I have 3 quick questions please.
1) I have a UK Diamond from Orange. I am going to the US next month. Will I be able to use my phone with an American SIM card?
2) and if so, which one? My phone is unlocked.
3) any good tarrifs to recommend? (on pay as you go, as I'm only staying for 2 weeks).
Thanks a lot.
I am going to bump this because I have exactly the same set up and want to know the answer please for when I visit New Jersey in the new year
as long as it's unlocked it should work.
att charges 25 cents a minute on a pay as you go plan. And i think t-mobile is around the same.
Thanks for that info - that is a lot cheaper than using a UK SIM card on roaming in the USA. How much does it cost to buy a pay as you go SIM and are they easy to find?
e3esxt02 said:
as long as it's unlocked it should work.
att charges 25 cents a minute on a pay as you go plan. And i think t-mobile is around the same.
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thanks a lot...
peterc10 said:
Thanks for that info - that is a lot cheaper than using a UK SIM card on roaming in the USA. How much does it cost to buy a pay as you go SIM and are they easy to find?
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Click to collapse
they should be easy to find... However, you (and I) have to consider that in the US you pay to receive calls as well.. (right? correct me if I'm wrong)
You have to pay to receive calls when roaming, i.e. using a UK SIM in the USA. I do not know if you have to pay to receive calls when using a US SIM in the USA. Can someone living in the USA answer that please?
Can you only buy these SIMs in phone shops in the US. Or do supermarkets and other general stores sell them , as they do in the Uk and many other countries? And how much does the SIM itself cost please?
Yes, you pay as much when receiving calls in the US by the use of US Sim. More details on AT&T Pay-As-You-Go can be found at http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/go-phones/pyg-plans-phones.jsp?_requestid=16571. Similar can be found at T-Mobile website, at http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/Cell-Phone-Plans.aspx?catgroup=prepaid-cell-phone-plan, where the rate depends on the number of minutes you purchase. The difference lies in the charge per minute as well as the period that you can keep/roll-over the unused minutes. For short-term visit, obviously, the charge per minute is more important. You can find the various phone cards (including AT&T's) in most grocery stores, such as food stores, Wal-Mart, Sears, etc. You chose the minutes, insert the sim with included minutes, and you call a number to activate the number.
There are international roaming SIMs that are tailored to the country (including the US of course) you will be visiting with the calling-back-home plan at a much cheper rate. Calling from China back home to the US, for example, the rate is $0.38/min as compared to 1.89/min on AT&T International Roaming. Type "International SIM" on google search to find all these deals.
Welcome and have a nice trip to the US
Related
ok, hopefully I wont get flamed but havent found the 5 y/o answers than I need.... I have a Tilt with AT&T, Im using an WM6.0 Alex ROM (may switch to Duttys)... Ill be heading to Ireland this weekend for a week and I wanted to make sure I understood exactly how I can use my phone when Im over there...
I know how I can get the code for Sim Unlocking the phone but I was curious about where I should get the new sim card and how rates will apply for me when Im over there...
Assuming I get the unlock code from AT&T:
1. Where should I purchase the sim card to use in Ireland?
2. Do I need to call AT&T to get an international plan for any reason?
3. What carrier would I be using while Im in Ireland?
4. What rates would apply for me calling the US or in country?
Any help would be appreciated... applying flame retardant gel now... go...
1. Go to Ireland local phone retailers to buy a SIM card.
2. No. If you don't want to receive call from your America phone #.
3. Your choice.
4. Once you pick the carrier, go to their website to see the rates.
It kinda makes me sad how people are afraid to make new threads now..
makes me wonder which direction web-forums are going.
Sorry, little OT
Your US Tilt should work fine with no change in SIM card, though the local calling rates will probably be a lot higher. I just got back from a swing through about 5 or 6 European countries (including the UK, but not Ireland) with my US Tilt and I was able to make and receive calls in all of them.
