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Comment by rdouble | Hacker News Reader

Also like the fact that I can use the GSM iPhone internationally.

The AT&T iPhone has been a disappointment for international travel. The international data plan is a terrible deal, and it seems to be impossible to carrier unlock without also jailbreaking. Jailbreak is not a great option if you're an app developer as the jailbreak ties the phone to a specific OS version, and you generally want the latest, or even a beta OS installed. If you want to use local SIMs, your only real option is to buy a phone factory unlocked from somewhere like Singapore. If you know of a way to carrier unlock without jailbreaking, let me know!

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Infographic of countries with factory-unlocked iPhones and their prices: http://www.cutviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/02081001....

Cheapest:

#1 Hong Kong

#2 Singapore

#3 Canada

#4 Switzerland

Looks like the all the iPhones have the same radios. So, if an unlocked iPhone doesn't work on 3G with your current carrier (i.e. T-Mobile in the US), then you won't be able to find an iPhone anywhere that does.

From the Apple site (I verified with the top 4 cheapest countries):

* 3G Support: UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)

* 2G Support: GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

Excuse me, I misspoke (mis-wrote?) ... I meant to write that I could -- theoretically -- use the iPhone internationally. In fact precisely because of the exorbitant costs, I have rarely ever done so, and any event, never for anything other than text messaging.

I just meant that at least, being a GSM phone, the capability is available. I didn't even realize Verizon had global phones -- how does that work? Are they dual band CDMA / GSM? -- so thank you for sharing this with me. Time to rescind that entire last clause of what I wrote it looks like. :)

Would edit that previous post but I guess after a certain time edits are not possible(?).

Yes, Verizon sells dual-band phones. I have a Blackberry from Verizon for work, and it's CDMA/GSM, with the GSM specifically for international roaming.

Agreed. You can buy an unlocked iPhone in Canada, which may be more convenient for you.

I did some research into this, and seems like Hong Kong and Singapore are the least expensive. Canada is not too bad if you're in the USA (I'm in Australia.)

Buying an unlocked iPhone in Canada is probably easier.

I want to echo that the AT&T iPhone is hugely disappointing when traveling internationally due to the outrageous cost of AT&T's roaming plans. Data is prohibitively expensive. Think $1 per megabyte (not a typo, mega-byte). That's $200 for 200 MB or $2,000 for 2 GB. Voice calls are usually $1 per minute. You're pretty much stuck with a very pretty machine that sends $0.50 text messages.

Even if you get an unlocked phone, you will most likely only be able to get a voice+text SIM card when traveling. Especially in Europe, only full blown plans included any amount of data. And every damn country requires a new SIM. Absolutely painful and honestly not that valuable. You might just gain ever so slightly cheaper calls and texts to local phones, and absolutely nothing if you want to call back home.

Verizon Global phones, on the other hand, are amazing. AMAZING! You pay $80 per month for unlimited data. Yes, UNLIMITED international data. And Verizon will prorate your fees for only the days that you travel and also discount you the cost of your existing data plan during these days. Otherwise it is the same as AT&T, but this is a HUGE difference.

If you travel and want to use data then Verizon is the way to go. You just need a Global phone, and unfortunately the iPhone isn't one of them.

I just traveled to The Netherlands on my hacked iPhone using T-Mobile, the text message I got was $15 a megabyte! 10 MB would cost me $150.

Phone calls are $1.29 a minute, and texts are $0.29 or $0.99 I haven't checked my bill yet.

Either way roaming is very expensive on T-Mobile. I am not sure why, T-Mobile owns the network I was on in The Netherlands as well!

> Even if you get an unlocked phone, you will most likely only be able to get a voice+text SIM card when traveling. Especially in Europe, only full blown plans included any amount of data.

This is totally untrue. I traveled to England last year with my Nexus One, bought a T-Mobile SIM card, and got unlimited data for a week for something absurd like £1 ($1.50) a day, after paying for the $20 SIM.

https://www.britishsims.com/T-Mobile_SIM.html

Totally untrue? So one country in Europe works therefore all the other countries do as well?

I would welcome more countries adding a plan like the one you described. But so far that's the only one I've seen.

By comparison the Verizon plan supports over 200 countries. You just go (after enabling Global Roaming, of course) and your phone recognizes the new towers automatically. You don't have to buy a new SIM card, hope this country's carrier has some kind of non-outrageous data plan, and so on.

I think SIM switching is works best for people who move to one place for reasonably long periods of time and know a decent number of local people they want to call/text. For example I know a few people who are from Taiwan who go back for a few months at a time to visit family. Getting a local SIM for those few months is really nice. But getting a SIM for France for a week then another SIM for Spain for three days and another SIM for Italy for a week. That's just a pain in the ass.

He is actually correct. You don't need to SIM switch within Europe. EU implemented laws a couple of years ago limiting roaming prices, so it is actually pretty reasonable to roam within the EU.

Check this wiki, it has a list of prepaid SIM cards that have internet packages for all European countries and more: http://prepaid-wireless-internet-access.wetpaint.com/

Yes totally untrue. Every country I've been to in europe has this kind of plans and in the last year I've used them in Spain, France, Bulgaria and uk.

In Spain all providers have prepaid SIM's and you can use the credit on data. The best option right now for a short stay is to get a SIM card at the supermarket from carrefour (which is also a mobile operator) and pay 1 euro per day for unlimited data (there's a minimum of 3e per month).

You pay 10 euros for the SIM preloaded with 10 euros so you can connect a whole week cheaply at 100mb/day (after that speed is reduced to 128k)

Same for Poland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany - prepaids with data are really cheap these days.

Thanks for the info on this - I'm looking to travel around Europe and need mobile data for work. Was pondering the best solution.

Yup - standard fare for Europe for a long time now... a totally foreign concept in north america.

It'e sasier for operators to not have to deal with contracts and billing and just deal with self-service through supermarkets and hole-in-the-wall cellular shops selling phones, sims, and refill cards than it is to deal with contracts and billing...

Even if you get an unlocked phone, you will most likely only be able to get a voice+text SIM card when traveling.

I haven't seen great deals, but all of the carriers in Australia now offer some sort of prepaid mobile data.

You can get rather cheap data without a contract in Germany, I'm using one for 5€/100MB right now.

Aldi Talk has 8e/1GB (although it runs on E-Plus which has spotty coverage outside cities).

Any roaming plan is stealing tons of money from you. The way to go is to just buy a local SIM card wherever you travel. Many come with a data plan too. It ends up much cheaper then roaming your own number around.

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