What are my options for iPhone / phone use in US

[macgrl]

I am a phd student from the uk and over the next year or so i will be spending time in the US for research. I have an iPhone here in the UK and I love having everything syncing with mm.

What are my options for the US

Can I get a prepaid IPhone?

Can I get a prepaid sim in that will work with a uk iPhone

Should i get an iPod touch and just get it to sync when i access wifi and them just use a regular prepay phone for calls

Any help greatly Appreciated

 

[mulo]

do you jailbreak?

 

[macgrl]

No I haven't before. I would consider it if it is s viable option

 

[mulo]

it is.
if you jailbreak and unlock you can buy whatever prepaid/plan in the us and it will work - however as them americans are a bit weird and use stuff like CMDA as well, you pretty much have to use AT&T.

when thats said and done AT&T is a ***** and requires your phones IMEI to even get a prepaid plan, but your not allowed to create a prepaid crad with an iPhone, so you have to buy a crap phone. The sim you then get is locked to the crap phone for 60 days I think, then you can use it in your iPhone.

what you could do is if you know anyone over there, like a roomie or w/e, is have them buy a prepaid card asap, that way you have a shorter wait before you can use it in your iPhone.

 

[macgrl]

Thank you for explaining that. It seems a bit more complicated than I want to be honest

 

[mulo]

yeh I know
We europeans are used to a phone being bound to a certain carrier, but in the us the sim is bound to the phone as well.

You could fake the IMEI but that is highly illegal - could get you up to 5 years of prison lol.

but there really is no other viable way, if you want to use the iPhone, without getting huge bills form your UK carrier.

Edit:
oh just remembered, you can use T-Mobile as well, the iPhone just won't be compatible with their 3G.
no idea how they are about prepaid, but since they don't carry iPhones I don't think there would be many issues with them.

 

[macgrl]

That's fine. Plan b would be to use an iPod touch and a regular prepaid cell phone.

Or another prepaid smart phone? Are there any prepaid smart phones. Blackberry etc

 

[CubeHacker]

If you jailbreak and unlock, you can use any GSM carrier in the US.
I would recommend you look into http://www.mysimplemobile.com
They run off of Tmobile but don't require any kind of signed contract and offer good prices. You won't have any 3G, but its the easiest thing you can do if you MUST use your iphone here in the US.

You know, come to think of it, are european iphones even carrier locked?

 

[macgrl]

Here in the UK phones are carrier locked but you can very easily get in unlocked for about $20 or less so much so that all of the carriers here will sell you a sim card for there network on payg for about $1 or they do month by month contracts where you get to keep your existing phone. They almost encourage you to get your phone unlocked. The sims are not locked / tied to a particular phone through any means.

Anyway, I don't have to use my iPhone, in fact I am thinking that it may be a bit dodgy to so. I may just find some other way like an iPod that I update a wi-fi etc.

 

[macgrl]

Are there any decent mobile prepay internet providers I should consider?

 

[psxguru]

Here in the UK phones are carrier locked but you can very easily get in unlocked for about $20 or less so much so that all of the carriers here will sell you a sim card for there network on payg for about $1 or they do month by month contracts where you get to keep your existing phone. They almost encourage you to get your phone unlocked. The sims are not locked / tied to a particular phone through any means.

Anyway, I don't have to use my iPhone, in fact I am thinking that it may be a bit dodgy to so. I may just find some other way like an iPod that I update a wi-fi etc.

Are you on o2 contract? You can get it unlocked for free by them...
http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/unlockmyiphone.html

 

[chrono1081]

The U.S. has the ********* cell phone setup in the world. There are three (technically four) major companies that control everything. Verizon, ATT, Sprint, and T-Mobile.

Verizon and Sprint are on CDMA networks and ATT and TMobile are on GSM.

If you will be in the states for awhile you may be able to use your iPhone with ATT but you would have to sign up for one of their contract plans. I'd call them and ask first though.