AT&T does offer a $5/mo International plan that cuts 20% or so off the per minute rates, but I didn't bother signing up for it as I expected to make only a few calls.
visibility said:
Your US Tilt should work fine with no change in SIM card, though the local calling rates will probably be a lot higher. I just got back from a swing through about 5 or 6 European countries (including the UK, but not Ireland) with my US Tilt and I was able to make and receive calls in all of them.
AT&T does offer a $5/mo International plan that cuts 20% or so off the per minute rates, but I didn't bother signing up for it as I expected to make only a few calls.
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Click to collapse
So do I even need to sim unlock it then?
if you are planning to use your own sim card in ireland and pay the roaming rates then you will not need to sim unlock your phone and you will be contactable on your current phone number.
if however you decide to purchase a sim card in ireland, you will have to sim unlock your phone. I know that this is meant to be relatively straightforward but I never had to do it.
If you decide to get an irish sim card you have the following options:
Meteor: http://www.meteor.ie/personal/pay_as_you_go/price_plans/
o2: http://www.o2online.ie/wps/wcm/connect/O2/Home/Personal/Price+plans/Speakeasy+prepay/O2+Experience
Vodafone: http://www.vodafone.ie/planscosts/prepay/current/
There are 2 other operators in ireland, tesco and 3 but they are very unpopular. I'm currently with o2 which offers the best value for me. If you want a relatively unbiased view go to the carphone warehouse as they sell all brands of sim-card and will recommend the most suitable
Whatever you do don't connect to the internet whilst in ireland except using wi-fi as data costs are ridiculous.
If you have any other questions feel free to ask.
regards
Séamus, one of the few Irish members
If I get a sim in Ireland, will that give me a new number that works on that network?
jpofsc said:
If I get a sim in Ireland, will that give me a new number that works on that network?
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Click to collapse
It will be like totally dumping AT$T, number and all, and switching to a brand new carrier
denco7 said:
It will be like totally dumping AT$T, number and all, and switching to a brand new carrier
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Click to collapse
Would that cancel my AT&T account then?
jpofsc said:
Would that cancel my AT&T account then?
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Click to collapse
Not unless you cancel it. It would look to them as if your phone was off while you were using another SIM card.
So it sounds like I should only use an Ireland sim card if I plan to do a lot of local calling... If I only plan on calling US numbers then I should just keep my AT&T sim card and pay the international rates... is this correct?
Im going to take no response as a yes...
You'll be charged 1.29 per minuite or .99 cents depending on your plan with AT&T no matter where you call.
You can check via: http://www.wireless.att.com/travelguide/coverage/roaming_drop_down.jsp?PIDL=IRSD|IRWT
Hi all,
I know a fair amount of XDA-Developer members are from Europe so I thought I would ask you:
I am travelling all of Europe for five months, visiting about 15 countries.
Do you think it is better to take my current SIM card over to Europe and pay the huge roaming fees, or would it be cheaper to buy a SIM over there to call home?
Is there a SIM that covers the whole of Europe. Google says that there isn't, and I will have to get a new SIM in each country if I don't use roaming.
Obviously, I will be using Skype and VOIP as much as possible if I can.
Any ideas?
skype + voip = data roaming=massive fees
use local sims.
Sorry, I should have been more specific. I meant Skype and Voip at Internet Cafes etc. Not on my mobile device.
Jadel said:
Sorry, I should have been more specific. I meant Skype and Voip at Internet Cafes etc. Not on my mobile device.
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Places in UK that provide free WiFi access are few and far between. The Cloud and BT provide access points but charge an arm and a leg for it!
Local PAYG SIM's will eat your cash if you call international.
O2 and others who say they are independant but actually use O2's network will not give you SMTP and POP3 free access only a basic WAP access.
IMHO after trying loads (Live in UAE but go home to UK 4x per year) I found the Orange PAYG best overall as it will give you full web access but checkout 3's PAYG if ya want faster access to Tínternet.
Travelling Europe means many different providers. If you plan on staying in any one country then get a local SIM but free WiFi is most prevalent outside of UK. I personally have a wallet full of various cards from my service engineer days but it is becoming much easier to find cafe's and hotel lobby's that give free WiFi in continental Europe.
