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Jailbroke iPhone for European SIM card

K

katielain555

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 10, 2010
5
0
Hello,

We are traveling to Europe and heard from people that we could jailberak our iPhones and take them to a European phone store, be able to buy a SIM card, and put it in to use our phones as if we were on a European cell plan.

Does anybody know anything about this? How does it work - using European SIM cards in a US iPhone? Do you need to pay for both your US cell plan and a European cell plan?

Thanks for your help.
Katie
 
You first need to JB the iphone and then unlock it.
An unlocked phone can be used with any simcard in the world.
When you stick a local prepaid sim for example it will use that simcards minutes instead of using your AT&T simcard and charging you international rates and costing an arm and a leg.
When you take your AT&T sim out you dont pay for anything cause obviously the phone is not using AT&T's network but the other simcards european network.
 
If you're vacationing, go to a provider in the country you're in and tell them you want to buy a pay as you go SIM. When you need a top off, you can pretty much go anywhere--post office, grocery store, etc.--and add money to your pay as you go.
If your iPhone is jailbroken and unlocked, you'll be able to drop in the SIM card of any provider. I suggest you test it at the store, just in case you get a bad SIM. This happened to me while I was in London.
While you're on vacation, you'll still need to pay your monthly fee to AT&T. There's no way around that.
If you're moving there permanently, then you'll need to cancel your AT&T contract before you leave. If you just got the phone, make sure you've had it for 30 days before cancelling. Otherwise, you'll have to return the phone. If you've had it for longer than 30 days and are on contract, you'll be required to pay the ETF.

katielain555 said:
Does anybody know anything about this? How does it work - using European SIM cards in a US iPhone? Do you need to pay for both your US cell plan and a European cell plan?

Thanks for your help.
Katie
Click to expand...
 
Thank you - now unlocking...

Thanks for the advice. I have jailbroken my iPhone at jailbreakme.com, then I downloaded ultrasnow through Cydia to unlock the phone.

But I don't see ultrasnow on the phone. How can I tell if it's unlocked? Does having Cydia mean that it's jailbroken? Are there other steps I need to take to get it unlocked so that I can use a European SIM?

Again, thank you thank you thank you.

Katie
 
katielain555 said:
Thanks for the advice. I have jailbroken my iPhone at jailbreakme.com, then I downloaded ultrasnow through Cydia to unlock the phone.

But I don't see ultrasnow on the phone. How can I tell if it's unlocked? Does having Cydia mean that it's jailbroken? Are there other steps I need to take to get it unlocked so that I can use a European SIM?

Again, thank you thank you thank you.

Katie
Click to expand...

You won't see anything.
If you open up cydia go to manage/packages and if ultrasnow is listed there then your iPhone is unlocked. It will now accept any sim.
 
My cousin just did this when she traveled to the Azores. Installed ultrasn0w on her 3G prior to leaving and the agent at the place she bought her SIM card knew exactly what she was doing. Worked like a charm.
 
katielain555 said:
Are there other steps I need to take to get it unlocked so that I can use a European SIM?
Click to expand...

Depends, which iPhone do you have? The iPhone4 uses a MicroSIM, I'm not sure if these are available for prepaid yet. I am going to Italy next month and I have actually asked a friend over there who is a bit of a computer geek. I myself would rather use my iPhone4 with a PAYG MicroSIM rather than my old 3G which uses the ubiquitous SIM card. :)
 
bytethese said:
Depends, which iPhone do you have? The iPhone4 uses a MicroSIM, I'm not sure if these are available for prepaid yet. I am going to Italy next month and I have actually asked a friend over there who is a bit of a computer geek. I myself would rather use my iPhone4 with a PAYG MicroSIM rather than my old 3G which uses the ubiquitous SIM card. :)
Click to expand...

You can always cut a regural sim to microsim size.
 
Data plan in Europe

If I buy a European SIM card for my phone, will that just allow me voice, no data? For example, I was hoping to have access to the GPS feature and email.

