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Foreign travelers with iPad on AT&T with international credit card - It Works!
- Thread starter Edmoil12
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You're most welcome, MCS. I was able to to squeeze every last Kbyte of data out of my 250MB plan reading/replyingnto your post before my flight took off - so you helped me maximize my usage of the plan
I'm now out of US but with AT&T microsim still installed I can still check the settings - the APN setting is "broadband" and username and password fields are blank
And just to clarify, before leaving Canada, I removed my local (Rogers) sim but did not manually change or delete the APN setting.
BTW - as you use up your data, you get both alert box warnings on the iPad and email warnings from AT&T. I got such messages with 12%, 9% and 1% data remaining. Then another set of messages when I was fully out of data. Also email confirmation when you cancel the plan.
- Popped in the SIM card (bought in advance from eBay seller "ipadsimshop".
- Turned off/on iPad.
- Used Canadian Amex with the address I was staying at.
Worked fine! Didn't even need to head over to an ATT store
- Turned off/on iPad.
- Used Canadian Amex with the address I was staying at.
Worked fine! Didn't even need to head over to an ATT store
Cool beans!
I saw in another thread someone got it to work in the US with a UK Visa card too. I'd go hunt the thread and link it here - but i'm on my way out the door to my parents house.... home of working AC unlike here where it hasn't worked since friday.
I saw in another thread someone got it to work in the US with a UK Visa card too. I'd go hunt the thread and link it here - but i'm on my way out the door to my parents house.... home of working AC unlike here where it hasn't worked since friday.
Post 44 of this thread is where I said I used a UK visa card. At first it said it failed but then instantly connected to the internet and I used 800megs in the 10 days I was there.
You can cancel the contract straight away to stop the payment going out again. Just don't choose the delete account option or it will stop working. There is a cancel and delete account later option. I actually deleted the account just before getting on the plane and it instantly stopped 3G.
3G or not 3G?
Thinking about buying ipad and hoping it will replace taking laptop to Florida. I am concerned about problems everyone seems to be having with getting sim cards from AT &T and with Canadian credit card issues.
We are going to be near Marco Island and I am concerned about how easy it will be to get to AT & T store.
Finally are any Canadians accessing sympatico through their ipads? I hear there might be problems with the email.
Thinking about buying ipad and hoping it will replace taking laptop to Florida. I am concerned about problems everyone seems to be having with getting sim cards from AT &T and with Canadian credit card issues.
We are going to be near Marco Island and I am concerned about how easy it will be to get to AT & T store.
Finally are any Canadians accessing sympatico through their ipads? I hear there might be problems with the email.
Maybe a solution??
This sounds similar to the problem of using Visa & MC at gas pumps in the USA. The solution for the credit cards at the pumps we discovered last winter after traveling 4000 km and having to get card authorized before pumping.....OK I am getting to it.
The answer is simple: parse the numbers from your credit card billing address and add two zeros eg. K7L 3T2 = 73200
I have purchased an iPad 2 but will not return to the USA until this fall and will attempt to register with AT&T at that time so I am very interested if somebody uses this technique.
This sounds similar to the problem of using Visa & MC at gas pumps in the USA. The solution for the credit cards at the pumps we discovered last winter after traveling 4000 km and having to get card authorized before pumping.....OK I am getting to it.
The answer is simple: parse the numbers from your credit card billing address and add two zeros eg. K7L 3T2 = 73200
I have purchased an iPad 2 but will not return to the USA until this fall and will attempt to register with AT&T at that time so I am very interested if somebody uses this technique.
What a joke, I can't believe AT&T stores are charging for SIMs.
I have a stack of them at home in case I ever need a new one. All the big ones with the pop out microSIM. They cost me nothing. I just walked into the Apple Store and asked. I've also grabbed a bunch at my 2 local AT&T stores, they don't seem to care. They hand em out like candy.
I have a stack of them at home in case I ever need a new one. All the big ones with the pop out microSIM. They cost me nothing. I just walked into the Apple Store and asked. I've also grabbed a bunch at my 2 local AT&T stores, they don't seem to care. They hand em out like candy.
amex at&t
hi
i was going to use att sim card, does a canadian amex card still work when ordering data for ipad
regards mark
hi
i was going to use att sim card, does a canadian amex card still work when ordering data for ipad
regards mark
I've done it twice now while in Florida and it worked no problem, using my Canadian AMEX card. I used the address of the place I was staying at.
