leeflyer

AT&T WILL unlock your iphone4 but it takes about 2 weeks. Please call AT&T at (800) 331-0500 they will ask for your personal information along with the iphone IEMI number

Where to find IEMI?
•Tap Settings
•Scroll down to and tap on “General”
•Tap on “About”
•Scroll down and look for “IMEI”

You can also find IMEI from iTunes:

Then, you will get an email from AT&T in about 2 weeks with just a simple message like your request has been completed. Then connect to itune and it should say "unlock complete".
Double check this with the AT&T rep you talk to just in case they changed the steps.

Good Luck and let us know how it goes

fredsxb

Another mobile hotspot option just for France (with a great review by @parislemon, writer for TechCrunch):

http://frenchconnection.fr

Review:
http://massivegreatness.com/limited-...ion-disconnect

Graciecatt

So here are my options (updated from my previous post on this thread):

My husband's AT&T out-of-contract iPhone 3GS is ready for unlocking. At first they denied me but I called back (because it's my old phone and way out of contract) and now all I need to do is back it up on iTunes then restore from backup and I should be unlocked.

So assuming I have an unlocked iPhone 3GS:

a) iPhone Trip for a "Europe" SIM (we will be in both France and Germany) for 10 days unlimited data and voice is $203

How does this $203 compare to:

b) pre-paid SIM:
- purchased in Germany when we land? Ideas for companies/stores?
- purchased online before I leave and delivered to my house in the US? Ideas for websites?

c) pay-as-you-go SIM:
- purchased in Germany? Ideas for companies/stores:
- purchased online before I leave and delivered to my house? Ideas for websites?

What's the difference between pre-paid and pay-as-you-go price wise and how would they compare to iPhoneTrip's $203?

Editing to add - I just went on www.germansims.co.uk as suggested in an earlier post. It's very confusing - there are so many choices! I want a SIM that will do voice and data and work in both France and Germany.

Yaatri

One used to be able to find a starter SIM in Malaysia for RM 8.50 with RM credit. Some vendors charged a bit more for the same SIM.
On this trip, I was unable to find anyone who would sell me a starter SIM pack without the vendor requiring RM20-30 (RM3.00 per US$) recharge, for talk time. After trying a few shops, I found one who was willing to to use the RM 20 recharge (actually RM 18) to activate 2GB, one week data plan. Every couple of days, there was an RM0.50 (or was it RM0.80?) charge for something I could not understand.
Since the SIM had RM 5.00 credit to begin with, it made little difference. I made only one call during my stay there.

Yaatri

I haven't bought a SIM in Europe since last year, and never bought data there, but $203 for 10 days sounds like a robbery.

Ryvyan

Does anyone know of any prepaid cards that I can get in Taiwan that I could also use in Japan? Mainly for data roaming.

I would purchase separate SIM cards but I'm only going to be in Japan for 4 days this time round and I'm not willing to part with the S$50 I spent the last time. Data roaming is also expensive, but the important thing is that there are no network partners in Japan.

wco81

Graciecat, prepaid and pay-as-you go are the same. Basically means you don't have a contract and you pay for a week or a day or a month at a time.

If you're only using it on the iPhone, you really don't need unlimited data. You won't use more than 5 GB if that, in 10 days, unless you tether and run your laptop on it.

Especially if the hotels you're staying at has Wifi as well.

Cheapest option would be to buy separate SIMs for Germany and France. So you'd swap the SIMs out when you cross borders.

The prepaid data services vary a lot in price depending on country. UK and Italy have some of the cheapest plans in Europe while France has expensive plans. I've never used in Germany but they seem to be in the middle:

http://prepaid-wireless-internet-acc...m/page/Germany

Looks like there are MVNOs (where a company leases bandwidth on someone else's network and resells it, kind of like Walmart does with AT&T's network) in Germany that offer data for 2 or 3 Euros a day. There is no data cap but they throttle after 500 MB of data. That would be plenty just for the phone, unless you're streaming videos all the time.

