Hi
My s2 is on contract with o2 and next month Im off on my honeymoon with the new Mrs Birdbox to California for 2 weeks
Was looking for some info on a few things really
Can I buy a unlimited (or high limit) sim for data while in the USA? I want to use the phone for Nav (I know the difference between GPS and GPRS!) and general google maps/tripadviser style exploring on foot/car.....I could cache the maps in lastest google maps I suppose but I havent tried that yet, any recommendations of a pre pay sim greatfully received and will I get Hsdpa or just gprs??
we are heading from San Francisco into Yosemite so wifi will be non existant - does anyone know about phone(cell!) service in the park??
We are then headed for Vegas - got the app for our hotel already ...we are then headed for Los Angeles...anyone recommend any good apps to play with on the way?? especially any map apps that download the map data to the phone
any other top tips (phone or not) for what will be trip of a lifetime would be great
thanks
BB
goto an at & t store, tell them you want a sim card for their new gophone package. its $50 a month for unlimited data, calls, text. However - it is not designed for androids. if android, they wanna charge you a **** ton extra.
basically just tell them you dont have your phone with you, and the one you do have is a really old nokia from england - not a smartphone but a feature phone.
tell them you want it for that.
then just put the sim in and away you go.
i'm from london and am living in usa right now, I just did that the other day with my unlocked s2 from uk.
Lol hes going on holiday why wood he want a contract? Im going on honeymoon to florida in sept so id like to no this also
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
its a package that is monthly and you can only do one month if you want... its like pay as you go...
unlimited mins, text (including international), and data for $50 is great even if he only goes there for 2 weeks.
Related
Hey guys, i wanted to ask your opinions on my current position, for choosing what contract and network provider i should go with.
Ok so heres what happenend:
I was going to go for the t mobile contract, which is 500 mins, 600 text, an option to choose a booster (which in this case I would choose the internet booster for unlimited internet) and a free 8 micro SD card. Also i have to pay about £30 up front. This is from phones4u online.
Now when I was going to cancel my current contract with orange, but they actually offered me a really good deal!! with the same minutes, with unlimited text, and 1GB of internet! plus give the phone free.
But they said the phone would available in a few weeks, which presume is June, as some of you guys already called orange and asked them already.
Now im not sure which contract to go with?
plus im not sure wat the mobile 3g internet is like with orange compared to to t-mobile.
thanks in regards
They are the same company now, but apparently T-mobile sucks for data, but peeps on here are actually rating orange, I recently did a test across differing networks for data, unfortunately I did not test T-Orange
Although after my test I concluded Voda was best but have ended up spending my money with 3 as they are the best hybrid of value for money and network performance.
Hi all - just looking for some feedback from UK members. Im out of contract on o2 now and interested in what people think of 'other' networks and their performance (especially data). I live north of London, will be moving on from Sim free HTC desire from cpwh. Kinda fancy vodafone over going with o2 again, not sure why! maybe because all this o2 advertising saying I can get a 12 month contract, yes I can, but I pay for the handset, thanks for the 8 years, £45 a month spend eh!!
Given a choice, what would you do and why??
Thanks in advance
birdbox said:
Hi all - just looking for some feedback from UK members. Im out of contract on o2 now and interested in what people think of 'other' networks and their performance (especially data). I live north of London, will be moving on from Sim free HTC desire from cpwh. Kinda fancy vodafone over going with o2 again, not sure why! maybe because all this o2 advertising saying I can get a 12 month contract, yes I can, but I pay for the handset, thanks for the 8 years, £45 a month spend eh!!
Given a choice, what would you do and why??
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your looking for high speed data go for 3. If your looking the best overall reception go for tmobile/orange they now share their networks. Then again I suspect you wont have many connection issues with 3 if you live in London.
just my 2 cents
rocketpaul said:
If your looking for high speed data go for 3. If your looking the best overall reception go for tmobile/orange they now share their networks. Then again I suspect you wont have many connection issues with 3 if you live in London.
just my 2 cents
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im on orange the orange/tmob is a pain in the butt!!! i get constant drops in signal as the fone determines which is the better signal, drops from orange finds tmob( but only gives u 2g tmob!!!) the drops and goes back to orange) since all the crap ive been havin ive manually set my fone to stay on orange, too much hassle and tmob isnt good coverage where i live (north west)
StickyGeko said:
im on orange the orange/tmob is a pain in the butt!!! i get constant drops in signal as the fone determines which is the better signal, drops from orange finds tmob( but only gives u 2g tmob!!!) the drops and goes back to orange) since all the crap ive been havin ive manually set my fone to stay on orange, too much hassle and tmob isnt good coverage where i live (north west)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, currently the T-mobile/Orange roaming is 2g only, hopefully though later this year they will bring out full 3g data roaming too, or even better join both networks under the same APN (which should prevent any problems with phones trying to jump between roaming and non-roaming).
