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Apple SIM Cellular Data Plans Now Available in Over 90 Countries

commodorepet said:
No Japan :(
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What about Kazakhstan?

Guaranteed Apple does not like the current att/verizon, O2 or whomever etc. data structure set up.

They will replace these overchargers and limiters (and overcharge and limit themselves:)

Good first step.

This, plus the google wifi network and it's all good!
 
GigSky. Screenshot says enough.
 

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If you're from the USA and plan to travel, nothing beats T-Mobile. No roaming charges for data & text. Calls are 20¢. Family member went to Argentina & Costa Rica with NO additional charges at all. AND the data was not throttled; even FaceTime worked great. Companions were not prepared and everyone was borrowing our iPhone to text and FaceTime.

If you don't have T-Mo, just buy a local pre-paid SIM. Much cheaper.
 
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yg17 said:
Yeah, it's pretty expensive. Looked at New Zealand since I'm going there soon. GigSky is $50 USD for 500 MB. Spark NZ (local carrier) is $10 USD for 500 MB.

Haven't looked at any other countries yet. But this thing is a ripoff.
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I was in australia this year and paid $35 AUD (~$27USD) for 4GB of tablet data plan on my iPhone from Vodafone because I did not have a need to make any calls, FaceTime, iMessage and WhatsApp was sufficient for all my communication needs as everyone I know there had a iPhone, coverage was amazing. This GigSky is a rip off, they are trying to be the Apple of worldwide data plans....$50USD for 500MB is a joke.

I understand if the plans were truly worldwide, but the fact they are limited to each country, its purely gouging consumers.

I will never take part in this, rater stick to getting local SIM's during future travel as its cheaper than this "convenience tax". I'm surprised Apple even bothered to team up with such a company....why not team up with T-Mobile instead as they offer "Unlimited 2G Data and Unlimited Texting in 120 countries + $0.20/minute" to their customers so why not put a price on it for travelers that are non-customers.
I would pay $30-$50 just for that to roam as I am not a T-Mobile customer currently, it would be enough data to get around and using a maps service, whatsapp, check emails etc.
 
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Allthings-I said:
I was in australia this year and paid $35 AUD (~$27USD) for 4GB of tablet data plan on my iPhone from Vodafone, coverage was amazing. This GigSky is a rip off, they are trying to be the Apple of worldwide data plans....$50USD for 500MB is a joke.

I understand if the plans were truly worldwide, but the fact they are limited to each country, its purely gouging consumers.

I will never take part in this, rater stick to getting local SIM's during future travel as its cheaper than this "convenience tax". I'm surprised Apple even bothered to team up with such a company....why not team up with T-Mobile instead as they offer "Unlimited 2G Data and Unlimited Texting in 120 countries + $0.20/minute" to their customers so why not put a price on it for travelers that are non-customers.
I would pay $30-$50 just for that to roam as I am not a T-Mobile customer currently, it would be enough data to get around and using a maps service, whatsapp, check emails etc.
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Thanks - where'd you get the SIM at? I'll be in Oz too and will need a SIM. Hoping I can grab one at the Sydney Airport.
 
BeefCake 15 said:
Yeah good luck penetrating that market. Verizon, ATT and Sprint will never do a deal with Apple on this...
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Agreed, but Dish might with all of that bandwidth that pretty much covers all of NA. And, there's that 600MHz auction early next year - Apple could outbid any of the cellcos by billions and not even miss the cash, then buy one of the cellcos for their expertise and licensing.

Like lincolntran wrote, this could be the beginning of the Apple cell network. I'd bet that at least one of the US cellco CEOs won't sleep well for the rest of the week... :evilgrin:
 
yg17 said:
Thanks - where'd you get the SIM at? I'll be in Oz too and will need a SIM. Hoping I can grab one at the Sydney Airport.
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I got it from a Vodafone Store in a Mall just outside of Melbourne, under a family members name on the day I landed. It was cheaper and got me 1GB more data vs Prepaid. On my way out I handed the payment + SIM back to my relative at the airport to close the account.

We were out of the store with the SIM within 10minutes.
 
bushido said:
lol insane. may as well just keep your own sim in.
Click to expand...

Shame Indonesia isn't in the listed countries, I pay 6 Euro for 3 GB, GigSky would probably charge 50 Euros for 1 GB. :eek:
SIM cards are easy to get nowadays, some people are just too stupid/lazy/rich as @yg17 said so nicely a few posts ago.
People should do their homework before they go, it's a 5 minutes job to google for cheap Data plans anywhere around the world.
 