The iPhoneTrip option would make sense if you don't fee comfortable swapping out SIMs in both countries and setting the APN. But their price is very steep, though if it's truly unlimited and you can tether your laptop to it, then you might be able to get your money's worth. A lot of hotels charge for Internet, like $20 or more a day, often at speeds worse than the mobile network.

One other thing to keep in mind is that there are plans specifically for phones and tablets and plans for 3G cards or Mifis, where the carrier knows you're going to be using it to connect laptops, which can draw down much more data than phones. Pricing will be different.

For France, I went to Nice a couple of months ago and I decided to go with an unlimited plan of $21 every 3 days. then you'd have to swap out the SIM for another 3 days. I paid $42 for two of them from holidayphone.com. They come pre-activated and ship out of Sweden. I used it in a Mifi to use with my iPhone, iPad and MacBook Pro, though I didn't have the best reception where I stayed in Cannes. But I got good speeds when I was riding the coastal trains to Monaco so I surfed on my iPad on the hour-long train ride.

Graciecatt

I have successfully unlocked my husband's iphone 3GS.

I will only have the phone - no laptop. iPhoneTrip has 100MB/day (data only) for $119 for my entire vacation. BUT I will need to text for sure to get a hold of my daughter and plan where and when to meet a few times during the vacation. If I add voice, that's where the $203 comes in.

Is texting voice or data?

Could I get away with the 100MB/day? I'll use it for GPS, to find restaurants, directions, occasional Facebook posts (which I can do without if I have to) and texting.

This is the response I got from www.germansims.co.uk. I don't completely understand it:


For your needs I recommend a blau.de sim card. And this are the points for it:

Within Germany: 9 cent/minute for calls within Germany, even text messages to all German networks
24 cent per megabite internet using
calls to all EEC-landlines for 9 cent/minute plus 15 cent basic fee per call ( even to US and Canada)
calls to all EEC mobile phones for 29 cent/minute without basic fee
several data packages are offered

Abroad from Germany but within the EEC: 50 minutes package for calls to Germany and also within the foreign country you stay valid for 7 days bookable for 4.99 EURO, even 50 megabites data for the same price. Can be used in all EEC countries and you can book it again when the minutes/megabites run out.

The card can be managed and topup via internet and credit card


This is the description of the card they recommended. Here are my questions:

*** Is the smartphone option good? It sounds like it wouldn't work in France
*** How do I know if I need a micro sim or a regular sim? (iPhone 3GS)
*** Is 50 MB internet for 7 days ok for France? (we will only be in France for 3 days out of 10)
*** during checkout I cannot see where you choose a data plan
*** anything else you all can decipher for me out of this list?


Blau.de sim-card with an initial credit of 10.00 EURO

This card is good for:

- National calls to German landline as well as to other German mobile networks ( 9 cent per minute)

- Using mobile internet:

+ Only 24 eurocent will be charged per megabite within Germany

+ Charged in 10 kb blocks

+ Volumina flatrate of 2 GB for one month is possible, only 9.90 EURO

+ Smartphone option possible: 200 megabite full internet traffic in combination with 100 minutes national calls and 100 text messages within Germany

+ Cutting the sim to micro-sim size is free of charge

+ Full flatrate for one month for 19.90 EURO

+ Roaming within the EEC for only 48 eurocent/megabite

+ Romaing option for EEC countries out of Germany: 50 megabite Internet vaild 7 days for 4.99 EURO.

+ International call option for EEC-countries: 50 minutes usable within 7 days within the foreign country or to Germany or for receiving clls for only 4.99 EURO

+ NEW!! International calls: only 9 cent to EEC fixed network and North Amerika plus 15 cent per call and 29 cent to mobile networks of these countries per minute.

The settings for using mobile Internet will be send in addition to the sim in English

NEW: The monthly fee for Internet, national text-messages and calls will not be higher than 39.00 EURO. Blau.de stop charging when the total fee has reached this amount. Not valid for International calls

thanks for all your help!

jackal

Texting is neither voice nor data. It is its own thing and usually charged separately from voice and data. I didn't see anywhere in the rest of your post where they quoted the texting rate.

