Samsung Galaxy S3 in America

noelo23

Hi all.

We will be traveling to Florida in January. I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 that I want to use over there to make use of the wonderful free sat nav application that is on it, based on Google maps. However, I don't particularly want to have to pay the high data roaming charges that this will incur if I use my Irish Vodafone account for this. So m y question is threefold.

1 Will my Galaxy S3 work in the States? I have signed up for roaming but I don't think that the phone is unlocked.

2 Will I be able to buy a 'ready to go' type SIM card in the US and put it in my phone and benefit from lower data costs, as well as avail of phone cards for cheaper calls home.

3 What would be the best network and plan to buy into for a 2 week holiday?

Thanks in advance for your help and hopefully I can piggyback and what some y you learned out there!


Noel.

PogMoThoin

You can cache google maps, just download the map on wifi before you leave.

él statutorio

or buy a local AT&T or T-mobile SIM. Although I have a T-mobile sim and data is a bit of a pain to set up.

noelo23

PogMoThoin wrote: »

You can cache google maps, just download the map on wifi before you leave.

Thought about that but don't want to make our plans too inflexible while we are there. Will have some if the main places saved on the maps but there are going to be days where we want to make our days plans on the fly.

bennyineire

download the this app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.navfree.android.OSM.USA&hl=en
it allows you to download the maps in Ireland, which will allow you to use it for free in the U.S. I used in in Spain recently and it worked fine for me

ardmacha

Will have some if the main places saved on the maps but there are going to be days where we want to make our days plans on the fly.

You can always download maps on wi-fi in your hotel or at a McDonalds en route.