traveling to Greece with original iphone

[psywzrd]

My sister is leaving for Greece tomorrow for a couple of weeks and I'm trying to help her figure out a way for her to keep in touch with her business, me, etc. while she's over there. I was thinking about giving her my old iphone 2G to use but I'm not sure how she would use it. I know that she can use google voice but that would require wifi OR she would have to purchase a local prepaid sim when she got to Greece so that she doesn't have to rely on wifi. She doesn't really want/need a local # while she's there though so having a US # makes more sense.

Is there a cheap option for her where she can just get a temporary US# so that she can make calls to (and receive calls from) the US while she's over there?

Does Straight Talk or any such company offer a viable option for this situation? The iphone isn't unlocked but I'm pretty sure I can unlock it for her.

 

[nburwell]

Why doesn't she use Skype? Put the app on her phone and she can get a US number for you and her business to get hold of her. Although she would have to rely on locating a wifi network. But you also have to consider what iOS the 2G iPhone is running on since the Skype app may not support it.

 

[psywzrd]

Why doesn't she use Skype? Put the app on her phone and she can get a US number for you and her business to get hold of her. Although she would have to rely on locating a wifi network. But you also have to consider what iOS the 2G iPhone is running on since the Skype app may not support it.

I'm trying to avoid the reliance on wifi. If she's on wifi, she can easily mkes calls via gv, etc. I'm trying to see if there's a cheap way for her to at least get data access over there and maybe even get an international roaming plan on the cheap. Not sure if it's possible though.

 

[madsci954]

Only options I can see are using a Wifi service like Skype, which I know you want to avoid, or see if there are any pre-paid options in Greece with international coverage.

ST has an international plan, but I think you need to be in the US to use it. Plus, I'm not 100% sure if it will work with that old iPhone, I don't see why it wouldn't though.

 

[BrianBaughn]

What phone does she use over here?

When I went to London last December, I just signed up (with AT&T) for international for the duration I'd be there. There's a cap on usage, but the good thing about the cap was that it was based on a month and I could use the whole month's worth in 10 days. That is, they didn't pro-rate the cap to 10 days. But they did pro-rate the fee! So I only paid for 10 days.

Have you checked on her carrier's plan?

 

[psywzrd]

What phone does she use over here?

When I went to London last December, I just signed up (with AT&T) for international for the duration I'd be there. There's a cap on usage, but the good thing about the cap was that it was based on a month and I could use the whole month's worth in 10 days. That is, they didn't pro-rate the cap to 10 days. But they did pro-rate the fee! So I only paid for 10 days.

Have you checked on her carrier's plan?

She has an iphone 4 or 4s (can't remember which) with Sprint. I was wondering if maybe she could use a gophone sim in the old iphone over there but I'm not sure. I guess I can just call AT&T and ask them.

 

[madsci954]

She has an iphone 4 or 4s (can't remember which) with Sprint. I was wondering if maybe she use a gophone sim in the old ipnone over there but I'm not sure. I guess I can just call AT&T and ask them.

I know with Verizon, if you are going overseas, they can unlock the GSM portion to use overseas SIM cards, if she wants to bring her phone. Sprint might do this as well, but have her call first. A go-phone SIM may work but it might force you onto a data plan.

 

[nburwell]

She has an iphone 4 or 4s (can't remember which) with Sprint. I was wondering if maybe she use a gophone sim in the old ipnone over there but I'm not sure. I guess I can just call AT&T and ask them.

I highly doubt a GoPhone SIM will work over in Greece, and if it does work, data charges could be through the roof. If you don't want to rely on wifi, your best bet is to probably get a local SIM card.

 

[Applejuiced]

I'm trying to see if there's a cheap way for her to at least get data access over there and maybe even get an international roaming plan on the cheap. Not sure if it's possible though.

There's no such thing as international roaming plan and data access on the cheap The cheap part of the sentense is an oxymoran.
They will charge you an arm and a leg to roam and make calls, texts or pull data outside the US.
Also You cant use a US prepaid service in Greece and you cant unlock a Sprint iphone as easy as you think. And even if you had sprint unlock its GSM side it wont work with any US carriers sims.

 

[psywzrd]

There's no such thing as international roaming plan and data access on the cheap
They will charge you an arm and a leg to roam and make calls, texts or pull data outside the US.
You cant use a US prepaid service in Greece and you cant unlock a Sprint iphone as easy as you think. And even if you had sprint unlock its GSM side it wont work with any US carriers sims.

