Help with USA internet device and I Phone

So two (probbably very basic) questions for all you IT/iPhone expert type persons

1. Mobile internet hotspot device thingy

I remember that people have mentioned a device that generates a mobile hot-spot what you can then attach your laptop (and other devices) to (and so avoiding the exhorbitant hotel charges) but I can't remember the name of the device or the company that sells it.

2. Help with iPhone

I have a new (to me) iPhone 3GS that is tied to O2 that I want to use in the USA. I understand that I need to get O2 to unlock the phone so I can use a USA sim card in it

Can any one recommend a suitable package. I will be in the US for a week (this trip). I won't be using the phone/text side very much but will want the data side - posting on FB and on here and some other apps for example. Do I really need a data package or can I get away on using free hotspots for that side of things and a cheap paygo sim for text and calls?

Thanks for the help.

[mitchja]

1) Virgin Mobile US sell MiFi devices (both 3G and now 4G ones). See here. You can purchase these in many retailers such as Radioshack for example (note that Virgin Mobile US use the Sprint mobile network and are CDMA so will not work here in the UK as they don't use SIM cards). They are PAYG so you just top-up using either vouchers are credit cards once you have set-up an online account; UK Amex cards do work (not sure about other cards), although in your account you will need to use a US address (I just use the hotels address)

2) If you don't plan on using much data with your iPhone, just stick to using WiFi. O2 will unlock iPhones for free but's it probably not worth it.

Be very careful with O2 iPhones when roaming in the US, as they do (or at least did used to) leak data even when data roaming is turned off. There are countless reports of O2 iPhones charging for roaming data whilst abroad. It has also happened to me on more than one occasion when I was on O2. It seems to be an O2 issue rather than an iPhone issue as other networks do manage to block roaming data on iPhones when you don't want it.

Don't know about 1 - but I'd like to know too!

As for 2 - I recommend T Mobile's $2 a day plan.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/pay- ... hone-plans

1 - think you mean mifi? virgin mobile USA does one as I recall, but not tried it myself. There are other options too.
2 - I have a tmobile USA sim which I use in the States in my iPhone. I pay $2/day and get unlimited calls, texts, and 2G data. That is fine for basic use although slow in comparison to 3G (obviously). It is really handy when out and about and no wifi is nearby. You don't need a US address to buy it and the tmobile store I went to set it up in minutes. You do need to have an unlocked phone - not sure whether the 3GS has micro sim or not. Apart from the data it is really useful to be able to make calls without fear of bankruptcy!

HTH

[mitchja]

Don't know about 1 - but I'd like to know too!

As for 2 - I recommend T Mobile's $2 a day plan.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/pay- ... hone-plans

T-Mobile US 3G will not work with many UK handsets as T-Mobile US use 3G in a different band which many UK handsets (including iPhones) don't work on; you only see Edge or GPRS not 3G when data roaming on T-Mobile US.

T-Mobile US are in the process of upgrading their network to use a compatible version of 3G but I've no idea how much of this is complete or where they have completed the upgrades yet (T-Mobile US are starting selling iPhones from 2013 hence the network upgrades)

This is always an issue with T-Mobile UK/EE 3G users as UK handsets default to roaming on T-Mobile US, so to use 3G, you have to manually select AT&T as the roaming network.

At present, only AT&T 3G will work with data roaming on most UK handsets.

It gets even more complicated if you have a UK EE4G handset & 4G SIM card as EE4G so far do not have any 4G/LTE roaming partners. You must switch off LTE before you get there otherwise your handset just keeps looking for a non-existant 4G network and so will not register with any other 3G or 2G network either!! This is already catching EE4G users out when they try and roam abroad.

T-Mobile US are in the process of upgrading their network to use a compatible version of 3G but I've no idea how much of this is complete or where they have completed the upgrades yet (T-Mobile US are starting selling iPhones from 2013 hence the network upgrades)

There is a website that logs people's experiences of finding this 3G on tmobile - can't find it right now as am on my phone. But in my experience there is really very little coverage for a UK iPhone user - I got 3G coming into Manhattan from Newark once and that's about it. So I stick to the Edge plan which is fine for light data usage, but a bit slow at times.

Thanks for all the advice - very helpful

Don't know about 1 - but I'd like to know too!

As for 2 - I recommend T Mobile's $2 a day plan.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/pay- ... hone-plans

But you still need to get a t-mobile phone for this?

But you still need to get a t-mobile phone for this?

No, any unlocked phone will do. Certainly worked fine on my iPhone which is normally on O2 in the UK.

The $2 a day plan only gets you 2G data but I found it perfectly fine for using the internet. Of course if you intend to use tons of data - downloading videos or watching live TV for instance, it probably won't be enough but for what the OP needs it for it should be absolutely fine.

I'm going to be trying T-Mobiles $3 a day plan when I'm in NYC next, but any idea how long the SIM remains active when not in use?

90 days from refill, unless you refill by $100, which gives you a year.

I should correct what I said earlier about 3G coverage. Today I had 3G in Chelsea and other bits of Manhattan, to my surprise. I also had it at JFK.

I should correct what I said earlier about 3G coverage. Today I had 3G in Chelsea and other bits of Manhattan, to my surprise. I also had it at JFK.

Got to say, that is unusual ii)

Perhaps with the damage that Sandy did, they actually decided to fully repair a few cell towers while they were bringing the city back to normal.

http://airportal.de/ is the site which maps the tmobile iPhone 3G coverage.

Got to say, that is unusual ii)

I was so surprised I captured proof:

photo - Copy.PNG (172.44 KiB) Viewed 5182 times

AT&T and T-Mobile are sharing 2G and 3G towers with no roaming charges at the moment in NY and NJ.