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Going to London for a semester with an iPhone

boston04and07

boston04and07

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 13, 2008
1,839
944
Hello everyone, I know this topic has been discussed before but I was wondering if I could find some specific help with my problem. My younger sister is studying in London in the fall for the semester, and we're not sure what to do with her iPhone. She got it last December and it's currently on our AT&T family plan. Obviously, we're not looking to rack up huge international roaming charges for three months, lol, but at the same time, she'd still like to use her iPhone. I've done some digging in these forums and would just like to double-check that these are, in fact, realistic options:

1. Use the iPhone as an iPod touch (wifi-only) for three months, and buy a cheap pay-as-you-go phone in London just to use for time being, or
2. Unlock the phone, buy a pay-as-you-go phone in London that includes data service, and switch out the SIMs.

Right now we're leaning to #2...jailbreaking/unlocking the phone before she leaves, switching out the SIMs, but not actually using it till she lands in London. Of course I've never done this before, so I just wanted to double-check...is this actually feasible?? :eek:
 
Maybe call O2 in London, of course they probably won't care if you jailbreak your phone and you're in America, just ask them if you put in a different sim card, will it work. It's not like she'll need a data plan, what you should do is use it as an iPod Touch but also have her download the skype application and get the $2.95 unlimited calling to USA/Canada plan so she can call from anywhere as long as she is in a wi-fi zone.
 
SephirothXR said:
Maybe call O2 in London, of course they probably won't care if you jailbreak your phone and you're in America, just ask them if you put in a different sim card, will it work. It's not like she'll need a data plan, what you should do is use it as an iPod Touch but also have her download the skype application and get the $2.95 unlimited calling to USA/Canada plan so she can call from anywhere as long as she is in a wi-fi zone.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your help! Sorry for not responding before, I was all caught up with a logic board failure in my MacBook :( Anyways, I did email them, and the response was that I could put one of their SIMs in her phone so long as it was jailbroken, but that they couldn't guarantee that data would work. That's too bad, I mean, I know she'll still have WiFi but having data would have been preferable in case she gets lost or something :p Anyways, they also said that they couldn't ship a SIM or a new phone to the States. I guess I could have it shipped to her school, but I was kind of hoping to get this all squared away for her before she left...hmm. There really is no good way for an iPhone user to travel, I guess.
 
Data will work. Buy an O2 Pay and Go sim card off eBay and she'll get unlimited data and wifi and will just need to top up for calls and texts.
 
Make sure you cancel her AT&T data plan while she is away so you don't have to pay the $30 per month for not using it. Right before she leaves, switch her sim into a different phone and call AT&T and say you'd like to take off the data plan. You can add it back on when she returns.
 
leckie said:
Data will work. Buy an O2 Pay and Go sim card off eBay and she'll get unlimited data and wifi and will just need to top up for calls and texts.
Click to expand...

The above answer is spot on but you will have to JB and unlock the phone first, if you also add 3gunrestrictor and Skype she will be able to use Skype over 3G as well as WiFi. That will save on international call charges.

If you get the sim off ebay make sure it is the one with 12 months free data access as they sell some with and some without and that should take care of her browsing, email etc.

MP
 
Ahh thank you all very much for your help. We're not avid travelers so we can use all the help we can get with this :) I took a look at the eBay listings and it seems as though many of those SIM cards are really inexpensive (around 4 or 5 dollars) so I'm guessing I'm just paying for the SIM, and will set up the plan with o2 once it's in the phone?

Edit: One more question (I swear!!) Is this the type of SIM card you mean? http://cgi.ebay.com/O2-pay-as-you-g...a0dd92d&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177#ht_500wt_1182

After searching for "o2 sim card data" it's the only one I found. :)

manorpark said:
The above answer is spot on but you will have to JB and unlock the phone first, if you also add 3gunrestrictor and Skype she will be able to use Skype over 3G as well as WiFi. That will save on international call charges.

If you get the sim off ebay make sure it is the one with 12 months free data access as they sell some with and some without and that should take care of her browsing, email etc.

MP
Click to expand...

Is 3gunrestrictor on Cydia? I just checked on my jailbroken phone and didn't see anything.
 
leckie said:
Data will work. Buy an O2 Pay and Go sim card off eBay and she'll get unlimited data and wifi and will just need to top up for calls and texts.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify, you don't get unlimited data and wifi with any O2 pay and go sim that is an offer that comes with the pay and go iPhone. You will have to buy a web and wifi bolt on which costs £10 for one calendar month.
 
Dougr said:
Just to clarify, you don't get unlimited data and wifi with any O2 pay and go sim that is an offer that comes with the pay and go iPhone. You will have to buy a web and wifi bolt on which costs £10 for one calendar month.
Click to expand...

Oh okay, thank you. So I'm guessing that'll be done by calling o2 once the SIM card is in the phone?
 
saldawop said:
This is the sim card you want .

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/O2-iPhone-3G-Pay-Go-Sim-Card-FREE-INTERNET-AND-WIFI_W0QQitemZ360173677630QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Mobile_Home_Phones_Sim_Cards_CV?hash=item53dc062c3e&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

When you get it, top it up with £10 , and it will give you twelve months free data (3G & Wifi) .

The wifi is for use with The Cloud and BTOpenzone , in use at lots of places including McDonalds and Starbucks
Click to expand...