Load up a WiFi scanning prog before you go such as WiFiFoFum and you will find them.
It has to be said the T-Mobile in the UK offer a fairly decent PAYG deal, £2.50 for 5 days "unlimited", you want the 5-day WebnWalk pass.
Free WiFi via the Cloud can be had at most McDonalds, again not ideal but better than nothing.
If you're going to be traveling to over 15 countries, then purchasing a bunch of local prepaid SIM cards can be a hassle. There are a bunch of companies that make international prepaid SIM cards that specifically cater to businesspeople/ travelers. Most work in over 150 countries so you can make calls from just one sim card anywhere, and rates are pretty cheap. I personally used a card by onesimcard.com when in Europe. Had no problems and the sound quality was excellent. The onesimcard website has a great rate calculation page where you can compare against providers like T-Mobile.
roaming fees are ca. 0.60 € pro minute. even you receive call you have to pay something like 0.40 € pro minute..
its better that u buy simcard for every country
for example in Austria there is a PREPAID simcard for 20 € which has 2 GB DATA Transfer volume for Internet usage... its very cheap for national and international calls, you can also call and send sms with this simcard
check here: www.yesss.at and here http://www.yesss.at/diskont-surfen/home.php
OR
if you have a Wifi phone, there are a lot free wifi spots, you can use wifi + voip from your phone to make a call,
have a nice trip
Maybe this is something you can look at.
https://www.united-mobile.com/?p=&l=en
You would only need to buy one sim-card.
No experience myself with this product.
in france there is not so much wifi spot (too bad)...
in france there is europeane formula with Orange and SFR (perhaps bouygue but this operator not using a standard range... so forget with your foreigner phone lol)...
the only problem is that those formula are not in prepaid simcard... only with normal formula.
perhaps you should ask your provider... sometime there is some solution with them. (when i go to USA Orange make me a special offer for the 2 month i go over there...).
I'm going to Germany for a month and am interested in getting a prepaid sim card for my N1. I've never done this before and am curious whether its worth it. I would like to use my phone for both voice and data, but I'd be fine with only one of these features. Do prepaid sim cards in Europe include both voice and data plans? Can anyone recommend a place to purchase a reasonably priced prepaid sim card? Also, do I need to ask T-mobile to unlock my phone in order to use a foreign sim card?
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Prepaid in Germany
actually I don't have a nexus one yet but it is sold with plans on all networks, so I'd guess you can take any prepaid card.
There is a commom provider who sell a starterset in some supermarkets (e.g. Norma, Mediamarkt, Saturn, dm-drogeriemarkt, Kaufland, Budnikowsky, Real... according to their website ). It's name is blau.de or blauworld.de.
I'm not sure how it actually is done with these startersets, but usally you buy the simcard for ~10€ and it already has 10€ credit.
If you only want to use voice in Germany than you'd choose blau.de ( voice 0.09€ per minute in germany and data: 0.24€ per MB)
blauworld is cheaper if you want to make international calls, but more expensive for data and inner-german calls.
If your credit is used, you can buy vouchers to top it up in supermarkets and mostly every gas station.
I guess there a different cards available in these shops, this is just one I know and have good experience with.
so hopefully i could help and you'll enjoy staying in germany
[EDIT]
dict.leo.org/
^^ this translator might come in handy while your in Germany you can listen to the pronounciation and they have a android app
Hi guys,
I'll be going to the UK in August, and spain/france/netherlands/czech republic for a little bit too. T-Mobile offers a discounted international plan, but that's AFAIK only for voice minutes. What I really need is text and data plan, but I don't know if T-Mobile can do that at a reasonable price. I have no problems with getting a temporary phone number, so I suppose I'd be open to getting a pre-paid monthly sim card while in Europe, but does anyone know if those support data plans? I can't imagine traveling through Europe without Maps/all the resources my N1.