Thunderhawks said:
Guaranteed Apple does not like the current att/verizon, O2 or whomever etc. data structure set up.

They will replace these overchargers and limiters (and overcharge and limit themselves:)
Click to expand...
Not anytime soon. They'll first need spectrum licenses and a nationwide cellular infrastructure. That takes years and many billions to build. Not to mention that they have no expertise in running large mobile networks. Buying one of the big carriers would be prohibitively expensive even for Apple (e.g. Verizon's market cap is around $200 billion).
 
This is crazy expensive :-O

I pay like 25$ and I have 15 GB's of data, free sms, free mms and i have unlimited calling and I can use it in most of europe, Hong Kong and more :-O
 
Actually, it would be nice if Apple spearheaded going to a virtual sim. (would certainly help in their efforts to make all of their devices water resistant - along with putting cellular capabilities in the Apple Watch). Especially in the watch - real estate is at FAR too much of a premium to give up the space for a physical sim.
The virtual sim's could be encrypted tokens that are provided by the wireless carriers. Apple could also broker what roaming capabilities should be allowed (which is what they're doing here with the data sims).
Considering most carriers are actually running native VoIP, why are we still paying for voice plans??? (because it's all gravy, that's why).

btw...you all know that the carriers don't charge each other for roaming, right? (they learned long ago that the expense of putting in such a system far outweighed what the delta would be). Yep, that's right - roaming is GRAVY for the carriers. :) (warm fuzzies all around) :D
 
When traveling abroad, facetime audio or google voice will work with a data plan. We are not 100% there yet, but using data for calls and eliminating the "cell" calls is coming (less than 5 years). As the telco's become commodities, this approach makes sense. Have a universal SIM that allows me to switch as needed. Clearly the price point here is not very competitive and telco's like ATT are restricting the use of these SIM cards. However, the technology is almost ready for primetime. I would love to purchase a plan from a vendor that has contracts with multiple Telcos and switches me to whatever tower has the strongest connection regardless of telco.

Apple could sell these plans through the store and collect their usual 30%.

This is just another (small) step in this direction.
 
This is such a rip off! I am in Portugal now and I bought 10 gigabytes for 10 Euros. You will find similair prices all over Europe with a prepaid plan. Most monthly plans in Europe now have unlimited LTE - like I have with my Ipad Air 2.
 
katbel said:
Did you look at the prices?! Not competitive at all!
I'm Canadian and when I go to the States I pay 25$ for 1 gb per 3 months
Click to expand...
please do tell what service you use. neither rogers nor bell offer anything even close to that rate.

also, many people mention getting local sims when traveling. don't know how it is in other countries but in Germany you can't get a local sim unless you are a resident of Germany. I had to ask my German friend to get one for me when I was in Germany last summer. it's pretty cheap but the reception and data speed are terrible.
 
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Initially was disappointed but unsurprised that it's unavailable for Japan. I'm there 6 times/year and the data does add up, even thought I can expense it.

Then I noticed it's about the same price as AT&T International Roaming Package. Meh.

I'll use a local SIM in other countries, but Japan makes this very difficult. And for a place supposedly on top of tech, wifi there is less easy to access than one might think (but better this past year).
 
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What I'm wondering is if I buy a subsidized phone from a company, then insert Apple SIM in BEFORE inserting the carrier SIM, will it stay unlocked? What I understand (I could be wrong), but phones do not become locked until the carrier sim is installed. Just a thought.
 
Archer1440 said:
Initially was disappointed but unsurprised that it's unavailable for Japan. I'm there 6 times/year and the data does add up, even thought I can expense it.

Then I noticed it's about the same price as AT&T International Roaming Package. Meh.

I'll use a local SIM in other countries, but Japan makes this very difficult. And for a place supposedly on top of tech, wifi there is less easy to access than one might think (but better this past year).
Click to expand...

I'm trying eConnect for the first time, renting a Wimax WiFi hot-spot. Ordered a couple of weeks in advance to get the best discount. Working OK so far. On a non-SIM carrier here in the US, so a SIM rental wouldn't work anyway.
Microsoft also now allows you to use Skype minutes via a number of public Wifi spots (that are otherwise non-free). I usually use Line for chatting with friends anyway, and I get a dumb-phone from work for local calls while in Japan. On the plus side, leaving your phone in airplane mode (WiFi on) does wonders for battery life...
 
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