Canadian unable to buy AT&T Data Plan

[Denis54]

I am Canadian and just came back from a 2 weeks trip in the South West of the USA. I wanted to buy a Data Plan for my iPad 2 but all my attempts failed.

The Apple store in Las Vegas referred me to an AT&T store. The staff at the store was extremely helpful but they said right from the start that it is an hit and miss process. Unfortunately in my case all our attempts to activate my account failed. I tried 2 different Mastercard (one in US $, the other in cdn) and an AMEX cards and none of them was accepted by the AT&T system. We tried the cards with the store address, my hotel address and my Canadian address all without success.

I also bought a prepaid card at a nearby Target store and it was also rejected by the AT&T system.

Was I unlucky or is it always difficult/impossible for a non resident to activate a Data Plan?

I bought the 3G version in order of be able to activate it when I travel. I was quite disapointed and will think twice about buying the 3G version when I upgrade to an iPad 3

 

[t.nehpets]

Different result for me...

I am Canadian and just came back from a 2 weeks trip in the South West of the USA. I wanted to buy a Data Plan for my iPad 2 but all my attempts failed.

The Apple store in Las Vegas referred me to an AT&T store. The staff at the store was extremely helpful but they said right from the start that it is an hit and miss process. Unfortunately in my case all our attempts to activate my account failed. I tried 2 different Mastercard (one in US $, the other in cdn) and an AMEX cards and none of them was accepted by the AT&T system. We tried the cards with the store address, my hotel address and my Canadian address all without success.

I also bought a prepaid card at a nearby Target store and it was also rejected by the AT&T system.

Was I unlucky or is it always difficult/impossible for a non resident to activate a Data Plan?

I bought the 3G version in order of be able to activate it when I travel. I was quite disapointed and will think twice about buying the 3G version when I upgrade to an iPad 3

Based in Toronto, I keep a handful of SIM cards for the UK, Germany and USA.

After a call to AMEX, I added a US billing address and registered my iPad on AT&T. Since then I've had no problem at all activating and maintaining my account (including deactivating it!).

I can't see any area where you've gone wrong. All I can say (not very helpful) is it worked for me.

 

[Saberon]

As a fellow Canadian I understand your frustration. You must call your CC company and add a US based billing address for it to work at all. I tried it at an AT&T store and it failed so I called Visa on the spot and added a US address. It worked fine after that.

 

[iphoneuserinyyz]

I live in Canada and just returned from a trip to the USA. Before I left, I got a GoPhone microsim from ebay. I activated the microsim on the AT&T website using just an email address and my hotel's zipcode (I was able to leave the name and address fields blank) and 111111111 for the IMEI number field. I purchased an AT&T wireless refill card from www.callingmart.com and had no problem adding the money to my AT&T account online (callingmart.com provided the refill card serial number immediately upon purchase, which you can then use at the AT&T website to top up your account right away). This method does not depend on having a USA billing address, because callingmart.com accepts PayPal for payment. And if you are in a fee wifi area, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to purchase the refill on your phone from the callingmart.com website and then apply it immediately to your AT&T account (you can do this at the AT&T website (which works on the iPhone) or by dialling *888*PIN NUMBER#SEND from the iPhone once the activated microsim is inserted). Hope this helps!

(PS I have no affiliation with callingmart.com - just a customer who was very happy to circumvent AT&T's requirements to have a USA billing address).