niiiick said:
Hi guys,
I'll be going to the UK in August, and spain/france/netherlands/czech republic for a little bit too. T-Mobile offers a discounted international plan, but that's AFAIK only for voice minutes. What I really need is text and data plan, but I don't know if T-Mobile can do that at a reasonable price. I have no problems with getting a temporary phone number, so I suppose I'd be open to getting a pre-paid monthly sim card while in Europe, but does anyone know if those support data plans? I can't imagine traveling through Europe without Maps/all the resources my N1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in czech republic you can buy "twist internet" prepair card for unlimited internet access .. it cost 850czk which is about 40$ ... but t-mobile isn't very good with 3g coverage, so you propably ends with gprs/edge
houmles said:
in czech republic you can buy "twist internet" prepair card for unlimited internet access .. it cost 850czk which is about 40$ ... but t-mobile isn't very good with 3g coverage, so you propably ends with gprs/edge
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the answer. Unfortunately, the Czech Republic is the last part of Europe i plan to be in. I specifically need a solution that I can buy in the UK that would ideally work throughout the rest of Europe. Do they even exist?
Just find yourself a prepaid SIM down there. I don't know what carriers work throughout Europe, but do some searching and see what carriers work for that. Find one, buy a prepaid SIM, enjoy. It's a lot cheaper than buying international plans from T-Mobile or AT&T.
(I've never done this myself, but I definitely hear it's the way to go.)
I am heading to Houston in a couple weeks and I am looking for advice/recommendations on who I should get a pre-paid sim card with. (Just as an FYI for those across the pond....we Canadians are raped by our telecoms anytime we roam.)
My phone: i9000m
Running 2.3.3 (not that it matters...)
Rooted
Sim Unlocked. (I am with Bell...and I recently unlocked it....I confirmed it was unlocked with a Telus SIM Card.)
From what I read on the i9000 wiki page, the Bell SGS looks like it would work on AT&T and possibly T-mobile (only missing the 850 mHz band.)
Q1: Which networks "should" my phone work on?
Q2: Has anybody successfully gotten a pre-paid SIM in the US?
Q3: Any advice on who has the best plan? (I want data and cheap calling to Canada. The new T-Mobile/Walmart plan for $30 looks really good and it becomes available the day I fly in.)
Thanks for the help!!!
[A] SIM Card & Plan I used
Well, since nobody answered my question before I left, I guess it is up to me to leave an answer for those who follow.
Q1) Which networks in the USA should my Bell I-9000m work with?
A1) The following thread gave a good in-depth answer:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-972575.html
Short Answer: AT&T is fully compatible (3g access for data). T-mobile will only give you "EDGE" speeds for the data.
Q2) Has anybody successfully gotten a pre-paid SIM in the US?
A2) Yes. I got a AT&T pre-paid SIM and used it for a week.
Q3) Any advice on the best plan?
A3) As I was only able to confirm that my phone would fully work with AT&T, they're the provider I went with. I purchased the following:
$2 Daily Unlimited Plan
$25 / 500mb data plan
$10 for 250 minutes to Canada
According to the AT&T literature, with the above plan you get charge $2 on the days you use your phone. Don't use the phone (voice), then no charge for that day. What I found was that I was only charged when I answered incoming calls from the US or Canada. When I only made outgoing calls to Canada, there was no $2 charge.
I managed to burn through 475 mb of data while I was in Houston. A lot of my data was used running Google Navigator. (For whatever reason, my GPS worked great on the I-10, but couldn't never keep a signal while travelling to Galveston.)
A word of caution, the clowns at AT&T will be of little help to you. Don't purchase a pre-paid SIM until you've confirmed that an AT&T pre-paid SIM will work in your phone. They cannot refund your money, after you've made the purchase. The AT&T store should have an "Android Go-Phone" on their display floor that has a functioning pre-paid SIM inside of it. Ask the AT&T monkey to remove that SIM and let you try it in your phone.....let them know that only once you confirm it works in your phone that you'll purchase a SIM card.
One final tip....this comes from the link I posted above.....there is enough room behind the SGS battery to store a SIM card. This serves as a very handy place to keep your base country SIM safe, while you're using a new SIM.
