes are available. Onesimcard will charge you an additional 20 cents / minute for calls made to the PEN. Then you'll have incoming call charges (free in most countries) + Verizon airtime for forwarding. That's a fraction of Verizon's $3 / minute. And via step 9 (below) people can still call your "regular" number!
6. Cut SIM
The iPhone 4s takes a MicroSIM card. You can order a micro SIM for $10 more from onesimcard. However, I ordered a “standard” SIM and cut it myself using a $5 SIM cutter I picked up on ebay.
7. Unlock iPhone
While still in the US, and using a landline, call Verizon int’l support @ 1-800-711-8300. On the first two attempts, Verizon reps told me to hang up and dial the same number. The third rep transferred me to a tech, who unlocked the phone (with the Verizon SIM still inside) then had me: Turn off phone, take out Verizon SIM (paperclip into right hand side of phone), insert onesimcard SIM. Turn on phone. Connect phone to itunes via a cable. Wait a couple of minutes. Bing! T-Mobile appears. Turned off cellular data on phone. (settings / general / network / cellular data)
8. SMS
Onesimcard SIMs can receive SMS at no charge if an email is sent to
[email protected]. This work as advertised. Since I have my own domain so I created something like
[email protected] but their mail server blocked the forwarded message. So that’s unfortunate. Texts are 40 cents each, but 15 cents if you buy a 100 day $0.99 "text message discount package"
9. Before take off (still in U.S.)
Forward calls: From the cell phone, while STILL in THE U.S., dial *72-xxx-xxx-xxxx to forward your phone to the PEN.
10. Disable Cellular Data
Onesimcard’s data rates aren’t great ($1 / MB), but that’s OK, I generally use WiFi for data. Even though data service is disabled on the SIM by default and requires several steps to enable, I suggest turning off cellular data (settings / general / network / cellular data)
11. Unforward Phone
When back in the U.S. dial *73 to stop forwarding. Re-enable cellular data.
12. Support
Had a voice mail setup problem. Using the web (on a Saturday), submitted a ticket. OneSimCard support got back to me within 10 minutes.
While overseas, onesimcard can be reached via 213-805-2905
Verizon Support while overseas: 908 559 4899
Hope this is useful to someone!
Robert