Traveling to China

[hoplite67]

I'm going to China next week for three weeks. I was planning on buying a Chinese SIM card and paying for minutes there. But it just occurred to me that my iPhone may not recognize a Chinese SIM card. Do I need to jailbreak it in order for this plan to work? Is it possible to call AT&T and have them remedy my situation so I can use the phone in China?

And if I do need to jailbreak it, can someone point me in the right direction so I know the best way to go about this? I have a 3G running the 3.0 software.

 

[Tallest Skil]

Phones aren't allowed to have Wi-Fi there, so I don't know what trouble you'll run into other than just your SIM card...

Jailbreaking has nothing to do with being able to use a carrier to which you are not locked. That's unlocking.

 

[medgirl2001]

Your iPhone is locked to AT&T, and they won't unlock it to use another SIM. They will for any other phone, but not the iPhone. You will have to jailbreak/unlock it to use a foreign SIM.

 

[dave006]

Phones aren't allowed to have Wi-Fi there, so I don't know what trouble you'll run into other than just your SIM card...

Jailbreaking has nothing to do with being able to use a carrier to which you are not locked. That's unlocking.

Third vote for a need for you to "Unlock" your iPhone to use any other SIM than an AT&T SIM. Swing by the Hacking forum https://forums.macrumors.com/forums/105/

The WiFi capability of your iPhone is not a problem. You just can't buy a phone in China for the "China" market with WiFi. Also you should note that WiFi is not available everywhere in China. Many internet cafe's and Starbucks have WiFi but there are many restrictions and some major sites are blocked in China.

You will be able to buy a Pre-paid SIM in China, there are several options and most are based on what part of China you will be visiting. You get a SIM, a local China phone number and a card to recharge the SIM balance. You can pick a pre-paid SIM at the Airport once you arrive in China. Just make sure that you test your iPhone is unlocked before you go, you can just borrow a friends T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile SIM.

Dave