I went to a local AT&T store and told them I had an iPad and they gave me a free sim card. You might have to ask for that though, because the first guy was going to charge me for the card and the manager told him no, it's free.
Thanks for the info. I just purchased a card from eBay and will use my Canadian Amex card to activate. My question is, can you activate in Canada? or are you doing it once you hit state side. Further, I a little confused about canceling the data plan at the airport. Any info is appreciated. Thanks
I've never tried activating it while still in Canada. If you're connected to wifi, that might work.
Before you leave the US, you should cancel the data plan so that you don't get billed on a monthly basis. You can cancel at anytime in the settings menu.
Really useful thread all. I visit NYC frequently as my partner is living there for the year. I'll be looking to purchase an iPad 3 over Easter and just wanted to ascertain that there shouldn't be any issues buying a US iPad for UK use. I'll probably be going on a long road trip in August when I'll use the iPad with an AT&T data plan, but it doesn't sound like there are any issues swapping SIM cards between counties.
To confirm, I should buy the AT&T 3G iPad and not Verizon for use in the UK? We don't have Verizon cell band networks in the UK so I'm a little confused by them.
All feedback appreciated. Cheerio.
To confirm, I should buy the AT&T 3G iPad and not Verizon for use in the UK? We don't have Verizon cell band networks in the UK so I'm a little confused by them.
All feedback appreciated. Cheerio.
Just want to bring this back up.
I have activated the AT&T data plan on the iPad2 while in Canada and then drove down. I was not charged any extra. It was the 3G for $30 plan.
I was connected to wifi at home, but I turned on the cellular data, went into the prompts. I had to setup a new account as I had last used the account back in October.
I used my Canadian Amex card, but used a US address, including the postal code for the billing info. I have used 2 different addresses, one on the west coast and one on the east cost and they both work with the same sim card.
Previously, I tried to use one of those prepaid Visa cards but with no luck. I was probably doing it wrong, but I spent an hour at a Starbucks entering and re-entering the info and trying various addresses. I bought 2 Visa cards, one from WalMart and one from Walgreens. Ended up just using them for food.
I am waiting to hear the official word on hotspot capability from AT&T and the new iPad with LTE.
Does it just seem to be Canadian Amex cards that are not checked as I was wondering if my UK Amex card would work?
which would be a better american service with it, at&t, etc... so it will work better here in canada
Not sure about UK Amex, maybe other UK residents can respond. My guess it would be fine as it seems AT&T only does some verification with just Visa cards for US residency.
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Shouldn't be a problem. Just get the AT&T version, this will be compatible to Rogers and Bell/Telus.
AT&T iPad Plan Activation for non-US customers
I have a blog post that discusses this, although this forum thread already has most of the info that my blog post does:
http://jasonbelsey.com/2012/03/how-foreigners-can-activate-an-att-sim-on-ipad/
American Express has a centralized system, compared to Visa/MC which is decentralized to the issuing banks, so even if your AT&T activation doesn't pass the billing address verification test, you can phone AmEx to add any US address as an alternate billing address (even if your AmEx account is from the UK or Canada, etc) to force it to pass those tests using a US address.
The easiest way for a non-US resident to activate an AT&T iPad Plan is to use a prepaid gift card (Visa/MC/AmEx) that does not require a SSN to activate the gift card (many do, for money-laundering prevention and tax purposes) and does not require you to register an address.
The prepaid iPad SIM can also be used in an unlocked iPhone BTW. I use mine in my iPhone with a VoIP app like Fongo or TextPlus to make cheap or free data calls when traveling.
I have a blog post that discusses this, although this forum thread already has most of the info that my blog post does:
http://jasonbelsey.com/2012/03/how-foreigners-can-activate-an-att-sim-on-ipad/
American Express has a centralized system, compared to Visa/MC which is decentralized to the issuing banks, so even if your AT&T activation doesn't pass the billing address verification test, you can phone AmEx to add any US address as an alternate billing address (even if your AmEx account is from the UK or Canada, etc) to force it to pass those tests using a US address.
The easiest way for a non-US resident to activate an AT&T iPad Plan is to use a prepaid gift card (Visa/MC/AmEx) that does not require a SSN to activate the gift card (many do, for money-laundering prevention and tax purposes) and does not require you to register an address.
The prepaid iPad SIM can also be used in an unlocked iPhone BTW. I use mine in my iPhone with a VoIP app like Fongo or TextPlus to make cheap or free data calls when traveling.