Since you'll have data, though, the best thing to do may be to set up a free texting number using one of the numerous free text-to-app apps available in the App Store. (You'll get a phone number assigned to you that people can send texts to, and then the texts show up in the app, much like regular texts show up in the regular Messages app.) One of the most widely-used and reputable options is Google Voice (http://voice.google.com), which can easily interface with your existing Google/Gmail account, but there are plenty of other options.

100MB/day should be plenty for your needs. I'm a powerhouse user addicted to my phone (I probably stare at its screen at least 10 hours a day), and even with tethering my laptop to it, I barely used more than 100MB/day (1.4 GB used in 13 days). For a casual user, probably even 50MB/day would be more than enough.

moondog

Just go easy on the Skype video calls (I lent my mifi router to a friend last month, and he managed to chew through 4 gigs during the course of 5 days because he needed to v-chat with his girlfriend in London).

thijsseh

Correct, but as the EU has set maximum roaming tariffs for data and texts (I am sorry, but I don't have the numbers at my fingertips here), having one SIM for both countries (a German one, as gracie is only spending a few days in France), is not a problem. A similar maximum does not (yet?) exist for data, so data roaming tariffs are extortionate!

And as far as the 100MB/day is concerned: if you only use data as you indicate, Graciecatt, 100MB will last you a week or even more

Graciecatt

Awesome - thank you all!

Now that it seems like 100MB/day is fine, I am unsure if I will go with the iPhone Trip for $95 or the German sim. But I am forgetting that the iPhone Trip doesn't include voice or text. jackal solved the text question. So maybe the German SIM is the best way since it has both??

Thanks for the tip about texting with an app. I think that means I would have 2 new phone numbers - one for calling and one for texting but I think my daughter can handle that. She is the only person we would be communicating with that would need my number (incoming calls/text).

I am going to give it one last try with German SIMS customer service to see if I can get an accurate quote in USD so I can compare apples to apples.

The "smartphone option" includes 100 texts in Germany - nothing about France though. I'd have to severely limit my texts to my daughter during the days of the trip when she is in school and not with us.

This is an awesome idea.

I'm right there with you on the staring at it 10 hours/day! That's why I was so concerned - I know I'll have to curtail my phone usage while on vacation but I really had no idea how much data is used - I thought using GPS and getting directions in itself were data hogs. I have the old, grandfathered-in truly unlimited data on AT&T so I never worry at home.

LOL we will not be Skypeing.

I am confused by your post - you say that the EU has maximum roaming tariffs for data and text then you conclude by saying a similar maximum does not yet exist for data. The very last line of my post describing this card says that the monthly fee for internet, national text and national calls will not be more than 39 Euro - I was actually confused about that, too - if I went wild using data they would only charge me 39 Euros? That makes me wonder why anyone chooses a plan at all if there's a cap.

thijsseh

My apologies, that was a mistake. The maximum roaming tariffs are for VOICE and text. Data falls outside of that.

Graciecatt

I finally made a decision!

I ordered a SIM from www.germansims.co.uk. I bought a blau.de SIM card with 10 Euro credit and a 15 Euro top - up for the card.

This cost $47.93 and should take me through my entire vacation on a single SIM card.

the within-in Germany data plan is called Smartphone L -
500 megabites, 200 text messages, 200 minutes within Germany for only 16.90 EURO (called Smartphone L)

for my weekend in France -
50 megabite data package, valid 7 days (not per day!) cost 4.99 EURO = 6.49 USD

The remaining credit is put towards any text messaging while in France at 13 eurocents each.

So I think I did ok. What do you all think? The person at the company was really good about emailing me and helping me.

thijsseh

I think with $48 for all the usage you need for a month in two European countries you did very well!
Would be interesting to hear your actual experiences when you get back.
Enjoy the trip!