Jeff Utecht – Educator, Consultant, Author
Best Plan for SIM Unlocked iPhone in the USA
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OK….so I’ve done my research over two years now and I think I’ve finally found the simplest and cheapest way to get your Unlocked iPhone to work in the USA when you are visiting.
All you need is an AT&T friend!
1. Find a friend who has AT&T service
2. Go with them to an AT&T store and have them ask for an additional line on their account. It cost a one time fee of $10.
3. Next have them activate the new number/SIM card with an iPhone account. They’ll ask you what data plan you want. $15 for 200MB or $25 for 2GB a month. Choose your plan and hand the money over to your friend as it will come on their next bill.
4. That’s it! Of course check with your friend to see what plan they are on and how many minutes they have. My buddy has unlimited text messaging and unlimited nights and weekend minutes with a large amount of roll-over minutes so we’re good to go (I’ll buy him tickets to an M’s game and we’ll be good 
)
$35 total cost and you have cell and 3G data on your iPhone for a month. Beats what I went through last summer!
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| Print article | This entry was posted by Jeff Utecht on June 15, 2010 at 10:22 am, and is filed under Random Thoughts. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
Proper typing out, thumb typing in
about 6 months ago - 8 comments
window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({appId: “105387962851710″, status: true, cookie: true, xfbml: true}); }; (function() { var e = document.createElement(“script”); e.async = true; e.src = document.location.protocol + “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js”; document.getElementById(“fb-root”).appendChild(e); }()); Just as I’m having conversations again around why we should or shouldn’t teach typing in our schools technology has once again moved us into another typing
Pre-Paid Data Plan on an Unlocked iPhone not possible in America
about 1 year ago - 65 comments
window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({appId: “105387962851710″, status: true, cookie: true, xfbml: true}); }; (function() { var e = document.createElement(“script”); e.async = true; e.src = document.location.protocol + “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js”; document.getElementById(“fb-root”).appendChild(e); }()); Update: Now you can have data on your Unlocked iPhone in America for $35 via AT&T all you need is a friend! It took a good
about 2 months ago
and if you don’t have an AT&T friend ???
Departing in 1 week to the USA and can not believe how difficult it is to us a phone that’s meant to put the world in our fingertips (well maybe everywhere but the USA)
about 2 months ago
If you don’t have a friend then you can get just a Sim card but no data. T-Mobile is probably your best best for a pre-paid short term SIM card. I think they’re $50 at a T-Mobile store and at least you’ll have phone.
about 2 months ago
Hi – this sounds like exactly what I’ve been looking for, but I have two questions. Or maybe three! FIrst of all, what happens when the month is up? How do you keep your friend from being charged the data fee for the rest of the year? Secondly, could this be used for six weeks? In other words, would one be charged for two months by way of the extra week? Thirdly, is this a service that could start and stop? I travel to the US from Europe about 3 times a year, usually for about 2 weeks at a time. Thanks!!!!! And Happy 4th!
about 2 months ago
1. You can call or go into an AT&T store and turn off the data plan to that phone number
2. Yes…but you’d pay for two months as they go by months not weeks.
3. Yes…you would just have to start and stop the data plan, the phone number once activated under your friends account stays active until your friend shuts it off.
about 1 month ago
Hi Jeff,
I will be doing some extensive travels for 3 months starting July 30th.
I have an unlocked iPhone 3 GS, and I will be traveling California, New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.
You mentioned in an earlier post that you did something similar. Do you have advice which sim cards I should buy to use both voice and data in those countries? And will it need special settings?
Would be great if you had any advice for me!
Concerning the US:
There seems to be a way to use iPad sims on iPhones. The question is, though: do you get iPad sims without buying an iPad?
Here are the instructions, in case you have a sim:
http://hijinksinc.com/2010/05/14/using-a-micro-sim-in-an-iphone-3g/
All the best,
Michael
about 1 month ago
I have no idea if you can get a iPad SIM without getting an iPad. I would think not. But you’ll want to go into AT&T store to check for yourself.
In most countries when you buy your pre-paid SIM card ask them if you can use data with it. Most of them you can but it’s pretty expensive….but you have it. Australia and New Zealand might be the hardest as they are more “western” in that they want you to sign contracts, their pre-paid plans might not allow all the features of the other countires. Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Thailand I know you can get data on almost all pre-paid SIMs. I’m not sure with Cambodia and that has more to do with their cell network than the SIM card.
Good luck and safe travels.
about 1 month ago
“Australia and New Zealand might be the hardest as they are more “western” in that they want you to sign contracts”
Incorrect. You can buy a Vodafone sim card pack for NZ$35 that comes with $10 service and you sign nothing. Number preassigned. Insert Sim and it works.
Note: You can also buy an unlocked iPhone in NZ, that’s how they sell them.
about 2 weeks ago
Hey Jeff,
Thank you much for your post. After a pointless phone call to an ATT tech support who had no idea how I might purchase a pre-paid data plan to use my unlocked iPhone while in the States, a bit of googling brought me to your site.
My family has ATT, so I should be able to do this quickly, my question to you is, do they simply give a new SIM card? Do they even ask about the phone that will be using it? And, which phone should activate the account, theirs or mine?
Just wanted a little bit more detail about what you did during this point.
Thank you much.
about 2 weeks ago
They asked me and when I told them it was for an iPhone they asked if I wanted the data plan. They will activate it with your cell phone. Just go with your family to an AT&T store and ask them to add an “Friends and Family” line to the account. $10 and you all share a pool of minutes. The $25 data plan will be for that number and iPhone only.