US simcard?

Route1

I have an iPhone 4S on three and not sure whether its locked or not. Going to the states in 2 weeks and not sure about my phone situation. Does any one know if the iPhone needs to be unlocked to use a US simcard and can you buy them here or do they have to be bought in the US?

BuffyBot

You will need the phone to be unlocked.

You can get SIM's there, yes.

SantryRed

What are the deals like in the US? Any cheap data deals? Would just use that for Viber/WhatsApp.

seanmacc

You will need your I-Phone unlocked.

You're limited to your carriers in the US. Sprint and Verizon don't use sim cards although it is possible to port an unlocked phone onto their networks most shops won't or don't know how to do it. AT&T usually don't have a problem.

My experience of prepay in the States is that is is very expensive and they look for ID and proof of address for prepay. To get a post pay plan you'll have to go through the standard credit check which if you're a new resident (legal or illegal) could be a red flag for them.

At&t prepaid plans:

http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/plans/prepaidplans.html

Cushie Butterfield

Route1 wrote: »

I have an iPhone 4S on three and not sure whether its locked or not.

If you bought it from Three it will definitely be locked & you 'll have to request them to unlock it. They'll unlock it for free if you're out of contract on a billpay or if you've topped up by €130 (I think) on prepay.

It could take up to 10 days for an unlock so you'd want to get sorting it out now. Might be better to request it over on the Talk to Three forum - that way if it's not sorted by the time you leave you can deal with them on boards instead of having to ring from US.

dartup

use skype

davork

pre paid is fairly easy from my experience

I have a pre paid t mobile and bill pay tmobile in NJ...

the pre paid is in an unlocked (US) iphone 5

If you are near a walmart, they have some prepaid plans of their own too (look at the $30 on with few minutes and 5GB of data)

spideog7

davork wrote: »

If you are near a walmart, they have some prepaid plans of their own too (look at the $30 on with few minutes and 5GB of data)

The $30 one at Walmart is by far the best deal going, you'll probably have to buy a cheap phone bundle to get it but then just take out the Sim card and keep the other phone for a backup.

Be aware though that the frequency used in Ireland and the US is different and the frequencies for voice and data are also different, so check what bands your phone supports and what band the carrier in the US uses.

furmi

I saw sims for loads of different countries in the shop in the airport after you go through security check last week. Once your phone is unlocked then these will work for you.

biddywiddy

I'm moving to the US in the next few weeks and I've been doing a bit of research on SIM cards. This article compares quite a few of the prepay options.

I'm thinking of going with Ultra Mobile for the international minutes and texts.

furmi

Just signed up with eircom to a contract. Got 1500 mins a month free call to and from all of Europe and USA for €30 + vat a month. Free text and internet also from everywhere.

Ah-Watch

furmi wrote: »

Just signed up with eircom to a contract. Got 1500 mins a month free call to and from all of Europe and USA for €30 + vat a month. Free text and internet also from everywhere.

have you any link to this plan no? is it a business plan

furmi

Ah-Watch wrote: »

have you any link to this plan no? is it a business plan

Its a business plan on a bank direct debit.. Contract for 2 years with a free i phone. It says

Unlimited minutes (mobile and landline)
Unlimited texts
Unlimited data
UK calls and texts included
UK roaming calls and texts included

It was suppose to end on 29th November but it's still available and the Rep. called me this week to tell me that all of Europe and USA is now also included. Its with eMobile.
It was €58.26 but this offer of €30+ vat is for the entire 2 years.

Ah-Watch

That's an unreal price plan. I wonder if I rang them would they give me it? Do you know is there any data included for that price

furmi

Ah-Watch wrote: »

That's an unreal price plan. I wonder if I rang them would they give me it? Do you know is there any data included for that price

You could try

www.eircombusiness.ie

Unlimited data is included here and in Uk. I am unsure about data in rest of Europe and USA but I think it is also included as of this week

I am only getting my phone delivered tomorrow so its all new to me.

furmi

Ah-Watch wrote: »

That's an unreal price plan. I wonder if I rang them would they give me it? Do you know is there any data included for that price

Checked today for you. The deal is still available but its a business user account. If you are in business then you should be able to get it. You could ring 1800 299799 and find out

furmi

I have e mobile now a couple of weeks but service really poor in the midlands. Its ok in Dublin though. Other e mobile users that I spoke to in the midlands said the same.

furmi

e mobile not as good as I was expecting. Hopefully it improves.

Ah-Watch

I've heard the same with a lot of e mobile customers too actually. I'm going to stick with my Vodafone bill as I cannot abide poor coverage. I was using T Mobile USA for a while when in Chicago last summer and coverage kept dropping and drove me bonkers. Going to get AT&T back when I'm out over the summer as their coverage seemed better but their data amounts are useless which is where I can see myself running into problems

MadsL

Route1 wrote: »

I have an iPhone 4S on three and not sure whether its locked or not. Going to the states in 2 weeks and not sure about my phone situation. Does any one know if the iPhone needs to be unlocked to use a US simcard and can you buy them here or do they have to be bought in the US?

I found I could only use my iPhone 3s on AT&T. Problem is their only non-contract sim does not allow data on iPhone. Tried everything - even lying about the IMEI number, but after a day of data, data was blocked.

Only solution was to go contract on AT&T.