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Taking iPhone to USA, What should I do about data?

Lostanddamned

Lostanddamned

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 3, 2009
681
379
London, UK
I am going on holiday to the Washington DC area for 3 weeks this summer, and I would like to take my iPhone with me.

I realise that this means that I would have to look at a) paying out of the nose for O2's roaming fees b) switching the roaming and data off and having a too fat iPod touch or c) getting a US sim and using that for data.

What is my best chance at a USA deal? I know over here in the UK I can go into literally a corner shop and pick up a PAYG sim, but I understand its a little less free in the USA.

I don't really care about calls, I literally just want to be able to keep up my normal speed of twitter feed, facebooking and google searches.

Thanks for your advice.
 
This is something which I would also like to resolve as I regularly travel to the US and Europe and it seem to defeat the whole point of the iphone when you have to switch of data roaming. I have an unlocked 3GS so any pay as you go options in the US for data would be nice .
 
Get an AT&T GoPhone Sim with the $19.99 data package. Make sure you unlock your phone.
 
The only reason I don't post on here (and sent a PM instead) how to enable Data on a GoPhone SIM in the iPhone (Doesn't involve a jailbreak) is because there are people on here who do like to take the morale high ground and tell us because it is not supported what we are doing is wrong, despite our circumstances where we have restrictive expensive contracts in the country we purchased our iPhone, where we've not cost AT&T a penny (anything they get from us being pure profit), and are visiting the country for maybe only a few days a month or in some cases for a one off holiday/vacation and aren't in a position to take out a 24 month contract and pay $100+ a month.

Anyway. Google is your friend, just do a Google search on this and your answer will be in one of the first results :)
 
I know in NYC (Manhattan) there is a lot of free Wi-Fi, so you don't need to use 3G for data retrieval, i.e. Barnes and Noble etc.
I don't know if this is the case in other states!
 
Get your iPhone Unlocked (O2 now offer unlocking) then shove in a Sim from AT&T or T-Mobile although I am not sure which is best for data on Pre-Paid.
 
ukcolinr said:
The only reason I don't post on here (and sent a PM instead) how to enable Data on a GoPhone SIM in the iPhone (Doesn't involve a jailbreak) is because there are people on here who do like to take the morale high ground and tell us because it is not supported what we are doing is wrong, despite our circumstances where we have restrictive expensive contracts in the country we purchased our iPhone, where we've not cost AT&T a penny (anything they get from us being pure profit), and are visiting the country for maybe only a few days a month or in some cases for a one off holiday/vacation and aren't in a position to take out a 24 month contract and pay $100+ a month.

Anyway. Google is your friend, just do a Google search on this and your answer will be in one of the first results :)
Click to expand...

Could you please post the information anyway? Those that don't support it can choose to ignore it. I googled, but I keep getting outdated and wrong information (3G iPhone only; text not data; unlimited data GO plan that no longer existed...). It's all very confusing to us not being with the system in USA.

If you are still uncomfortable providing the information, could you please post a couple of links to point us to the right direction?
 
Ok this is what I sent via PM

Go into any AT&T store in the US and buy a PAYG SIM (Best not to say it's for an iPhone (I took my Nokia with me), if you have to just tell them only using it for calls and SMS), the SIM is free but you have to put at least $25 credit on it.

Once you put the SIM in connect to iTunes and download the carrier settings (happens automatically) so you can use MMS etc. At this point your data won't work.

Check out this website http://limitededitioniphone.com/ipho...t-you-covered/ Tells you roughly how to set up a profile for your iPhone. It's not entirely clear, basically go here http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/enterprise/ download the iPhone Configuration Utility and create a profile with the APN settings on that website, then email that profile to your iPhone. Once you apply the profile you will now have access to the internet. Bear in mind data on PAYG is 1c/kb VERY expensive. You can call 611 and add a data package, 1mb for $5 or 100mb for $20. All data will now come out of this bundle now and it's valid until you've used it or for 30 days.

It's worth noting when you go back to O2 (or Orange etc.) that profile is there until you remove it so your data won't work at home. Just go Settings > General > Profile > AT&T GoPhone (or whatever you named the profile) > Remove. Once your O2 SIM is back in your settings will be the O2 ones again (Also you can remove this profile if you want to stop using Data on AT&T to stop it using your credit or your bundle)

I noticed last night that there are a couple people on the first link saying it's no longer working. It worked for me up to the 18th Jan, I've not been to the US since. Before buying a data bundle check it does work in case AT&T have blocked it some how - test with something that doesn't use much data, maybe check your email?

Colin
 
I don't understand why there would be a 'moral high ground' RE: buying a prepaid sim? My iPhone would be fully legally unlocked, so I can do what I want with it?
 