Also, I have asked AT&T to put a 'suspend' on my phone while I'm there... that way I am paying them $10/mo for my phone. Will I still be able to use the phone overseas with one of their SIM cards if I have it suspended here with AT&T?

thank yoU!!
 
katielain555 said:
If I buy a European SIM card for my phone, will that just allow me voice, no data? For example, I was hoping to have access to the GPS feature and email.

Also, I have asked AT&T to put a 'suspend' on my phone while I'm there... that way I am paying them $10/mo for my phone. Will I still be able to use the phone overseas with one of their SIM cards if I have it suspended here with AT&T?

thank yoU!!
Click to expand...

You are very confused.
If you suspend your AT&T account you will not be able to use your AT&T simcard or your US number at all untill you call them to enable it again. You suspend the number on that US simcard not the iphone.
When you get a simcard in europe it will have a different local phone number and when you use the phone you will be using that carriers network and be making calls thru the new number.
You will have to ask when you go there about data packages. They will probably offer sims with a set amount of data also included along with the minutes.
 
To the OP, there are a lot of options for you here in Europe/UK. Many of the pay as you go SIM cards offered here allow you to put money on the card for you to use anyway you like -- data, voice or txt. Each type of usage carries its own rate and when you use up the money on the card, you'll have to "top up" if you want to continue using your phone.

I'm on Rogers in Canada and am over in Jersey, Channel Islands, for work. I JBed & unlocked my phone before I left, put it in airplane mode so I wouldn't pay any roaming charges, and when I landed, I simply put 5 GBP on a pay as you go SIM, popped it in and worked like a charm. I pay 1p/MB of data, 7p/txt, and some ridiculous amount/min of international calling.

Shop around the carriers and be sure to check out their local versus roaming rates and their local versus international calling. Rates vary a lot.
 
I don't think you understand what a SIM card is. Each SIM carries a specific phone number and all the relevant carrier data. For example, if you had two SIM cards--yours and a friend's from T-Mobile--you'll have two different numbers and information for two different carriers.
Your iphone doesn't know what carrier it is on or what its phone number is until you put a SIM card in. Once you take out the AT&T SIM and put in the foreign SIM, your phone cannot send data to AT&T. Your only connection to AT&T is your bill.
One way to double check if ultrasnow is installed is to go to the actual program. If you see install in the upper right hand corner, ultrasnow has not been installed. When it's installed, it'll have something like modify in the upper right hand corner. You can always press that button again and reinstall if you need some reassurance. I do it, because I'm a little anal retentive. :eek:

katielain555 said:
Also, I have asked AT&T to put a 'suspend' on my phone while I'm there... that way I am paying them $10/mo for my phone. Will I still be able to use the phone overseas with one of their SIM cards if I have it suspended here with AT&T?
Click to expand...
 
Thank you all!!

I was very very confused. Thank you all for explaining it so thoroughly, I understand it now.
 
Mhaddy said:
...
I simply put 5 GBP on a pay as you go SIM, popped it in and worked like a charm. I pay 1p/MB of data, 7p/txt, and some ridiculous amount/min of international calling...
Click to expand...
Which provider was that one with? 1p/MB sounds pretty good.

Thanks ... Mike
 
katielain555 said:
If I buy a European SIM card for my phone, will that just allow me voice, no data? For example, I was hoping to have access to the GPS feature and email.

Also, I have asked AT&T to put a 'suspend' on my phone while I'm there... that way I am paying them $10/mo for my phone. Will I still be able to use the phone overseas with one of their SIM cards if I have it suspended here with AT&T?

thank yoU!![/QUOTE
There is no such thing as a European SIM card. Each country in Europe has multiple GSM Carriers and some are more flexible at providing pay and go service than others. If you pick up a SIM from O2 or Vodafone in London and travel to France with it you will be subject to roaming charges just like if you were using the ATT card. You have to look at each country individually and be prepared to deal with some less flexible vendors that may require a local address or credit card.
There are also a lot of re-sellers in Europe in addition to the carriers for example there is a company called LEBARA Mobile http://www.lebara-mobile.co.uk/en/ that offers some very cheap rates and free SIMS out of London.
Click to expand...
 
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