International travel

[debbieb]

I will be traveling to Peru in January and would like to take my iPad to keep in touch with home. What do I need to do to make this work as far as a service provider? Can I just purchase a Sim card there?

 

[garretruh]

Unless you are jailbroken, then you can't just swap out the SIM card. And even if you are jailbroken, you should first confirm the cell technology and frequencies that the Peruvian carriers use.

 

[anjinha]

Unless you are jailbroken, then you can't just swap out the SIM card. And even if you are jailbroken, you should first confirm the cell technology and frequencies that the Peruvian carriers use.

Not true. The iPad is not locked to a carrier.

Yes, you should be able to just buy a SIM card. Although the iPad takes MicroSIM cards so you should check if they offer those.

 

[poloponies]

The iPad has been available in Peru since September so it's likely that they've figured out the micro SIM issue already. And as the last poster pointed out, there is no problem in using foreign SIM cards (jailbreaking is not necessary), as long as they're micro SIMS (or standard SIMs cut to size).

 

[anjinha]

The iPad has been available in Peru since September so it's likely that they've figured out the micro SIM issue already. And as the last poster pointed out, there is no problem in using foreign SIM cards (jailbreaking is not necessary), as long as they're micro SIMS (or standard SIMs cut to size).

Ok, cool, I wasn't sure if the iPad was available there. We still don't have it here.

 

[mshepherd]

My parents took theirs to Germany from the US this summer and were able to just get a SIM from the iPad service provider over there. It was about $30 for a month of service while they were there. Only tricky part is they want a mailing address tied to the account(they used a friends address over there). I bet in the future service providers will start to sell prepaid cards for the ipad that don't require setting up a real account.

 

[KevinC867]

My parents took theirs to Germany from the US this summer and were able to just get a SIM from the iPad service provider over there. It was about $30 for a month of service while they were there. Only tricky part is they want a mailing address tied to the account(they used a friends address over there). I bet in the future service providers will start to sell prepaid cards for the ipad that don't require setting up a real account.

Yes, that part varies a lot from country to country. I have used my iPad in Norway and in Turkey. In Norway, the most reasonable plan required the equivalent of a Norwegian Social Security number to create the account, so I had to have a relative purchase it for me. However, I could have purchased a considerably more expensive fully prepaid plan.

In Turkey, I simply needed to show my passport in order to purchase a reasonably priced plan. But, I did have to cut down a regular SIM because TurkCell didn't provide MicroSIMs. Apple wasn't selling the iPad in either country at the time, and I imagine that the availability of good non-contract plans will improve when the iPad is available in those countries.