So her best bet would be to just grab a local sim with a data allowance and use gv over 3g (or whatever they have), right? Although now that I think about it, I don't think she would be able to receive calls on her GV# because the original iphone won't allow talkatone to run in the background.

 

[Applejuiced]

So her best bet would be to just grab a local sim with a data allowance and use gv over 3g (or whatever they have), right? Although now that I think about it, I don't think she would be able to receive calls on her GV# because the original iphone won't allow talkatone to run in the background.

Yes, there's plenty of prepaids available in greece.
Vodafone, otenet, wind etc...
Good prices too.
Also the original iphone doesnt get 3G either but they do have Edge available in Greece. But as you know its slow as hell.

 

[Dunbar]

What carrier is she using now? Verizon and AT&T and have international data plans you can turn on for a month at a time ($25-30) for 100-120MB. Then you can unconditionally forward your cell # to your GV number and you'll get an e-mail that allows you to listen to the voicemails (return calls when back in a wifi area.) If she gets lots of text messages she might want to sign up for the international text plan just for the time she needs it and it would be pro-rated.

 

[psywzrd]

Yes, there's plenty of prepaids available in greece.
Vodafone, otenet, wind etc...
Good prices too.
Also the original iphone doesnt get 3G either but they do have Edge available in Greece. But as you know its slow as hell.

The speeds definitely won't matter to her - it would be strictly for phone calls. There's no way to have her iphone ring if I call her GV # though unless I forward her GV# to whatever temporary # she gets and that kind of defeats the purpose. It only makes sense if she could get a cheap pre-paid sim over there and have talkatone running in the background. No can do, right?

 

[Dunbar]

So does she want mobile data or just voice? What carrier is she on?

 

[psywzrd]

So does she want mobile data or just voice? What carrier is she on?

She has sprint but she would only need data on the original iPhone if there's a way to use Talkatone to receive google voice calls on that phone.

 

[Applejuiced]

It only makes sense if she could get a cheap pre-paid sim over there and have talkatone running in the background. No can do, right?

I doubt it.
Unless the original iphone is JB and you have backgrounder running in the back but not sure if talkatone or backrounder is even compatible with firmware 3.1.3
The original iphone is kinda outdated.

 

[psywzrd]

Sorry I haven't posted back in here, but I've been a little crazed at work. Anyway, I was able to put in a request with Sprint to have my sister's iphone 4s unlocked (they are complete morons at Sprint by the way - I spoke with three different people there and they each told me something completely different). I guess now she needs to sync with itunes to complete the unlock process and that could be an issue. I don't believe she has her computer with her and that's the computer that she syncs her iphone with (I'm pretty sure the only computer they have over there is her husband's laptop). Is there a way for her to complete the unlock process via itunes on her husband's computer without actually syncing her phone with his computer? If not, is there any other way for her to complete the unlock so she can buy a local pre-paid sim card for data use only and then use GV over whatever cellular service they have?

 

[Applejuiced]

She can deactivate the phone with redsnow and then plug it in to any itunes library to activate it again. Without syncing anything.
That could be complicated if they dont know what they're doing.

 

[psywzrd]

She can deactivate the phone with redsnow and then plug it in to any itunes library to activate it again. Without syncing anything.
That could be complicated if they dont know what they're doing.

They definitely don't know what they're doing. Maybe I should just leave well enough alone. It would be extremely helpful if she didn't have to rely on wifi but I don't know if I could get them up and running quick enough to make it worth the trouble. I really should have taken care of this before they left but it didn't seem that important at the time.

 

[lordofthereef]

Is she terribly worried about losing anything she hasn't backed up? I mean, the way I see it, she eiehter does this and gets to use the phone on the trip, or she doesn't do it and doesn't get ot use the phone on the trip. Just have her restore on her husband's machine. Assuming she has backed everything up with iCloud or Google, everything IMPORTANT should be backed up anyway.

 

[Applejuiced]

Lol
Yes, it would have been much easier to do it before she left than when she's already in Greece.

 

[psywzrd]

Knowing my sister, she probably hasn't backed up that phone in weeks. I was hoping there might be another way for her to complete the unlock (something like a samprefs) but I guess not and I'm scared to even have her try to do it via itunes. Oh well. At least she has a phone that works over wifi and that's better than nothing.