Using an AT&T PAYG SIM in an unlocked iPhone
 

Last month I was in the US for 1 week and used 98mb of data which had I been roaming would have cost me $1000 – I got it for $15 on my iPhone.
Additionally all my incoming calls only cost me 20c even when someone called my UK cell number and not $2.00 per min. My outgoing calls to the UK were 39c and not $2.50. Even cheaper for incoming if my colleagues in the UK called my US cell number – and as calling from a landline in the UK can be cheaper when calling a US number than a UK mobile they saved money too!

To make this happen you need an AT&T SIM card, a gophone account (PAYG from AT&T), callingmart account for cheap calling credits for the gophone account and a Skype account with Skype in/out enabled. Lastly and most important your iPhone should be unlocked for use on any network. Mine is on O2 in the UK and the network do this free of charge through a simple request form on the web.

You need an AT&T SIM for 3G to work as T-Mobile the other GSM provider in the US only has EDGE compatibility for the iPhone. This is due to the frequencies that an iPhone works on and although T-Mobile offers 3G (or even 4G) it won’t work on an iPhone.

Firstly on arrival in the US go to Wal-Mart or Best Buy and buy the cheapest gophone. When I was in the US recently there were clearance bins with phones for $2.99. Do not buy any calling credit as we can buy that later and with some discount from callingmart.

If it’s an iPhone 4 or 4S you have, then you need a micro SIM. For all other iPhones a standard SIM is all that is needed. The gophone starter pack comes with a standard SIM however this can be converted to a Micro SIM no problem.

If you need a Micro SIM, then before you go buy a cutter from eBay or amazon. However do not cut your SIM until you have activated it in the gophone.

Activate the phone on line (instructions are in the box) and choose a smartphone tariff. Add your calling credit – I use callingmart (.com) where I get a 5% discount off the prepaid rates. The smartphone tariff is $2.00 per day and is only charged on days you make or receive a call or text message. I initially got a $100 voucher as it gave me 12 months connectivity. I still have credit on my account.

Use the IMEI from the gophone phone. You can keep this phone, give it away or as I did recycle it for charity. Register to manage your account at paygonline.com. This is a better site than the automatic linked site when initially setting up your account.

I used my hotel address to register the phone as AT&T does not verify your address.

It is important to add a data package - best value is 500mb for $25 valid for 30 days but you can also buy 100mb for $15 or 10mb for $5.
Now your SIM is active you can cut it down and pop it into your iPhone.

To get data working you need to change the APN to AT&T settings. This can be done manually or with a Wi-Fi connection open safari on your iPhone and go to www.unlockit.co.nz and follow the instructions. Disable or uninstall any data shrinking apps such as onavo before you do the configuration. You can always reinstall when back home.

You can now make and receive calls and use data and because you chose the AT&T smartphone tariff it allows data at 3G speeds.

Visual voicemail won’t work and AT&T hotspots are not enabled as your IMEI won’t be recognised but for all intents and purposes you will have a fully functional iPhone on PAYG in the US.

To receive calls from a UK (or other countries) mobile I have used Skype. I purchased a UK Skype in number so that I can divert calls from my UK mobile to this number. In turn I divert the Skype number to my US AT&T gophone number!

Therefore whenever a caller phones my UK number it automatically diverts to my US cell. The cost is dramatically reduced for roaming and I don’t miss any calls. As stated at the beginning I also save on incoming calls.

When I leave the US I also use a US Skype in number and divert the US cell to this number and in turn divert calls to my UK mobile. Therefore if anyone who has my US number and calls I get the calls on my UK mobile.

The only issue is text messages. There is no way of getting US text messages when back in the UK as AT&T don’t do roaming however when in the US if I put my iPhone SIM in another unlocked phone I do get my UK text messages. I have an old phone I leave in the safe at the Hotel which I check every now and then. Anyone of importance has my US number (office/home etc.). After all my calls are going to my US number its only text messages I can't forward.

I hope this helps fellow travellers to reduce their iPhone bills when travelling. Last month I spent a total of €80 in a week (inc Skype charges) compared to a roaming bill that I estimate would have been $1200.

Lastly when you put your home network SIM back in the your iPhone tap the APN setting app which is installed when you configure using www.unlockit.co.nz and you can reset to your home network APN setting and reinstall onavo etc.

V.useful thanks
 

Nice post and very helpful, will give that a go next time am in the US.

Thanks

An even cheaper way to make calls to the UK is to use the OneSuite service which only costs 2.5¢/minute to call UK land lines (more expensive to call UK mobiles.) It's a PAYG service i.e. you pay for a block of time in advance ($10/$20 etc.)

In theory, with the Skype app on iPhone, you need not divert your Skype in call to your US cell phone, thus saving a little more. However, the iPhone has a habit of not receiving Skype calls reliably.

Otherwise, I do a similar thing, except I have a US monthly contract with ATT as well as a UK contract and simply swap SIMs mid-Atlantic, forwarding calls to Skype in numbers as described.

However, I use calling cards for calls to the UK from the USA. I find True North from Zaptel works very well and the Phonecard app makes dialling contacts through the calling card completely painless.

Even where a VOIP application receives calls reliably on an Apple, if you password protect your phone it is a real race to unlock the phone and answer it in time.

Responded to wrong post. Mod delete this.

I also use AT&T PAYG when traveling to the US. To make international outgoing calls, I use Google Voice which has the great advantage of NOT being a VoIP service...

great
 

onesuite is great for this, for int'l calling. It's not really a PAYG service, more a CREDIT/DEBIT service. You have to put a credit on the account. nice thing is the credit never expires and only is reduced by usage/calling.

Since the above user was paying the 2$ a day for calling/texting then the call to onesuite trunk numbers wouldn't cost the usual .20$ a minute on an adhoc basis (this would be the AT&T charge) and they would only pay the .025$ for calling UK numbers.

OP. If you setup a gmail account, and google voice number, then you could get text messages via google voice and you would still be able to get these messages in the UK with the google voice app for either iphone or android. Also, if you use the google voice number in the future, you could just give that number to people (it would remain static/permanent) and then you can just point THAT number to whatever domestic number you get upon return to the USA.

That's what I do!