Assuming il have my SGS for the next 18/24 months this prospect is one of the few things making me consider staying with T-Mobile.
cheers
Thanks guys, any one on vodafone to rate their data speeds?
I was in town this afternoon and dropped into the o2 shop, they had the advertising in the window, phone all powered up on display, went to the counter and asked if they had any in stock and after a few taps on the keyboard the assistant told me "no".....didnt offer any other info than "no"!! didnt offer up when they might have them, enquire to whether I wanted it sim free or new contract, just a "no" and went back to staring into the distance...one day I will meet a mobile phone salesperson who is actually bothered about their job and finding out what the person standing in front of them wants!
O2 PAYG £399 Network will be Giffgaff payg as it suits my needs .
jje
birdbox said:
Hi all - just looking for some feedback from UK members. Im out of contract on o2 now and interested in what people think of 'other' networks and their performance (especially data). I live north of London, will be moving on from Sim free HTC desire from cpwh. Kinda fancy vodafone over going with o2 again, not sure why! maybe because all this o2 advertising saying I can get a 12 month contract, yes I can, but I pay for the handset, thanks for the 8 years, £45 a month spend eh!!
Given a choice, what would you do and why??
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check out my recent thread, where I tested some of the UK networks for data transfer
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1054255
I just moved to Vodafone after being on o2 for the last 18 months. I have been with vodafone before, and round by me their coverage is the best by far.
As for data, your probs best going with 3 for their unlimted data plans, though I have heard their reception is pretty ropey. It all depends on whats best round where you live/work or spend most of your time.
I also heard that o2 throttle the data speeds, whereas Voda and 3 dont.
birdbox said:
Hi all - just looking for some feedback from UK members. Im out of contract on o2 now and interested in what people think of 'other' networks and their performance (especially data). I live north of London, will be moving on from Sim free HTC desire from cpwh. Kinda fancy vodafone over going with o2 again, not sure why! maybe because all this o2 advertising saying I can get a 12 month contract, yes I can, but I pay for the handset, thanks for the 8 years, £45 a month spend eh!!
Given a choice, what would you do and why??
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
whats the dealio with 12mth contract? what did they offer you? ive just gone for 1200 mins 500mb with o2 for £42... (£5 off online deal)
im on orange and can get a cheaper deal for the same package £35 at p4u... but every1 i know who has bought thru them have bad stories so steering clear and orange near me has recently gone down the pan... would have gone to 3 as their signal and speeds are awesome from the payngo i tried... but was declined, yet o2 accepted straight away... hey ho
Shaady said:
I just moved to Vodafone after being on o2 for the last 18 months. I have been with vodafone before, and round by me their coverage is the best by far.
As for data, your probs best going with 3 for their unlimted data plans, though I have heard their reception is pretty ropey. It all depends on whats best round where you live/work or spend most of your time.
I also heard that o2 throttle the data speeds, whereas Voda and 3 dont.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have voda released the sgs2 yet? aint seen it on voda other than cpw/mobs.co
hey guys, I'm gonna be visiting France for a month (I'm from the usa) so what's I'm wondering is what I can do for phone/data over there? what options does someone visiting for a month have? I know the airport will sell you a $.01/KB dataplan, that'll rape you after 5 minutes of web browsing.. are there any real options available in France?
I'm just looking for a sim
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
soraxd said:
hey guys, I'm gonna be visiting France for a month (I'm from the usa) so what's I'm wondering is what I can do for phone/data over there? what options does someone visiting for a month have? I know the airport will sell you a $.01/KB dataplan, that'll rape you after 5 minutes of web browsing.. are there any real options available in France?
I'm just looking for a sim
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course! Look for O2 or Orange. I believe both offer pre-paid SIMs with 500MB of data for only about $13(USD or ~10€). There will be loads of pre-paid plans to choose from, although they might charge 10€ for the SIM. If 500MBs not enough, you can always top it up (recharge or reload your plan). You can get them in almost any kiosk in any commercial district anywhere. It probably won't be enough to tether, and Skype home with video everyday but it should be plenty to check email/FB/XDA. Hell, it might even be enough to Skype a few times per week. Basically, the $.01/KB is a joke...steer clear, but you won't have a problem finding a reasonable prepay when you get to a major city.
