Sim advice? [iPhone+Europe]
 

Ok--I've read through some posts and couldn't find this answer....

Hubby & I have Iphone 3g's. we're headed to London, Edinburgh, and Dublin in a few weeks and we'd like to have a way to get in touch with the folks at home.

We're now confused about what we can do/not do, etc. Thoughts? Opinions? Tea leaves? :confused:


Realllly appreciate any and all help!

Have you unlocked the phones? If not then your only choice is to use the ATT SIM that you have and pay the roaming rates they charge you. If you've unlocked the phones then you can get a prepaid SIM in the UK and use that there.

How much do you plan to use the phones on the trip? Voice, data or both? Inbound or outbound? If outbound, to where? All those things contribute to the decision process.

If you have an unlocked iPhone, then you can buy a prepaid sim from one of the many UK mobile operators. It should automatically roam in Dublin as well (although you will incur a roaming charge in Dublin).

It would probably be cheaper to do that than to pay the roaming charges with your existing provider, unless you have a very well-priced roaming arrangement.

I have used the Truphone app (Avail on iTunes).... ATT charges are really outrageous.

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5G77 Safari/525.20)

Considering bringing an older unlocked phone if you have one so you can buy a SIM.

Or add the Fring app to your iPhone and use a Skype or another VOIP account.

Thanks for all the replies. We don't plan on using the phones much at all. We'll be there for about 2 weeks and maybe plan on making a few calls home. I'll look into the tips--thanks for the insights!

Ok-I just read about Fring--won't that cause my data charges to rack up?

Not if you use WiFi.

But I have another question. Does the iPhone 3G require 3G SIM's? Or if you unlock it can you pop in any old 2G SIM? I know you would need a 3G SIM to use 3G data, but can you use an ordinary SIM for phone calls?

Not if you use 3 (Hutchinson), who also happen to have the best 3G pay-as-you-go internet plan!

Don't you? :eek: That's good to know, because I do use 3 (:o <= embarrassed about not knowing that I won't incur roaming charges in Dublin despite being on their network).

Three's PAYG sim also allow you to data roam between UK and Ireland without additional cost (also Italy and a few other countries).

I second the vote for 3 from Hutchison. They will roam in the Republic at no extra charge if you enable "Three Like Home." They also (at least used) to sell a bucket of a 1,000 minutes to the US for something like US$15.

Obviously, your basic AT&T Phone Store won't unlock a cell phone. I've got a relatively new LS model sitting unused which would come in handy for an upcoming trip to Europe (Hungarry, Austria, Czech Republic), perhaps requiring multiple "SIM"s. Any clues for a convenient "unlocker"?

I may be naive--but the AT&T rep said all I would have to do is call to get an unlock code. Has anyone had any experience? I am going to look into Hutchison now--thanks to all! :D

Just went on the 3 site. Found this:

Sim Only Web Exclusive Price

Get a 3 SIM and get on the biggest 3G network in the UK with 99.5% of the population covered for calls and texts. Plus you can Top-up and double your texts and minutes with a Stretch Option. Nice.


Here's the link

I don't mean to be completely dense, but if we unlock our Iphones and get these sims, are we hopefully going to avoid the huge roaming charges?

I just hear the Iphone/Int'l horror stories and I want to be sure....Hubby is counting on me to be tech support!

Thanks again!