Andona
Destroyer of the Aussie Dollar
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2008
- Messages
- 922
I just thought i'd post about our recent experiences with buying and using American sims for our iPhones and my iPad for our trip.
For this trip we were travelling with 2 iPhones ( mine and DH's) and an iPad. On previous holidays we have just used global roaming for phone calls and have not used data at all on our phones. However, this time I knew I'd want to be able to use my iPad and phone for Maps, Facebook, apps etc while we were on the road and I didn't want to be hit with big bills on our return. Getting the phones up and running with American sims was a bit of an effort but it was Definitely worth the effort.
I used 200Mb of data on my iPhone on our trip - at Telstra's data roaming rates that would have cost me over $3,000. !!
I used 3.5Gb of data on my iPad. At Telstra INternational data roaming ratesthat would have cost me over $8000 !!!!
We were planning to travel in some pretty remote areas so I decided that we'd have one phone with T-Mobile and one with AT&T to , hopefully, improve our chances of having a signal as much as possible.
We chose plans that would give us plenty of credit for calls to American phones, texts to American & Australian phones and data.
The plans we chose did not include cheap calls to Australian phones. We only rang home to Australia using Skype when we had access to WiFi.
My DH also took an old phone with him and put his Aussie sim in that as a backup. He left it off most of the time and just turned it on occasionally to see if there were any messages etc.
FOR THE PHONES
T-Mobile
From travelgear.com.au I bought a T-Mobile sim. Travel gear will activate the sim for you and add as much credit as you want.
For DH I asked them to activate the "Pay by the Day" $2 per day plan. With this plan you pay $2 for any day that you "use" the phone. It includes unlimited calls and texts to American phone numbers as well as unlimited Edge/2G data. (Australian phones don't use the right frequency to use the T-Mobile 3G system so with T-Mobile you will only get 2G data speeds)
The sims arrived promptly and there was no setup required, they are already activated for you. They sent some instructions about the plans and about adding credit and once we were in the USA, we popped the sims into the phones and everything just worked.
When I purchased the Sim I asked them to add $10 of credit to DH's phone because I didn't think he'd use it very often. However , some of DH's apps on his iPhone were set to receive notifications, this meant that although he didn't make or receive calls/txts every day, he WAS "using" his phone every day as his apps were accessing the data every day. So we ended up having to add extra credit to his phone. That was easy to do through the ezetop.com website.
The T Mobile coverage seemed to be pretty good, he only lost signal in some of the remoter areas that we covered on our trip.
However, the 2G/Edge data speed is really slow when you are used to Telstra 3G data speeds. It was able to access emails and use the maps etc but it was pretty slow to load. Personally, I'm glad that we also had AT&T 3G speeds for my iPad and my iPhone as 3 weeks of 2G speeds would have driven me nuts!
AT&T
For my iPhone I bought an AT&T sim from mobipassport.com
The sim arrived promptly in a little wallet with some basic instructions, for the detailed information you need to go to the Mobipassport website to get step by step instructions.
The AT&T sims come unactivated and with no credit so you have to go through the process of activating them and adding credit and data yourself.
Activating and choosing a plan
I followed the instructions on their website to activate my sim a few days before we left. That was easy. They have very detailed insructions on their website.
I chose the $25 monthly plan.You MUST choose a monthly plan if you want to add a data pack to your smartphone. If you don't need to use data you can use one of the $2 per day plans instead.
ONce you activate your sim you are supposed to be able log in to the AT&T website (https://www.myprepaidrefill.com/MobilityUSWeb/login.do ) to look at your account, add credit and add data. However, when you activate the sim they send a text with your new website pin to your AT&T phone number. So you can't get your pin until you get to the USA and put the sim in your phone. Once in the USA you can go to the website and use the "Forgot my Pin" link and they will resend your pin to your phone.
When we arrived in the USA i had to put the sim in the iPhone. This was a bit tricky as the AT&T sims seem to be fractionally larger than our Australian sims. I was able to get it in OK but it involved a little effort.
Adding credit and Data
I then needed to use the hotel's free WiFi to go to the AT&T website so that I could add some credit to my phone and to purchase a data pack. I added $25 of credit to cover the payment for the first ( and only) month, then I bought a $15 data plan ( this gave me 200Mb of data for the phone)
There is an option to add 1Gb of data but I thought I'd mainly be using my iPad for data and so 200Mb on my phone should be enough. However, I did use my phone a bit for the Disney Apps and also I used it to upload photos to facebook when I didnt have WiFi access and so my data did run out in about 2 1/2 weeks.