What's your normal monthly data consumption like?
sean is here. said:
Of course! Look for O2 or Orange. I believe both offer pre-paid SIMs with 500MB of data for only about $13(USD or ~10€). There will be loads of pre-paid plans to choose from, although they might charge 10€ for the SIM. If 500MBs not enough, you can always top it up (recharge or reload your plan). You can get them in almost any kiosk in any commercial district anywhere. It probably won't be enough to tether, and Skype home with video everyday but it should be plenty to check email/FB/XDA. Hell, it might even be enough to Skype a few times per week. Basically, the $.01/KB is a joke...steer clear, but you won't have a problem finding a reasonable prepay when you get to a major city.
What's your normal monthly data consumption like?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks so much for the info
I want to be as minimal as possible on the trip, so I plan to only use data for Google maps, and maybe looking up hostels. I will do a little bit of phone calling, to a friend ill be staying with (very very little, only if we get separated), and probably no texting.
is there roaming in France?
soraxd said:
thanks so much for the info
I want to be as minimal as possible on the trip, so I plan to only use data for Google maps, and maybe looking up hostels. I will do a little bit of phone calling, to a friend ill be staying with (very very little, only if we get separated), and probably no texting.
is there roaming in France?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes there is roamimg in france.
Just avoid Orange and SFR, as they just are real crooks.
Try this : http://www.free.fr/adsl/index.html
They just started yesterday as the third national provider, and they really are cheaper. Do not hesitate, go FREE.
soraxd said:
thanks so much for the info
I want to be as minimal as possible on the trip, so I plan to only use data for Google maps, and maybe looking up hostels. I will do a little bit of phone calling, to a friend ill be staying with (very very little, only if we get separated), and probably no texting.
is there roaming in France?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem. There is roaming, but if you're staying in city centers it shouldn't be a problem. I have an SGS2 as well, just set it to not use data on the roam. If you buy an app called "GrooveIP" (I think it's like $3 or sth) you'll be able to make calls over your gVoice account via wifi or data, if you have one. I've been living in Germany for about 4 years (until a few months back, now I'm in the UK) and I still have a US landline so I can call mom in FL and sis in OR. You might also check for "What's App". It lets you send SMSs over the internet. So you'll be able to text back home for almost nothing.
I wasn't sure where to post this, but this seemed to make the most sense. Mods please move if needbe.
I currently have a Galaxy S3 Unlocked from Tmobile USA. I want to make sure its going to work on 3G in all the countries I will be going to.
In the Month of April I will be traveling to Southern Ireland, Paris France, Venice Italy and Rome Italy. Total Duration 2 weeks. 4 days in each location.
I am trying to make sure I will be covering all my bases here and not missing anything - data, coverage, compatibility etc.
For Ireland I have my eye set on Tesco due to their extremely aggressive pricing and plans. 25 Euros will get me 15gb of Data, 1c calls to the US, Free Tesco Wireless Calls & Text - so it seems like a no Brainer.
For the Resident Ireland individuals with Cell service - hows Tesco?
I am looking for only 100 mins or so in each location, unl text in that country, 500MB of data and a killer international rate for the US.
As of France and Italy I have no clue who to go with - Any suggestions would be very helpful!!
Thanks in advance.
The T-Mobile Galaxy S3 has a pentaband radio, so it supports virtually every GSM network(including 3G/4G data) in the world.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Mr.Mischief said:
The T-Mobile Galaxy S3 has a pentaband radio, so it supports virtually every GSM network(including 3G/4G data) in the world.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Woo Hoo!!! Thats awesome! And I thought I was gonna need to buy a nexus haha. Thanks!
I'm regularly moving back and forth between Ireland and France so here is my opinion.
Ireland -
Tesco or Lycamobile's plans are probably the best if you're looking for international plans. If you're looking for a plan for just Ireland, 3 is by far the best: free any network calls and texts on weekends, free texts to any network and free 3 to 3 calls all week and 16 GB internet for €20. FYI 3 supports FastDormancy(if you dont't know what this is, ignore it)
France -
http://mobile.free.fr
You might wanna use translate feature on Google Chrome on this site. FYI je m'incris is the button to click to subscribe.
