Database Users

T-Mobile G1 in Europe?

I live in the US and I have a trip planned to London, Paris and Rome in May. I own a T-mobile G1 and was wondering what my best option was for using my G1 in those cities. I know there are a lot of European users here on XDA so I was hoping somebody could give me some advise from experience. I do realize that the 3G won't work over there no matter what I do.
Thanks for any and all help!

NickPDX said:
I live in the US and I have a trip planned to London, Paris and Rome in May. I own a T-mobile G1 and was wondering what my best option was for using my G1 in those cities. I know there are a lot of European users here on XDA so I was hoping somebody could give me some advise from experience. I do realize that the 3G won't work over there no matter what I do.
Thanks for any and all help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3G should work fine. When you get there, buy a local prepaid simcard.

You need to unlock it first, call T-Mo and tell them what you just posted and they will give you the unlock code.

Your best bet for London (once you've got the phone unlocked) is a "pay as you go" sim from three. Just put £10 credit on it and you'll get a 150mb, 90day internet allowance. If you need to top it up again you get that allowance renewed every time.

Unless I am mistaking, the phone is rooted and is running a non stock rom, thus it is unlocked. I will look into the prepaid sim cards. Will I have to get a different one for each of the countries/cities?
@lbcoder: are you sure about the 3G? since this is a t-mobile phone I was under the impression that the bands it uses for 3G are only the N. American Bands and would only work over here.

Not unlocked for other networks, you need to get it unlocked to use other networks.

NickPDX said:
Unless I am mistaking, the phone is rooted and is running a non stock rom, thus it is unlocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sim unlock isn't the same thing as root.. You need a code from t-mobile for that. They'll give you one if you tell them what you've told us.
NickPDX said:
I will look into the prepaid sim cards. Will I have to get a different one for each of the countries/cities?
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Click to collapse
That's going to be the cheapest way to do it.. You'll get brutally raped for roaming charges otherwise. In the UK the cards are usually free, you just have to buy the calling credit.

TMO will give you your SIM unlock code for free if your account has been paid up for 90 days or longer. They take up to 7 days. I had to get this from TMO via my American friend when I bought my G1 off him. There are places online where you can pay $25 or so and get an unlock code within hours. SIM unlock is not the same thing as root.
I'm also just about to go to Europe! Vodafone turned on global roaming for free (I just pay for calls) and they sells packs of roaming data, I got 25Mb for $50, which is way cheaper than their usual rate of $10 per 1Mb! For me this is easier than stuffing round with pre-paid SIM cards, changing number and whatever, I also don't know if a pre-paid SIM gives mobile data access? Give TMO a call and see what they offer.
I will turn off Sync and use DroidWall to make sure stuff doesn't update in the background and use all my allowance. It's really only to update Facebook to let people know I am still alive

Your G1 will most definitely work and use 3G in London. You can grab a T-Mo prepaid SIM from the multiple vending machines in the airport when you arrive in London, and swap it in and start using it immediately. I did exactly this at both Gatwick and Heathrow. Do like the other posters said and call T-Mobile in the US and get the unlock code before you fly. It's free that way. I did that too, and they are cool about it. It took about 24 hours after my request and it was emailed to me. The one thing that confused me at first was my G1 kept asking for a "SIM unlock code" or something like that after I had unlocked it using the T-Mobile code. Turns out it was a security setting that I could disable, to prevent someone from using the phone if they stole it. Two totally different "SIM unlocks". Now I know.

[Q] What network to use when taking a Nexus One to UK and Europe mostly for data?

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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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

[Q] Dubai Tab in the USA

Hello !!
I bought an unlocked Galaxy Tab in Dubai UAE and would like to use it in SF Bay Area.
My Tab's Supported bands are:
GSM&EDGE Band 850/900/1800/1900
3G Band 900/1900/2100​
I would like your advice / experience sharing with subscribing to the most suitable US wireless carrier for my tab.
Would ATT or Tmobile work?
Is 3G an attainable objective?
Which plans would you suggest? I am planning to use this device primarily for mobile web access, with occasional phone calls as well.
Thanks in advance for your kind feedback!
K
PS: pls note I spent several hours trying to find answer on this site as well as others before posting, my apologies however if this question was already asked and answered on this forum.

Hi,
on a recent trip the the US I purchased a prepaid SIM from AT&T for data usage only.
I wanted to get one that allowed me the option to make a phone call but didnt find any luck - all data/phone bundles are for postpaid and tie you to a 12/18 month contract....
Although I must say they were not very sure of what they were doing, I had to convince them that the same iPad packages would work on the Galaxy - keeping in mind that you would have to manually entr the APN settings..