I was able to pay using our Australian ANZ Visa card to pay for the credit etc without any problems.
AT&T send a confirmation email and after that my iPhone was functioning just fine as a phone.
However to get the data working on the iPhone requires one more step. ( all the details our outlined clearly on the Mobipassport website) Using the hotels free wifi I had to use my phone browser to go to unlockit.co.nz In this site you need to choose the option to "Download APN" ( to copy the correct data settings to your phone) , then choose AT&T from the list and the correct settings are downloaded to your phone. After that the data was up and running on my iPhone. The coverage was pretty much the same as my DH's T-Mobile. IN built up areas I had excellent coverage, I found the AT&T 3G data to be pretty fast. In more remote areas my 3G data dropped to 2g/Edge speeds.
FOR THE IPAD
I purchased an iPad data sim from travelgear.com.au. This comes to you with a set of instructions for setting up the iPad once you get to the USA and put the sim in your iPad.
The setup process is all done from the iPad itself so you need to have access to a WiFi hotspot to do it. I used my Hotel WiFi. Setup includes choosing a data amount and entering a USA address ( I just used the hotel address). Travel gear say that AT&T won't accept all Australian credit cards. I was able to pay using my ANZ Visa credit card. Others have been able to pay using a Travelex Visa from Australia Post or by purchasing Visa Gift cards in the USA.
I chose the 3Gb data package that cost $30. I used my iPad every day of our trip for Google maps ( we were on a road trip) I also used it to access Facebook and Disboards and to upload photos etc. I tried to use the Hotel Wifi as much as possible but I did use it alot on the road so My data ran out about 2 1/2 weeks into the trip so I had to purchase an additional 3gB.
Andona
For this trip we were travelling with 2 iPhones ( mine and DH's) and an iPad. On previous holidays we have just used global roaming for phone calls and have not used data at all on our phones. However, this time I knew I'd want to be able to use my iPad and phone for Maps, Facebook, apps etc while we were on the road and I didn't want to be hit with big bills on our return. Getting the phones up and running with American sims was a bit of an effort but it was Definitely worth the effort.
I used 200Mb of data on my iPhone on our trip - at Telstra's data roaming rates that would have cost me over $3,000. !!
I used 3.5Gb of data on my iPad. At Telstra INternational data roaming ratesthat would have cost me over $8000 !!!!
We were planning to travel in some pretty remote areas so I decided that we'd have one phone with T-Mobile and one with AT&T to , hopefully, improve our chances of having a signal as much as possible.
We chose plans that would give us plenty of credit for calls to American phones, texts to American & Australian phones and data.
The plans we chose did not include cheap calls to Australian phones. We only rang home to Australia using Skype when we had access to WiFi.
My DH also took an old phone with him and put his Aussie sim in that as a backup. He left it off most of the time and just turned it on occasionally to see if there were any messages etc.
FOR THE PHONES
T-Mobile
From travelgear.com.au I bought a T-Mobile sim. Travel gear will activate the sim for you and add as much credit as you want.
For DH I asked them to activate the "Pay by the Day" $2 per day plan. With this plan you pay $2 for any day that you "use" the phone. It includes unlimited calls and texts to American phone numbers as well as unlimited Edge/2G data. (Australian phones don't use the right frequency to use the T-Mobile 3G system so with T-Mobile you will only get 2G data speeds)
The sims arrived promptly and there was no setup required, they are already activated for you. They sent some instructions about the plans and about adding credit and once we were in the USA, we popped the sims into the phones and everything just worked.
When I purchased the Sim I asked them to add $10 of credit to DH's phone because I didn't think he'd use it very often. However , some of DH's apps on his iPhone were set to receive notifications, this meant that although he didn't make or receive calls/txts every day, he WAS "using" his phone every day as his apps were accessing the data every day. So we ended up having to add extra credit to his phone. That was easy to do through the ezetop.com website.
The T Mobile coverage seemed to be pretty good, he only lost signal in some of the remoter areas that we covered on our trip.
However, the 2G/Edge data speed is really slow when you are used to Telstra 3G data speeds. It was able to access emails and use the maps etc but it was pretty slow to load. Personally, I'm glad that we also had AT&T 3G speeds for my iPad and my iPhone as 3 weeks of 2G speeds would have driven me nuts!