Free Mobile is **BY FAR** the best value for any network. Free gives you unlimited calls to all French numbers, American and Canadian numbers(including Alaska, Hawaii and other American constituencies), free SMS/MMS to all French numbers and free landline calls to 40 different countries worldwide. The only slight pity is that you only get 3GB internet per month. However, you get all of this for €20 a month billed to your card so it's worth it. Just cancel the plan(no fee AFAIK) when you leave France. **YOU WILL GET CHARGED THE NORMAL AMOUNT FOR CALLS/MMS/SMS OUTSIDE YOUR PACKAGE**.
Alternatively, you could also use Lycamobile France if you don't like the credit card billing style of Free.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
rickoslyder said:
I'm regularly moving back and forth between Ireland and France so here is my opinion.
Ireland -
Tesco or Lycamobile's plans are probably the best if you're looking for international plans. If you're looking for a plan for just Ireland, 3 is by far the best: free any network calls and texts on weekends, free texts to any network and free 3 to 3 calls all week and 16 GB internet for €20. FYI 3 supports FastDormancy(if you dont't know what this is, ignore it)
France -
http://mobile.free.fr
You might wanna use translate feature on Google Chrome on this site. FYI je m'incris is the button to click to subscribe.
Free Mobile is **BY FAR** the best value for any network. Free gives you unlimited calls to all French numbers, American and Canadian numbers(including Alaska, Hawaii and other American constituencies), free SMS/MMS to all French numbers and free landline calls to 40 different countries worldwide. The only slight pity is that you only get 3GB internet per month. However, you get all of this for €20 a month billed to your card so it's worth it. Just cancel the plan(no fee AFAIK) when you leave France. **YOU WILL GET CHARGED THE NORMAL AMOUNT FOR CALLS/MMS/SMS OUTSIDE YOUR PACKAGE**.
Alternatively, you could also use Lycamobile France if you don't like the credit card billing style of Free.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi Rick, so that sounds great I think I'm going to stick with Tesco because I've already been working with them messaging back and forth on Facebook. it doesn't seem to be that much different then the other 1 you mentioned. As of france, the company called free sounds absolutely awesome. My only issue is how do I contact them to ask about getting a SIM card shipped to me, or if there is a store where I can buy everything? Does anyone speak English?
why did you post in General?
EyeAndroid said:
hi Rick, so that sounds great I think I'm going to stick with Tesco because I've already been working with them messaging back and forth on Facebook. it doesn't seem to be that much different then the other 1 you mentioned. As of france, the company called free sounds absolutely awesome. My only issue is how do I contact them to ask about getting a SIM card shipped to me, or if there is a store where I can buy everything? Does anyone speak English?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything is on the provided website. Just click on "Je m'incris" and continue using the Translate feature on Google Chrome. I don't think there's many(if any) stores around.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
rickoslyder said:
Everything is on the provided website. Just click on "Je m'incris" and continue using the Translate feature on Google Chrome. I don't think there's many(if any) stores around.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I know I wont quite as good a deal with these guys but the english is really helping me feel a whole lot more comfortable. http://www.lefrenchmobile.com/en/tariffs-sim-card-cheap-international-calls-from-france.html. They say their customer service is also 100% catered to Americans with English Pay as you go plans.
I tried the google translate option on Free's site but they have alot of pre printed pictures in french & so it only translates half the site. Also the fact that I'd have to worry about needing to cancel it before I leave so they wont re run my card is too much of a hassle. With 6 plane changes, 6 hotels attractions & the subway - I have enough to worry about. I appreciate your suggestion though.
Does anyone have any recommendations for Italy?!?
EyeAndroid said:
...
I am looking for only 100 mins or so in each location, unl text in that country, 500MB of data and a killer international rate for the US.
..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In most places in Europe you can get very good deals for prepaid SIM plans - Tesco seems to be good in UK/IRL and I know of very good prices with ALDI towards Germany.
The ESSENTIAL points for you would be:
- be 100% certain that your phone is unlocked - test it well in advance!
- plan carefully on how you are going to get the SIMs on your initial travel - if the SIM will only arrive at your hotel in the 3rd day of your 4-day stay it will be of little use!
- also it might be a small advantage if you will know your new phone numbers (one for each SIM, with the international country prefix in front) in advance - that way people that must call you during those specific days will already know what numbers to call
I'm headed to Germany sometime next year for a couple of weeks for business. I really do not want to pay the ridiculous rates Sprint is charging.
I don't really call much, but I text and use a ton of data.
I am wondering if I would be able to put another SIM card in it and have it work over there, if there are any other alternatives, or if I should just get a prepaid mobile phone once over there.