GeoffM

I've noticed that you do have to enter a location to get a quote, but are you saying the costs might vary even with the same network but different locations?! Sales tax when purchasing I can understand... for each bill as well based on where you live at that time, would make sense... tax per call depending where you make/receive that call?

(Kind of moot since one has to pay regardless but for interest's sake)

My 3GS has virtually lost WiFi and we intend to move in the next couple of months so I guess my original plan of just getting a contract instead of a new phone is now a case of get a new phone AND a contract... sheesh, more costs. Can't go without an iPhone anymore!

Leo_Loves

Hey Geoff, I don't think you do need a new phone and contract - go the AT&T GoPhone route - unless the Wifi is totally knackered on your 3GS, then yeah, maybe get a whole new phone

Bob

Well it's more of a case that some providers just won't work outside of their areas, or that they might still have roaming on the PAYG. US Cellular which is one of the big providers up in Maine for instance, if you're out of their area the minutes used can be doubled in some areas out of state, some plans just don't allow use out of state and anything in between.

Also not much point in having a provider which might cover your zip code but has crap reception at your apartment if it will be your primary phone....which was the problem we found when we moved into our last place. Worked fine outside, but shite inside whilst other networks were fine.

Leo_Loves

VERY helpful thread on the AT&T / GoPhone route:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1296230

frrussre

So do AT&T still sell the SIMS for iphone, or this person just had a problem. Or is it a case of getting the regular Go phone SIM & cutting down???????

#6 reply says this:

"User #76714 53 posts
msbc
Forum Regular Just returned from 2 weeks in USA. AT&T no longer allows you to buy pre-paid sim's for use with the iPhone. The info given by the OP is no longer valid.
anchor: whrl.pl/Rb3iC9
posted 2009-Oct-26, 2pm AEST"

My thoughts why pay so much for 100mb. I think still better to sign up for 2gb, 2 year contract, SIM only don't get a discounted phone, wait for iphone5, then take discount. Thats assuming, AT&T (They are all crooks, whichever company you go with), will let you do SIM only on contract, they use to, not sure about now.

Frank R.

Leo_Loves

Hey Frank,

Officially AT&T won't hand out that tariff for iPhones, so all you do is tell them you left your Nokia N95 in the hotel room or it's charging or whatever and you just need the SIM for it and ask them to activate it in the store

The data is also now $25 for 500mb which isn't awful for PAYG, especially considering that a lot of the time there'll be Wifi in cafes, hotel room etc

that thread continues into 2010 and 2011 and is super useful

GeoffM

Ah right, thought you meant something else. Cheers.

Well, it works if you're within about 10 feet of the router. It appears to be a common problem for 3GSs and of course it's well out of warranty. Dodgy phone shops couldn't fix it - one blamed it on iOS5 even though it wasn't installed ; another poked around a bit, checked connections, but didn't improve anything - but did it for free so no complaints there.

kodokan

I brought my unlocked iPhone 4 over from Europe a couple of months ago, and am using T-Mobile's Monthly 4g plan - all inclusive calls, texts and data for $50 a month. On my phone, it's actually 2g, but this is completely fine for email checking, the odd webpage and lots of Google map use, which is mainly what I do when out and about. There's no contract at all.

I've also added the international calling and texting for $10 a month, which is handy for chatting to the family back in the UK.

rallybug

I'm on that too, for my 3GS - 2G can be a pain sometimes, but I don't use my phone as a computer enough to worry too much about that.

N-B

Hi everyone.
I've just relocated to Los Angeles from London, and brought my O2-contracted iPhone 4 with me.
My O2 contract is £40/month, and has another eleven months to run. Appears to be iron-clad, and the only way of closing it early is to pay £40x11, and lose almost a year's service.

I don't intend to get an iPhone contract here in the US as they all appear to be 2 years, and the operators want an exorbitant deposit to make up for lack of credit history.
So, I intend to go down the H2O Wireless $60/month no-contract route and stick the cut-down SIM into my (recently unlocked) iPhone 4. This part seems pretty straightforward.

My dilemma is what to do about my old UK number.
I've had it for a decade, definitely need to keep it and would ideally like it to reside on a simple quad-band phone so that I can use it whenever I'm back in Europe, and also receive calls on in it the USA.

I had wondered whether I could continue paying my £40/month to O2, get a friend to buy & send me a basic quad-band UK PAYG phone, ditch the SIM from that and stick my O2 iPhone 4 Micro-SIM into it with an adapter?
Would I be breaking my O2 contract (it's currently in a sea container so I can't refer to it), and would it actually work?

penguinsix

When you are in the USA, you can have it set so calls to your UK O2 number are forwarded to your USA number, or you could get a Skype or Google Voice account and have calls forwarded to that (i.e. you could get a Skype UK phone number and have calls forwarded to that number probably a bit cheaper than forwarding calls to a US number, maybe, I don't know). You can run Skype in the background on your iPhone 4 so anytime someone calls that number it 'rings' normally on your iPhone.

When you go back to the UK you can just then swap the SIM back into the iPhone 4 and use it normally.

No need for two phones.

N-B

Thanks for the swift response!
Doing away with a second phone would be a fantastic solution, but I had looked briefly into both Skype Number and Google Voice and so far I'm thinking:

- To have Skype open on my iPhone all the time would surely eat my 2GB/month data usage in no time, wouldn't it?

- Google Voice doesn't appear to be able to handle UK numbers yet, as explained in this link, but there doesn't seem to be a conclusive answer. I've just posted the following question on the Google Voice forum:
Recently relocated to California, and would like to retain my old UK mobile (cell) phone number (country code +44), and forward all calls to a Google Voice number.
Is this possible?

Alternatively, can O2 forward all my calls to a US cell number?

If anybody on here has first-hand experience of doing this, I'd love to hear from them

penguinsix

Not sure how much bandwidth it uses. Pretty minimal unless a call is ongoing. Would probably be more concerned with the battery life.

I'm in Hong Kong now and I have a UK Skype phone number linked to my Skype account. I have a dedicated wifi Skype phone that sits on my desk (this one actually http://shop.skype.com/phones/cordles...ualphone-3088/)



When a call comes to my UK or US number, this phone rings. If I'm at my computer and have Skype on, it pops up there too, and my iPhone or iPad should they be running Skype at the time.

The vast majority of my calls, given the time difference, arrive when I'm at my desk or in the house. A very slim minority of calls arrive when I'm on the street with nothing but a 3G iPhone connection. So few that I'm generally ok if they just go to voicemail.

I guess it depends on your work environment. Will you be home, at an office, or in a car running appointments all day. If in LA most people from the UK (work-related) would probably stop calling you after about 9:00am Los Angeles time, so might not be that big of a deal.

Bob

There seems to be a lot of PAYG phones these days for $50 a month, with T-Mobile etc...but check the small print, quite a lot of them only offer the first 100mb at 3/4G speeds and the rest drops to rubbish speeds.

Walmart had an exclusive deal that was even $30 a month for unlimited text and data, but only 100 mins a month free, then it was whatever it was per minute.

N-B

That RTX Skype Phone looks great. If that phone can be set to silent for when I'm asleep, it could well be the answer. In a temp. apartment at present, so will have to wait until we have our own Phone/Internet package to get something like that set up.

I'm still intrigued about the simple SIM switch I mentioned though - could be the simplest option until I'm out of contract with O2 and the most convenient thing for trips back to Blighty.

Bob - so far, I haven't heard any horror stories about H2O plans, but do expect the data to be a little slower than AT&T (H2O are an Mobile Virtual Network Operator of AT&T). I'll keep searching for info on it.