AT&T
For my iPhone I bought an AT&T sim from mobipassport.com
The sim arrived promptly in a little wallet with some basic instructions, for the detailed information you need to go to the Mobipassport website to get step by step instructions.
The AT&T sims come unactivated and with no credit so you have to go through the process of activating them and adding credit and data yourself.
Activating and choosing a plan
I followed the instructions on their website to activate my sim a few days before we left. That was easy. They have very detailed insructions on their website.
I chose the $25 monthly plan.You MUST choose a monthly plan if you want to add a data pack to your smartphone. If you don't need to use data you can use one of the $2 per day plans instead.
ONce you activate your sim you are supposed to be able log in to the AT&T website (https://www.myprepaidrefill.com/MobilityUSWeb/login.do ) to look at your account, add credit and add data. However, when you activate the sim they send a text with your new website pin to your AT&T phone number. So you can't get your pin until you get to the USA and put the sim in your phone. Once in the USA you can go to the website and use the "Forgot my Pin" link and they will resend your pin to your phone.
When we arrived in the USA i had to put the sim in the iPhone. This was a bit tricky as the AT&T sims seem to be fractionally larger than our Australian sims. I was able to get it in OK but it involved a little effort.
Adding credit and Data
I then needed to use the hotel's free WiFi to go to the AT&T website so that I could add some credit to my phone and to purchase a data pack. I added $25 of credit to cover the payment for the first ( and only) month, then I bought a $15 data plan ( this gave me 200Mb of data for the phone)
There is an option to add 1Gb of data but I thought I'd mainly be using my iPad for data and so 200Mb on my phone should be enough. However, I did use my phone a bit for the Disney Apps and also I used it to upload photos to facebook when I didnt have WiFi access and so my data did run out in about 2 1/2 weeks.
I was able to pay using our Australian ANZ Visa card to pay for the credit etc without any problems.
AT&T send a confirmation email and after that my iPhone was functioning just fine as a phone.
However to get the data working on the iPhone requires one more step. ( all the details our outlined clearly on the Mobipassport website) Using the hotels free wifi I had to use my phone browser to go to unlockit.co.nz In this site you need to choose the option to "Download APN" ( to copy the correct data settings to your phone) , then choose AT&T from the list and the correct settings are downloaded to your phone. After that the data was up and running on my iPhone. The coverage was pretty much the same as my DH's T-Mobile. IN built up areas I had excellent coverage, I found the AT&T 3G data to be pretty fast. In more remote areas my 3G data dropped to 2g/Edge speeds.
FOR THE IPAD
I purchased an iPad data sim from travelgear.com.au. This comes to you with a set of instructions for setting up the iPad once you get to the USA and put the sim in your iPad.
The setup process is all done from the iPad itself so you need to have access to a WiFi hotspot to do it. I used my Hotel WiFi. Setup includes choosing a data amount and entering a USA address ( I just used the hotel address). Travel gear say that AT&T won't accept all Australian credit cards. I was able to pay using my ANZ Visa credit card. Others have been able to pay using a Travelex Visa from Australia Post or by purchasing Visa Gift cards in the USA.
I chose the 3Gb data package that cost $30. I used my iPad every day of our trip for Google maps ( we were on a road trip) I also used it to access Facebook and Disboards and to upload photos etc. I tried to use the Hotel Wifi as much as possible but I did use it alot on the road so My data ran out about 2 1/2 weeks into the trip so I had to purchase an additional 3gB.
Andona
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) and we aren't going to remote areas or roadtripping. We will be in major cities for the whole time of our trip (save the Canada leg but I'm not sure what to do about that yet).
Firstly, if you go into an AT&T store now they will STILL tell you that you can't have data on your iPhone with one of their pre-paid plans. However, that isn't true - ( it's a policy thing on their part to try to get people to buy post-paid!) . You can get data on your pre-paid plan but you have to go through the steps of downloading the correct APN settings for AT&T from the 
But when it says to choose the carrier, there is AT&T, AT&T (blackberry) (clearly not that for iphone), AT&T (Blue), AT&T (broadband), AT&T (hspa+), AT&T (isp.cingular), AT&T (LTE), AT&T (PAYG), AT&T (wap.cingular), AT&T MNVO (with proxy) and AT&T MVNO to choose from. 
