I'm taking my T-Mobile Vario II from the UK to the US next month and I was wondering if I can simply buy a PAYG SIM card in the States and use this on my phone while I'm there?
I know that the phone is locked so can I buy a T-Mobile SIM and use that?
Cheers.
Out of interest is there any reason why you do not unlock your phone first?
Sure, Cingular and T-mobile both sell prepaid sim cards (though you may be better off trying to get one on ebay first).
A T-mobile UK phone will NOT accept a T-mobile US sim without unlocking it, they are considered different networks and a phone locks itself to the network code.
Keep in mind though that in the US we don't have prepaid data like in the UK. PAYG in the US lacks many other things like roaming and cheap calls abroad.
Wam7 said:
Out of interest is there any reason why you do not unlock your phone first?
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To be honest, I don't know how to! I have a T-Mobile Vario II with the standard ROM.
Are PAYG SIMS available in Canada?
Is Canada considered 'abroad' with regard to a US SIM? And vice versa?
I'm going to both Canada and the US this year and want to know the score.
Thanks
mindracing said:
Is Canada considered 'abroad' with regard to a US SIM? And vice versa?
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When I was in Canada in July, Tmobile2Go SIM would *NOT* register. Note that in late '06 Tmo said 2Go SIMs would get roaming - dunno if that applies to Canada or not though. I just looked online and I'm still not sure You can easily pick up a Nokia 6030 here with a Tmo2Go SIM for ~$40. If you unlock and sell the 6030 it's cheaper than buying a SIM alone from Tmobile.
If your Vario II is a Hermes (I don't know T-mobile model names), you should have little trouble unlocking it using the Wiki instructions here.
PM me if you need help acquiring a US SIM card.
HTH,
Richard
Only Rogers pay as you go sim card has US roaming, but that's really expensive!
Hi all.
I am traveling to the UK and Europe for 8 weeks with my Telecom XT (New Zealand) Nexus One (From AT&T 850/1900mhz).
Does anyone know what the best network to go on would be? I will be using the phone mostly for data connections for maps, email, booking accommodation etc and also as a wi-fi hot spot for my laptop. I will send no more then 5 txts per day and maybe 1 call a day tops.
I had a look around the forums but couldn't find any info since around 2008. I figure its going to be a bit of a pain because I will be roaming.
If anyone from the UK or who has knowledge of their networks could help it would be much appreciated.
My apologies for putting this in General rather then Q&A. I cannot figure out how to delete or move this either...
Do you absolutely need your NZ number? Or else you should just buy a pay as you go sim in the few countries where you will stay for a while. You can roam for a few days between longer stops and buy another once you get somewhere else. Only takes a few minutes in the uk.
With data you can call out on skype. So you can use that also.
Hi, Thanks for the reply. I have no need to use my New Zealand Number.
I was hoping I would be able to buy a sim on a network over there that would allow me to use data in the UK and several countries around Europe (EU). For the Europe part of the Journey we are only spending up to 4 days in each country so I don't particularly want to but 7 sim cards. Is there a network that offers a sim that will work in all of Europe without charging roaming rates? That way I could I just have another on for in the UK?
I think you could be right about having one Sim for the Uk and then buying another one in every few countries in the Europe.
I was hoping a UK carrier might have a data that allowed roaming but it doesn't look like that.
Is there a prepaid sim that would work in EU countries without charging roaming in between them?
NZtoUK said:
Hi, Thanks for the reply. I have no need to use my New Zealand Number.
I was hoping I would be able to buy a sim on a network over there that would allow me to use data in the UK and several countries around Europe (EU). For the Europe part of the Journey we are only spending up to 4 days in each country so I don't particularly want to but 7 sim cards. Is there a network that offers a sim that will work in all of Europe without charging roaming rates? That way I could I just have another on for in the UK?
I think you could be right about having one Sim for the Uk and then buying another one in every few countries in the Europe.
I was hoping a UK carrier might have a data that allowed roaming but it doesn't look like that.
Is there a prepaid sim that would work in EU countries without charging roaming in between them?
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Almost all the carriers have agreements with each other. A uk sim will roam in most if not all of europe. The problem with having a sim from one country is that you might not be able to top it up in another country. I have a tmo uk sim but ive never tried adding money from somewhere else. You might be able to do it with a credit card online but im not sure if that will work 100%.
Roaming with data is a complete ripoff! For 5 pounds a month in the uk i get 1gb. If you pay 30 pounds you only get 50mb abroad so I would definitely try stopping quickly at a phone store if youre data hungry. I dont know any where you can use anywhere
On the other hand there are some euro travel plans on tmo/orange/o2 that give you 200/300 minutes abroad per month at a discounted rate and recieve for free.
plans from uk:
http://www.o2international.co.uk/callingfromoverseas/myeurope_extra.aspx
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/boosters/
http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?c=OUKPage&cid=1044131837837&pagename=PersonalIR#ET
FYI you recieve txts for FREE in europe
Yeah. Looks like I should just get A prepaid sim for the UK while I'm there and get another pre paid sim in a couple of European countries.