Modified_Grays said:
Well, since nobody answered my question before I left, I guess it is up to me to leave an answer for those who follow.
Q1) Which networks in the USA should my Bell I-9000m work with?
A1) The following thread gave a good in-depth answer:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-972575.html
Short Answer: AT&T is fully compatible (3g access for data). T-mobile will only give you "EDGE" speeds for the data.
Q2) Has anybody successfully gotten a pre-paid SIM in the US?
A2) Yes. I got a AT&T pre-paid SIM and used it for a week.
Q3) Any advice on the best plan?
A3) As I was only able to confirm that my phone would fully work with AT&T, they're the provider I went with. I purchased the following:
$2 Daily Unlimited Plan
$25 / 500mb data plan
$10 for 250 minutes to Canada
According to the AT&T literature, with the above plan you get charge $2 on the days you use your phone. Don't use the phone (voice), then no charge for that day. What I found was that I was only charged when I answered incoming calls from the US or Canada. When I only made outgoing calls to Canada, there was no $2 charge.
I managed to burn through 475 mb of data while I was in Houston. A lot of my data was used running Google Navigator. (For whatever reason, my GPS worked great on the I-10, but couldn't never keep a signal while travelling to Galveston.)
A word of caution, the clowns at AT&T will be of little help to you. Don't purchase a pre-paid SIM until you've confirmed that an AT&T pre-paid SIM will work in your phone. They cannot refund your money, after you've made the purchase. The AT&T store should have an "Android Go-Phone" on their display floor that has a functioning pre-paid SIM inside of it. Ask the AT&T monkey to remove that SIM and let you try it in your phone.....let them know that only once you confirm it works in your phone that you'll purchase a SIM card.
One final tip....this comes from the link I posted above.....there is enough room behind the SGS battery to store a SIM card. This serves as a very handy place to keep your base country SIM safe, while you're using a new SIM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for taking the time. The info you provide is great. I do travel to the states on occasion and its good to know info. I like the idea of the SIM storage beneath the battery
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Modified_Grays said:
Well, since nobody answered my question before I left, I guess it is up to me to leave an answer for those who follow.
Q1) Which networks in the USA should my Bell I-9000m work with?
A1) The following thread gave a good in-depth answer:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-972575.html
Short Answer: AT&T is fully compatible (3g access for data). T-mobile will only give you "EDGE" speeds for the data.
Q2) Has anybody successfully gotten a pre-paid SIM in the US?
A2) Yes. I got a AT&T pre-paid SIM and used it for a week.
Q3) Any advice on the best plan?
A3) As I was only able to confirm that my phone would fully work with AT&T, they're the provider I went with. I purchased the following:
$2 Daily Unlimited Plan
$25 / 500mb data plan
$10 for 250 minutes to Canada
According to the AT&T literature, with the above plan you get charge $2 on the days you use your phone. Don't use the phone (voice), then no charge for that day. What I found was that I was only charged when I answered incoming calls from the US or Canada. When I only made outgoing calls to Canada, there was no $2 charge.
I managed to burn through 475 mb of data while I was in Houston. A lot of my data was used running Google Navigator. (For whatever reason, my GPS worked great on the I-10, but couldn't never keep a signal while travelling to Galveston.)
A word of caution, the clowns at AT&T will be of little help to you. Don't purchase a pre-paid SIM until you've confirmed that an AT&T pre-paid SIM will work in your phone. They cannot refund your money, after you've made the purchase. The AT&T store should have an "Android Go-Phone" on their display floor that has a functioning pre-paid SIM inside of it. Ask the AT&T monkey to remove that SIM and let you try it in your phone.....let them know that only once you confirm it works in your phone that you'll purchase a SIM card.
One final tip....this comes from the link I posted above.....there is enough room behind the SGS battery to store a SIM card. This serves as a very handy place to keep your base country SIM safe, while you're using a new SIM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for posting this info. It will come in useful as I plan on taking my SGS (bell i9000m) to California next month.