I'll soon be taking a three week trip equally split between the USA and Canada. Like most people on this forum, I'm going to want data access from my GSM smartphone for the duration, especially Google Navigation. Of course using my Orange UK contract SIM is out of the question because I don't intend to remortgage my house. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good SIM which will allow reasonable data changes across both countries?
In the past I've used T-Mobile for USA-only trips, but it appears the charge $10 a Mb in Canada which is out of the question. AT&T appear to be similar. The best deal from the Canadian networks in the USA appears to be $1 a Mb which is also too much. Is the only solution really to get two SIM cards?
I know their are many specialist roaming SIMs available, but I haven't come across any which cover this combination well. Any insights would be welcome.
Related
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
Hi Folks,
The phone "officially" registered on my contract with Orange UK is an old 2G one for it has a 2G SIM. I'm looking to get a Touch HD which will need a 3G SIM.
Unfortunately, I'm told that Orange won't just give out shiny new 3G SIMs.
The obvious way to wheedle a 3G SIM out of Orange would be to simply "upgrade" to a cheap 3G phone - But because of the ancient tariff I'm on ("Everyday 50"), my local Orange shop wouldn't entertain ANY kind of upgrade, even though I am "out of contract", unless I change to a more expensive tariff !
Any ideas anyone ? "Dog ate my SIM"? Threaten to leave ?
Thanks in advance.
- Steve
If you go in somewhere like phones4u and tell them the contract you already have, they will often try to match it, sometimes by giving you a lump sum refund so that the monthly price is brought down to what you want.
jez83uk said:
If you go in somewhere like phones4u and tell them the contract you already have, they will often try to match it, sometimes by giving you a lump sum refund so that the monthly price is brought down to what you want.
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That's an idea - but the plan I'm on at the moment suits me very well and is very cheap indeed (which is undoubtedly why they are not keen on giving me an upgrade phone). I can't see anyone easily matching it long-term.
I wonder if all SIMs used by orange are now 3G compatible, or would I really need to specifically get a 3G phone to get a 3G SIM?
Have you thought about going for one of the SIM only tariffs? That way you get the new SIM, the old number can be ported across and you get a lower monthly cost.
Just done it with Vodafone for their cheapest tariff and its costing me £10 for 75 mins and 500 texts on top of which i have added the £7.50 Mobile Internet. And the SIM i have is HSPDA compatible.
Oh, and one other possible plus, while it is a contract there is no long term tie in, its a rolling 30 day commitment.
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.
Ok... Questions. I'm going to Europe in a few months. Currently on T-MO US with a Radar. What is the best way to get internet over there? I'll be in Italy, London, etc. I know what to do once I'm online, i.e., via Skype, Google Talk, SIP clients, etc. but what is the best solution for internet access on the go? I don't care whether it is tablet, phone or laptop. I can figure out tethering and what not. I just need to know how to have broadband internet from wherever I am. Is it something like this: http://www.trustive.com/price-plans/?
Are there other solution? Should I just put an overseas sim in an unlocked device? Are there better carriers? Best roaming? Etc.
THANKS
Bump........
The radar i believe has the capability of roaming in Italy but i would recommend you unlock it and get a sim when you get there.
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
I think the roaming is pretty expensive - so I'd buy a prepaid simcard.
If you visit Germany I'd recommend "AldiTalk" - it's not the best mobile network but the cheapest simcard with cheap flatrates.
So there isn't one good global solution, huh? No one used Trustive?
Uuuhmm... I don't think so - but I've heard about an Irish Carrier - don't know the name yet - which you could use. The roaming fee's aren't as high as on the other carriers...
The best thing you can do is get a SIM card in each of the countries you are gonna visit and use their system. Roaming would be very expensive.
i think the cheapest solution is to get new sim, pre-payed one for each country, so you got the whole connectivity in mobile data with no issue and no fees with roaming and other things like this
edit :just checked on the link you posted, even more confident in a new sim, in Italy you can get a new one for 1Gb month, with something like 5 euros with most of the carriers
Ah i found it - you can buy an irish sim card via ebay - i think the carrier is meteor or vodafone with very cheap roaming fees...
BUMP........
I'm in the USA and travelling to Europe for a week and a half. Both my wife and I have unlocked phones (LG G3 and HTC 10). In the past, I've had T-Mobile so I got away with 2G data and free SMS but now that I no longer use their service I'm wondering what my options are this time around?
How does it work when I get to the other country if I want data/SMS there? How do these whole "pre pay" things work and buying a SIM from another country. I'm new to this.
We'll be going to Ireland if that helps.
no one travels international and cares to help/comment?