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US Prepaid Providers - Which To Go For?

Hi
I have a load of trips to the states coming up, and its probably gonna be worthwhile for me to get a US prepaid SIM card. I assume that the major GSM providers cover the whole country these days? I'll be visiting Portland, Boston and Seattle.
Whats the best provider to go for, I want cheap(ish) calls to UK, full internet access via GPRS, and cheap txt messages?
My device is unlocked so no worries there
Nigel

I use T-Mobile and will be again when I return to the states. You can buy these sim cards on ebay and when used in conjunction with a calling card you can get really cheap calls.
I am going to New York soon and am considering buying a quantity of these cards to sell on ebay myself.
Here is the auction I had my eye on and the shop this guy runs from is on new york. The auction below has now finished but it gives you an idea.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5738616726&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

Using the Fuze abroad?

Hello all!
I can't seem to get my fuze working here in the philippines..
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance!

Is you Fuze unlocked or are you using you ATT Sim Card? If you are using ATT you needed to tell ATT before you went to the PI. If it's unlocked and you have a PI SIM are you using he original ATT ROM. If you are you need to hand jam the connection settings or get your hands on the HTC connections program.

You will need to unlock your Fuze in order to use a non-AT&T SIM card. Otherwise, you will need to roam on one of the carriers in the Philippines that has a roaming agreement with AT&T. Contact AT&T to enable roaming on your account (roaming charges will apply).
Fortunately there appears to be good GSM and 3G coverage in Philippines. Links for more information:
http://www.wireless.att.com/travelguide/coverage/coverage_details.jsp?CIDL=608&MNC=CING
http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_ph.shtml

Phone is still locked and still using the ATT sim card. I guess im outta luck while I'm here then?

J.Dee.M said:
Phone is still locked and still using the ATT sim card. I guess im outta luck while I'm here then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're not out of luck at all. Just call AT&T and tell them you can't use AT&T while you are down there and you need to use a local SIM. If all goes according to plan they will give you the unlock code.
To unlock your phone all you have to do is get a local SIM card pop it in and enter the unlock code you just got from AT&T. Your phone will now work at a fraction of the cost to make local calls.

Definitely get the unlock code and local sim card. "Charges will apply" is a real understatement. I was out of the country earlier this year and went with AT&T international roaming rather than a local sim. I came back to a $2000 bill. My fault completely - I wasn't paying attention to my usage. You can check rates on AT&T's site.

emesbe said:
Definitely get the unlock code and local sim card. "Charges will apply" is a real understatement. I was out of the country earlier this year and went with AT&T international roaming rather than a local sim. I came back to a $2000 bill. My fault completely - I wasn't paying attention to my usage. You can check rates on AT&T's site.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While it's not like being at home, ATT will sell you international data plans (iPhone) of 24 mb, 100 mb or 200 mb per month at a rate much lower than just roaming without a plan.

J.Dee.M said:
Phone is still locked and still using the ATT sim card. I guess im outta luck while I'm here then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everyone is correct, call ATT and see if they will give you the unlock code. If not, it is worth it to purchase a code on ebay or spend the extra for the software here on XDA developers to unlock. The ATT charge is $2.49/minute. A local card is really cheap as I remember from the last time I was in the PI.

So do I just call the customer service # from a landline in the PI? Or will I be able to call cust.serv. from the fuze?

Better to play it safe and use a calling card with rates you know you can monitor.

Prepaid Sim Card with 3G in New England

I will be on a trip to New England in the first two weeks of June and I thought of using my HD2 there too, but since my Internet flat is only valid in Germany and roaming prices are way above what I want to pay, I thought about getting a Prepaid Sim Card.
In Germany some providers offer a limited Internet flat for prepaid users. So let's say you pay 10€ for getting an internet flat for one month and it will be billed on your card, after 30days you will be billed based on your amount of traffic again. So my question is: Do American providers have a similar option and which provider can you recommend?