It looks like I can get 50 Mb £40 that will last for 30 days in Europe with Orange. I doubt 50mb will be enough.
Vodafone Uk looks the best with Vodafone Data Traveller that gives you 25MB in selected European countries for 2pounds per day. It doesn't say if its 25MB per day or per month but I assume it is per day.
Still a complete rip off like you said.
I was hoping there was going to be a network that would cover all UK and Europe so that's a shame.
Ill just have to hope I don't lose all my sim cards I will be carrying.
Cheers for your help.
Ill post back here if I find a particularly cheap way to use data on my phone while in multiple countries in Europe.
I bought a pre-paid Orange SIM when I was in the UK a few months ago. Came with 100MB which I managed to make last the whole two weeks (ran out on my last day). However, that was being very careful with mobile data and using Wifi as much as possible.
Here is a quite useful overview:
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/roaming/tariffs/in_ms/index_en.htm
Just select the country where you bought your prepaid SIM, then select "data pre-paid" and you will see the costs in your destination country.
The prices are very similar because they are limited by european regulations recently introduced.
"3" prepaid sim is dirt cheap for data. Buy in the UK and you can use your data allocation in UK, Ireland, Italy and Sweden without any roaming charges at all.
I've used my "3 Ireland" sim over in Italy and it worked a threat.
€4.99 for 500MB/month so it won't cost an arm and a leg. You can buy as many data addons as you need and when one expires then it automatically starts using the next one. So if 1Gb required just buy 2 data addons for €9.98
3 UK will have different pricing and offers, but data roaming will still work for the above mentioned countries.
See here for more info http://www.three.co.uk/
Just drop into one of their stores when you're in the UK and get it all sorted there.
HTH.
I can confirm what cpm says. I'm on 3 Ireland with a free add-on of 500MB data per month that I can use in Denmark while roaming on the Danish 3 network. The same applies when I'm in Sweden, UK, and Italy.
+1 for three
they even give you free skype (over gsm... not crappy data connection)
NZtoUK said:
Hi all.
I am traveling to the UK and Europe for 8 weeks with my Telecom XT (New Zealand) Nexus One (From AT&T 850/1900mhz).
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Europe uses 900/2100mhz
i have t-mobile N1 from USA.
i was in london 2 months ago and at heathrow, i got a t-mobile sim chip out of a vending machine ( 10 to 15 pounds ) and had seamless experience as local customer on the new number. The only hard part was figuring out that i needed to 'top-off' the pay-go account and finally went to a t-mobile store in order to pay 15 or 20 pounds at a time to get necessary credit on the pay-go account.
I have a US tmo nexus, and used orange in the UK for a few weeks earlier this year. Loved the fact that you can top up by going into virtually any store and buying a top up voucher, then just enter the voucher PIN into your phone...
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Don't forget that you can also top-up your Pay As You Go data online also (unless you need a UK credit card?). Useful when you already have your first data package in place.
If you go with 3 though, you shouldn't need to top-up your data plan too often
Hi. I have a Bell mobility Canadian S3. I am traveling to USA. I need data for using Google Navigation and internet there. Does anyone know if i can unlock my phone, buy a prepaid SIM card, and use the phone there? Is this phone compatible with t-mobile or at&t SIM cards?
ps--if it won't work, i also have an unlocked motorolla Atrix (1st gen), but the screen is fidgety and doesn't work well. Will prepaid sims work in the atrix?... then i can just use the atrix as a hotspot for the S3. Thanks in advance.
EDIT...sorry didn't see that the s3 has different forums for canada and USA versions...found out after i created this thread.
Buy an unlock code online. I heard some site charges like 7 cad. I used cellunlocker.net twice before and it charges 15 us each. Or your local cellphone shop or pacific mall I guess....
At&t will sure work and they are roaming partner of Bell. They might have prepaid voice and data. Check online for yourself.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
My wifes nexus 4 does not connect or find any carrier while we are abroad in Europe.
Any ideas what to do?
do you have international roaming enabled? are you on-contract or prepaid? if pre-paid i don't think they allow roaming. Worst case you can buy a sim card and calling card to use while you are there.
she is on a prepaid contract, and in addition to that it includes world flate rate for global landlines.
we have the same prepaid card, while mine connects, hers does not. I get neither a signal if I insert her simcard into my note 3.
I am traveling to the UK and have an Unlocked S5 on the Verizon network. Can I purchase a local Sim Card on the ee plan in London and use my phone on that network. Verizon wants a ridiculous amount of money for basically nothing.
Marcus1Q said:
I am traveling to the UK and have an Unlocked S5 on the Verizon network. Can I purchase a local Sim Card on the ee plan in London and use my phone on that network. Verizon wants a ridiculous amount of money for basically nothing.
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Depends on the carrier, but in most cases yes. I've used Orange and sfr sim cards, in france and bulgaria with no issue.