@silverblack You're welcome :)

@dolbinau Seeing as they seem to have left us alone (I think everyone is in the iPad forum) I won't stir it up haha :)
 
I was in New York at Christmas just there with a O2 iphone from the uk, and I kept data roaming off and just used the random free wifi spots which there are lots of and an other good hint is to register ur starbucks card and when u buy a coffee with it u get to use their wifi! ---ohh u need to register ur card on the US site even if u have it registered in the uk!!!! Have a good holiday/time away!
 
When I was in LA and Palm Springs over Christmas and New Year I used a PAYG SIM on T-Mobile which I got through www.mrsimcard.com. If you search on here you'll find my report on it. Worked a dream with unlimited data and cheap calls back to the UK after I'd enabled the international call option.
 
ukcolinr said:
Ok this is what I sent via PM

Go into any AT&T store in the US and buy a PAYG SIM (Best not to say it's for an iPhone (I took my Nokia with me), if you have to just tell them only using it for calls and SMS), the SIM is free but you have to put at least $25 credit on it.

Once you put the SIM in connect to iTunes and download the carrier settings (happens automatically) so you can use MMS etc. At this point your data won't work.

Check out this website http://limitededitioniphone.com/ipho...t-you-covered/ Tells you roughly how to set up a profile for your iPhone. It's not entirely clear, basically go here http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/enterprise/ download the iPhone Configuration Utility and create a profile with the APN settings on that website, then email that profile to your iPhone. Once you apply the profile you will now have access to the internet. Bear in mind data on PAYG is 1c/kb VERY expensive. You can call 611 and add a data package, 1mb for $5 or 100mb for $20. All data will now come out of this bundle now and it's valid until you've used it or for 30 days.

It's worth noting when you go back to O2 (or Orange etc.) that profile is there until you remove it so your data won't work at home. Just go Settings > General > Profile > AT&T GoPhone (or whatever you named the profile) > Remove. Once your O2 SIM is back in your settings will be the O2 ones again (Also you can remove this profile if you want to stop using Data on AT&T to stop it using your credit or your bundle)

I noticed last night that there are a couple people on the first link saying it's no longer working. It worked for me up to the 18th Jan, I've not been to the US since. Before buying a data bundle check it does work in case AT&T have blocked it some how - test with something that doesn't use much data, maybe check your email?

Colin
Click to expand...

Actually there's a much simpler way to get AT&T data working that doesn't need a computer. You get an AT&T SIM card and put it in your phone (of course it has to be unlocked). Find a WiFi hotspot and go to this site on your iPhone: www.unlockit.co.nz. Select Continue > Custom APN and insert the following settings:

APN: wap.cingular
USER: wap@cingulargprs.com
PW: CINGULAR1

Select (if you want) V3 Tethering + MMS and then select US AT&T in the list of carriers and then Create Profile. Then click to install. Don't leave the settings pane until the profile is installed. And that's it. When you get back to your country just remove this profile from your iPhone.
 
ukcolinr said:
Ok this is what I sent via PM

Go into any AT&T store in the US and buy a PAYG SIM (Best not to say it's for an iPhone (I took my Nokia with me), if you have to just tell them only using it for calls and SMS), the SIM is free but you have to put at least $25 credit on it.

Once you put the SIM in connect to iTunes and download the carrier settings (happens automatically) so you can use MMS etc. At this point your data won't work.

Check out this website http://limitededitioniphone.com/ipho...t-you-covered/ Tells you roughly how to set up a profile for your iPhone. It's not entirely clear, basically go here http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/enterprise/ download the iPhone Configuration Utility and create a profile with the APN settings on that website, then email that profile to your iPhone. Once you apply the profile you will now have access to the internet. Bear in mind data on PAYG is 1c/kb VERY expensive. You can call 611 and add a data package, 1mb for $5 or 100mb for $20. All data will now come out of this bundle now and it's valid until you've used it or for 30 days.

It's worth noting when you go back to O2 (or Orange etc.) that profile is there until you remove it so your data won't work at home. Just go Settings > General > Profile > AT&T GoPhone (or whatever you named the profile) > Remove. Once your O2 SIM is back in your settings will be the O2 ones again (Also you can remove this profile if you want to stop using Data on AT&T to stop it using your credit or your bundle)

I noticed last night that there are a couple people on the first link saying it's no longer working. It worked for me up to the 18th Jan, I've not been to the US since. Before buying a data bundle check it does work in case AT&T have blocked it some how - test with something that doesn't use much data, maybe check your email?

Colin
Click to expand...

Anyone know if this 20$ dataplan (100MB) actually exists ? I can't find anything about it on the web page (AT&T). I can only find plans for 5MB.

donnib
 
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