[Q] Taking my captivate overseas

Hello all,
This fall I will be travelling overseas to Sweden for a semester of study. I'd like to be able to take my captivate with me and just buy a pay-as-you-go or contractless phone/data plan from a provider in europe when I get there.
However I have no experience with european providers or what the cheapest and most effective way to communicate internationally and locally(in Sweden and across Europe) would be. Even less where to start looking, so:
Can anyone point in the right direction for some resources to find out what my easiest options would be?
Do I have to unlock my phone(at&t) in order to use another provider?
Does the Captivate support the bands needed for 3G/calling in Europe?
Could I potentially buy a data-only plan and use skype over 3G for calling?
Any tips/advice would be greatly appreciated
Thanks!

I would also like to know, hope this goes somewhere

You may want to ask in the i9000 forum. But to my knowledge you can add a overseas plan to your att plan and you get charged a lesser amt for your minutes.
You should be able to buy a pay as you go sim when you get over there as well.

I'm not sure about Sweden, but I recently went to the U.K. for work and I took my unlocked captivate with me. I got a local SIM card when I got there and had absolutely no problems at all and it was a lot cheaper than any plan AT&T had.
I went to Mexico once for a week and used one of those plans from AT&T and my bill was $150 higher that month.

When I visited France I hadn't yet unlocked my phone (which would be my first recommendation, then buy just data once there) and I used GVoice Callback (GV Dialer does the same) in conjunction with Sipdroid (of Fring) and a SIP phone number from SipGate to make free calls from France to US landlines via hotel wifi.
Here are some links with info to configure what I describe:
http://goo.gl/M1vj1 (this is a summary of my configuration)
http://goo.gl/sZhVw
http://goo.gl/63yD
http://goo.gl/gUIHF
Staying w/ AT&T when overseas will be expensive.

socrated13 said:
Hello all,
This fall I will be travelling overseas to Sweden for a semester of study. I'd like to be able to take my captivate with me and just buy a pay-as-you-go or contractless phone/data plan from a provider in europe when I get there.
However I have no experience with european providers or what the cheapest and most effective way to communicate internationally and locally(in Sweden and across Europe) would be. Even less where to start looking, so:
Can anyone point in the right direction for some resources to find out what my easiest options would be?
Do I have to unlock my phone(at&t) in order to use another provider?
Does the Captivate support the bands needed for 3G/calling in Europe?
Could I potentially buy a data-only plan and use skype over 3G for calling?
Any tips/advice would be greatly appreciated
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe this link will answer your question:
http://www.worldtimezone.com/gsm.html
They use the 2100Mhz UMTS band, (which we also use over here in Malaysia)
And it will work.
( got mine unlocked by default though, get superoneclick to unlock your cappy)

Call ATT and ask them to give you an unlock code. Otherwise it won't accept a non-ATT simcard

I used my unlocked Captivate in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Czech Republic. No problems in any of the countries roaming on an AT&T SIM or a local pre-paid card. I used an O2 MVNO in Germany and Vodafone in Prague.
Some of the common carriers in Europe are T-Mobile, Vodafone, O2, and Orange. I'd check carriers local to where you are. Vodafone was much more expensive in Germany than it was in Czech Republic. T-Mobile tended to be on the expensive side anywhere.
Vodafone in Czech Republic was $30 for unlimited data. Most carriers will charge you 5 or 10 euros (of the equivalent in local currency) to buy the SIM, and there will be about 10 euros of credit on there.
I'd get Google Voice and use that to call back to the US. That way you only pay for data and avoid text/voice charges.
Good luck!

DarkDvr said:
Call ATT and ask them to give you an unlock code. Otherwise it won't accept a non-ATT simcard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or just use SGS unlock tool and you can unlock it in less than 5 minutes.

[Q] Canada

Am of to Canada for holiday in July and want to use my phone over there.
I have HTC Desire on Orange
Orange do not have a package to allow me to use my phone whilst away (I can use it but it will cost a fortune)
If I unlock my Desire can I get a SIM card in Canada that will work in my phone whilst I am away? & allow me internet access without costing a fortune.
I will be visiting the Rockies, Vancouver, Toronto
Cheers
Steve

I have Bell Canada, and they have some good prepaid data plans, as long as you don't use too much data. Look up prepaid on their website, which is Bell dot ca. You SHOULD be able to get a simcard no problem, but I would contact them.