Hey,

I'm from Brazil and have an officialy unlocked iPhone 3G. I'll be traveling to the US in December and was wondering what's the best way to use my phone abroad.

What I need is a pre-paid plan with data capabilities, so I can buy the SIM card and use it in my iPhone. In this manner, I'll have local charges for data and calls. Of course I'll be sending the new number to folks back home that need to reach me.

Is there a carrier that offer such a plan?

Are there any other options?

Thanks for your inputs!

Originally Posted by marcribeiro

Hey,

I'm from Brazil and have an officialy unlocked iPhone 3G. I'll be traveling to the US in December and was wondering what's the best way to use my phone abroad.

What I need is a pre-paid plan with data capabilities, so I can buy the SIM card and use it in my iPhone. In this manner, I'll have local charges for data and calls. Of course I'll be sending the new number to folks back home that need to reach me.

Is there a carrier that offer such a plan?

Are there any other options?

Thanks for your inputs!

here is what I did: I got AT&T's pay as you go with simcard & us phonenumber. You can "recharge" the prepaid card, transfer some of the money that is on your simcard for data use. it is pretty easy.

Check this one out:
http://www.wireless.att.com:80/cell-...ice/go-phones/

Thank you volkspost!I appreciate the answer and the link!

One thing that I've learned about AT&T GoPhone data plans. If you plan to use for more than a few days, it's worth getting the "unlimited" option for 19.99 (this is not on the web site but is available when you call to order the data package).

That will give you 1 whole month of unlimited data. Or you can get 5M transfer for 9.99, that is easy to spend. If you need to buy more, you are better off with the 19.99 unlimited.

aviegas,

Thanks for the tip! I'll be staying for a couple of weeks so I guess I'd be better of with the unlimited option.

So if I understood correctly, I need to find an AT&T store or booth, buy the SIM card for the Pay As You Go plan. After that, I should pop the card into my phone and call 611 and ask for a data plan (in this case unlimited).

I'm assuming I'd have to use a credit card to pay for it over the phone, right? The question here is will they keep billing me month after month for that? Will I need to cancel the plan after the trip? How this works?

Originally Posted by marcribeiro

aviegas,

Thanks for the tip! I'll be staying for a couple of weeks so I guess I'd be better of with the unlimited option.

So if I understood correctly, I need to find an AT&T store or booth, buy the SIM card for the Pay As You Go plan. After that, I should pop the card into my phone and call 611 and ask for a data plan (in this case unlimited).

I'm assuming I'd have to use a credit card to pay for it over the phone, right? The question here is will they keep billing me month after month for that? Will I need to cancel the plan after the trip? How this works?

Aviegas is absolutely right, if you stay longer, the data plan makes awful sense, I usually use this one.

You can do the whole thing without ever using your credit card. Hit an AT&T store and get a Pay as you Go simcard, it usually comes with a 10 Dollar airtime included. You can buy then "refill cards" at AT&T stores, Walgreens and other locations. The refill cards have a unique pin, call 611 again to enter and add airtime then.
For activation, refill, data plan etc you can use 611, it is an automatic system. Besides that you can setup you pay as you go online account and manage it via webbrowser (https://www.paygonline.com/websc/ViewProfile.do). You can register for the online service (http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-pho...ones/index.jsp) once the simcard is active.
If you are a returning customer there is one more interesting thing. depending on the ammount of the refill you can keep your phone number for a month, three months up to 365 days. To keep your phone number for a year you have to add 100 Dollar one time (refill). After that you would call 611 and "transfer" 19.95 out of this for data and you are set.

Thank you guys. I think I'm all set!

You could also download truphone and make cheap calls over wifi. I use it when i'm in the states to call back to the UK at 3pence a minute to a landline and 15pence per minute to a mobile

Hey bobhope,

Another interesting approach... However that implies wifi connection. It should be ok in hotels and airports, but I might encouter problems outside free hotspot-zone.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by marcribeiro

Hey bobhope,

Another interesting approach... However that implies wifi connection. It should be ok in hotels and airports, but I might encouter problems outside free hotspot-zone.

Thanks!

yes but most towns have some kind of free wifi, or just find your local apple store and make your calls on their free wifi connection :-)