Ah thank you! Yep, that's exactly what I was looking for, only I was in the US store and not the UK one so I didn't find it. 10 pounds gives you data for a year? Nice.
 
boston04and07 said:
Ah thank you! Yep, that's exactly what I was looking for, only I was in the US store and not the UK one so I didn't find it. 10 pounds gives you data for a year? Nice.
Click to expand...

The top up is meant to be 10 pounds per month but lots of people seem to not keep to that and still get the free data, she will just need to try it and see.

MP
 
Agree with most said here, good advice.
But two things.

1) I believe O2 payg data is £3/MB, but Vodafone is £5 for 25MB. So far better value.
And in my experience, Vodafone >> O2

2) find on O2's website free sims. You can order up to 4, but you'll probably only need 1.
Thanks to such offers, I've hoarded 4 Virgin sims, 3 Vodafone, and 4 O2 coming. Why? Who refuses free stuff!!
 
Well I've already bought an o2 sim off eBay so I guess well be going with them! Next I'll unlock her phone. My latest question is - when should the sims be switched? I'm guessing when she arrives in London, as it wouldn't work in the us, right? I'm just not sure *when* to call o2 to top off her plan.
 
O2 offer unlimited data on PAYG SIMs for £7.50 a month, but look on other networks since the phone will be unlocked anyway to find the best deal.

Almost every network in the UK gives their SIMs away for free now... In fact, it might literally be every single one.

EDIT: Plus, the networks have a sort of "pay as you go deal war" going on that the moment, so it's a very good time!
 
iPhone 62S said:
O2 offer unlimited data on PAYG SIMs for £7.50 a month, but look on other networks since the phone will be unlocked anyway to find the best deal.

Almost every network in the UK gives their SIMs away for free now... In fact, it might literally be every single one.
Click to expand...

+1
I have four vodafone sims sitting here. Just google vodafone uk sims et voila if you need them
 
Back again. I've gotten the o2 SIM card, but can't seem to top it up. I've tried using their web top-up form, but since we have an American MasterCard, it isn't accepting it. I've also tried calling o2 but none of their options allow me to speak with a representative (ugh!!) What to do??
 
My Uncle who comes from the States brought his iPhone down here to London and it worked fine with a normal Pay-as-you-go O2 simcard, wasn't jailbroken/unlocked etc... he simply topped it up with cash, here in the UK you can go to anywhere corner shop/supermarket/petrol station and top up the phone.

Where is your sister studying if you don't mind me asking? Im hopefully going to do the ERASMUS scheme or maybe a semester at UCLA/Berkley, my Uni (Royal Holloway UoL) has good links with the University of California system and I love California!
 
Hello again! i know this is a super old thread but I just thought I'd post my results here, in case anyone else was looking to do the same thing. I jailbreaked and unlocked her phone right before she left, and switched out the SIMs in the airport before she boarded the plane. Since o2 evidently doesn't have any way for someone in the States to contact customer service, she had to find an o2 store in London to top up her plan. However, the saleslady there told her that she either didn't need or couldn't have 3g coverage, since "wifi would do." (I don't know, she was tired when she told the story). So now she only gets wifi on her phone when she's in hotspots around the city, and not in her room, since her dorm doesn't have wifi. Argh. Any way you guys can think of for her to get 3g coverage - should she just try going back to the store and talking to someone different??

Oh, and she did indeed top up her plan for 10 pounds but the 3g still didn't work. Hmm...
 
boston04and07 said:
Hello again! i know this is a super old thread but I just thought I'd post my results here, in case anyone else was looking to do the same thing. I jailbreaked and unlocked her phone right before she left, and switched out the SIMs in the airport before she boarded the plane. Since o2 evidently doesn't have any way for someone in the States to contact customer service, she had to find an o2 store in London to top up her plan. However, the saleslady there told her that she either didn't need or couldn't have 3g coverage, since "wifi would do." (I don't know, she was tired when she told the story). So now she only gets wifi on her phone when she's in hotspots around the city, and not in her room, since her dorm doesn't have wifi. Argh. Any way you guys can think of for her to get 3g coverage - should she just try going back to the store and talking to someone different??

Oh, and she did indeed top up her plan for 10 pounds but the 3g still didn't work. Hmm...
Click to expand...


If the limit is the sim, and the phone is unlocked for any network, go elsewhere. Shop around, or return to a different O2 store and search for an assistant who's not stupid.

If the issue is the iPhone, perhaps it needs to be re-jailbroken, or something. Harder. Did you install the hack for 3rd party sims?

Did I miss the point? Good luck.
 
boston04and07 said:
Hello again! i know this is a super old thread but I just thought I'd post my results here, in case anyone else was looking to do the same thing. I jailbreaked and unlocked her phone right before she left, and switched out the SIMs in the airport before she boarded the plane. Since o2 evidently doesn't have any way for someone in the States to contact customer service, she had to find an o2 store in London to top up her plan. However, the saleslady there told her that she either didn't need or couldn't have 3g coverage, since "wifi would do." (I don't know, she was tired when she told the story). So now she only gets wifi on her phone when she's in hotspots around the city, and not in her room, since her dorm doesn't have wifi. Argh. Any way you guys can think of for her to get 3g coverage - should she just try going back to the store and talking to someone different??

Oh, and she did indeed top up her plan for 10 pounds but the 3g still didn't work. Hmm...
Click to expand...

That O2 person was either stupid or too lazy to do her job.

I suggest talking to another member of O2 staff, or just go for another network who will give you what you need.
 
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