kido007 said:
Would ATT or Tmobile work?
Is 3G an attainable objective?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You won't get 3G on TMo at all, since your Tab doesn't support AWS 1700/2100.
AT&T supports 3G on 850MHz and 1900MHz, so if you are in a region which uses 1900MHz you should be ok.
The bad news is that prepaid data deals on AT&T are very poor indeed and there don't seem to be an MVNOs that run on AT&T and offer decent amounts of data.
My advice, which is what I've actually done, would be to by a Virgin Mobile MiFi - for $40 a month you get 5GB data (it was unlimited, but that ends at the start of Feb). Virgin Mobile runs over Sprint (CDMA), but using the MiFi at least gives you a decent amount of data for a reasonable price - however, the MiFi will run you around $129.
Regards,
Dave

kido007 said:
My Tab's Supported bands are:
GSM&EDGE Band 850/900/1800/1900
3G Band 900/1900/2100[/INDENT]
I would like your advice / experience sharing with subscribing to the most suitable US wireless carrier for my tab.
Would ATT or Tmobile work?
Is 3G an attainable objective?
Which plans would you suggest? I am planning to use this device primarily for mobile web access, with occasional phone calls...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This tab will work on the at&t network and should go to 3g. Unlocked is a good start, but you will most likely need to flash Roto JME version 4, to get the phone dialer. You should also flash the bell i900 modem instead of the stock modem. You will need an at&t data plan. I don't know what their prices are. I have heard of people using an iphone plan.
There are several good step by step lessons. I saw one by member Queen Amy that is excellent.
Or you can avoid all this and use wifi only.

kido007 said:
Hello !!
I bought an unlocked Galaxy Tab in Dubai UAE and would like to use it in SF Bay Area.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does your Galaxy Tab have the Market App? When I bought mine from Dubai, it didn't.
You might want to have a look at this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=818167 for details about how to enable it.

Thank you all!

[Q] Canadian Note 4 in UK on O2

I'm going to the UK at the end of the week and I want to buy a SIM for my Canadian Note 4 (N910W8). If I buy a SIM with O2, should I get the 3G or the 4G version? I am not sure if the 4G will work on this phone or not.
Alternatively, if any UK members can recommend something other than O2, I'm all ears. (I don't care that much about minutes, but SMS would be nice, data the priority).
Thanks.

Hi,
EE or Vodafone look like your best shot at using 4G here in the UK. Details of the bands the different operators use can be found here:
http://www.4g.co.uk/4g-networks/
I got the phone band specs from here:
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_note_4-6434.php

Wooba99 said:
I'm going to the UK at the end of the week and I want to buy a SIM for my Canadian Note 4 (N910W8). If I buy a SIM with O2, should I get the 3G or the 4G version? I am not sure if the 4G will work on this phone or not.
Alternatively, if any UK members can recommend something other than O2, I'm all ears. (I don't care that much about minutes, but SMS would be nice, data the priority).
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're only here for a short period of time, you might want to try GiffGaff (https://giffgaff.com/). They use the O2 infrastructure, but have better packages for short term use (they call them 'goodybags'). Not sure if they've got 4G available as yet, but 3G is generally quite good from what recent users have told me.

Taking my Verizon HTC 10 to Asia

Hi everyone, I have a bone stock Verizon HTC 10 on a grandfathered unlimited data plan.
This is going to be my first trip outside of the US, I'm going to Southeast Asia and I was, originally, looking at the Verizon TravelPass plan, but it is only for newer plans, not for the grandfathered plans. So now I am looking into swapping out to a local SIM, but I'm not sure I understand everything. Does it matter which carrier I use? GSM or CDMA? Since it's a World Phone, I'm assuming that it has all the bands covered. Besides having a different phone number, are there any other drawbacks?
What do you guys think about using the Wi-Fi in that part of the world. I get leery about even using the Hotels Wi-Fi. LOL
Any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

ditto - i'll be going to London for about 6 months. I have the verizon htc 10 (sunshined - don't think that matters for this?). i'm assuming i can take out that verizon sim and put in a vodafone (unless someone has some suggestions of other carriers) sim and it will work seamlessly.
any help for me and my new OP friend going to Asia would be cool ... tia !

Dragbike Racer said:
Hi everyone, I have a bone stock Verizon HTC 10 on a grandfathered unlimited data plan.
This is going to be my first trip outside of the US, I'm going to Southeast Asia and I was, originally, looking at the Verizon TravelPass plan, but it is only for newer plans, not for the grandfathered plans. So now I am looking into swapping out to a local SIM, but I'm not sure I understand everything. Does it matter which carrier I use? GSM or CDMA? Since it's a World Phone, I'm assuming that it has all the bands covered. Besides having a different phone number, are there any other drawbacks?
What do you guys think about using the Wi-Fi in that part of the world. I get leery about even using the Hotels Wi-Fi. LOL
Any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used my Verizon 10 in Japan mostly without issues with a local data sim card. Look at possible sim providers where you're going and see what bands they use, and see if your phone supports those. The VZW 10 has a couple of bands disabled compared to the unlocked 10. Just make sure you change your network settings from CDMA to Global.
No drawbacks in using your phone abroad. Depending on if you get a data only sim card and which provider you use there, you might experience some additional battery drain. I experienced this mostly in Japan, but it Singapore and Thailand as well with my M7.
Safety wise I would say using public wifi in SEA has the same risk as using public wifi in the states.

Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it.

Dragbike Racer said:
Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No probs, hope it all works out.