iphone / Rogers / AT&T / sim card question

[octothorp]

I'm currently in a billing dispute with Rogers and while I don't think I'm going to be able to convince them I'm right, I'm hoping that I can at least gain the satisfaction of not spending another cent on data roaming through them. And on top of it, this option seems to be a lot cheaper than even the cheapest roaming plan I could get through Rogers.

My understanding (and I admit this is something I haven't bothered to read up on until today) is that I could do the following:

1) Get Rogers to unlock my iphone, for $50
2) next time I go to the US, stop at AT&T and sign up for their GoPhone service (http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/go-phones/). If my understanding is correct, they give you a SIM card when you sign up.
3) plug in the sim card into the phone.
4) get the iphone configuration utility from apple
5) set up the phone's APN settings to AT&T's network

And that should be it, right? And then when I return to Canada, I just use the iphone configuration utility to set it back to the Rogers settings?
My understanding is that I would get a different phone number for my AT&T configuration, correct?

Has anyone actually tried this?

[OldDutch]

I think it is like you said, but I think you only need to pop in the ATT sim and you are good to go. I don't think you need to mess with any settings?

I am interested in an answer too, as I have an unlocked iPhone from Apple and I am going to Hawaii in May.

[wooohooo]

For my GF I called rogers and told them we were going to Europe and need to use the phone down there and so they gave me an unlock code for free. Just bought another sim card and voila! Worked!

And there are places online that do it for a fraction of the price. More like $10-15 I think.

[octothorp]

I think it is like you said, but I think you only need to pop in the ATT sim and you are good to go. I don't think you need to mess with any settings?

I am interested in an answer too, as I have an unlocked iPhone from Apple and I am going to Hawaii in May.

Here's the link that I found that talks about adjusting the APN settings. (The page is formatted horribly, at least in my browser, but the information is there.)

[Nammer403]

You dont need to mess with any of the settings in the phone if the phones unlocked, I think when u put in the new sim and restart the phone it automatically changes it

[Nammer403]

For my GF I called rogers and told them we were going to Europe and need to use the phone down there and so they gave me an unlock code for free. Just bought another sim card and voila! Worked!

And there are places online that do it for a fraction of the price. More like $10-15 I think.

i should look into this and get my phone unlocked ive been meaning to get it done before july hits, what kind of phone did you get unlocked?

[Bean]

There was a guy I used for my parent's Nokia phone and he was able to unlock pretty much anything. I found him on Kijiji and even though it sounded shady, he was excellent. I won't post his number here but PM if you want his number to send him a text message.

(just passing along a great experience)

[Bean]

I was in Oahu when the earthquake hit Japan, due to the fear of a tsunami hitting the island; I couldn't get a phone call out due to the jammed signals and opted for email to contact my folks and family.

The short story is that I just got my bill and was charged $68.65 for 11.17mb of usage.

I was actually looking to do something similar to the OP but wasn't able to get a solid answer and didn't think I'd need data in Honolulu. Good luck with your search and please let us know what you find out.

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

I just bought a used Virgin HTC Legend today, and paid $20 for an unlock code online. Popped in a friend's Rogers sim card and punched in the unlock code. Good to go in a matter of minutes.

[Bean]

Some phones can be unlocked via online code. Some need more work than that. My parents' phone was the latter but I don't know why there is a difference.

[GoFlamesGo89]

Has anyone actually tried this?

I have actually done this with a jailbroken phone, and yes, I did have to adjust the apn settings. (Not entirely sure if you'll need to adjust with a legally unlocked phone though). I used a website (unlockit.co.nz) while connected by wifi to do the apn adjustments. You probably already know that if you just want to use the phone functions, no apn adjustments are needed, but the data will not work w/o the apn changes.

The big trick with the gophone sims from ATT are that you have to have a dealer sell you one even though you're don't have a us address (I'm sure they'd take any address, friend hotel etc though. In my case they just used the store address itself). Also for data, you'll want to sign up for a plan (5 bucks for 1 MB, or 20 for 100 MB), which is good for 30 days otherwise the rates are through the roof.

If you travel to and from the states a lot, or are there for a while, I would suggest filling up with $100, as this will not expire for a full year, while lesser amount will expire after months (variable depending on the amount).

Hope that helps.

[wooohooo]

i should look into this and get my phone unlocked ive been meaning to get it done before july hits, what kind of phone did you get unlocked?

2 Blackberries and an iPhone.

Blackberries were a bit more expensive doing this though but worth it.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

One big issue with this plan. If you've got an iPhone 4, you'll need a microSIM not a regular SIM and those aren't available with any of the GoPhones.