For Germany there are two (1 rumored, 1 confirmed) tariffs so far:
T-Mobile (according to a not yet official press release) will offer a Micro-SIM with a daily prepaid rate of 4.95 EUR (approx. $6.50 incl. VAT). It includes up to 1GB HSDPA traffic.
Simyo (a MVNO) will also offer a Micro-SIM. The SIM will cost approx. 15 EUR ($19.80) and includes a 5 EUR credit ($6.50). Once you have that SIM you can buy 1GB (which is valid for up to 1 month) for 9,95 EUR ($13) each. Simyo is a reseller for the E-Plus network which is decent in all urban areas, but not really reliable once you leave the bigger cities...
There should be additional offers once the iPad sells here.
If I remember correctly, some 1st gen usergs received some assistance in at least making the iPhone work as an iPod touch after upgrading to a newer model; no idea if this was a "special" or a permanent policy though.
Yeah, that was some if the most condescending b-s ever. As though we needed ATT/Apple's permission to use it as an iPod Touch, after having paid for it!
So, contrary to what melgross said, I am not sure about the unlocking bit. I would love to be proved wrong.
Several overseas carriers have already announced that they do, or will soon have micro sim plans for the iPad.
While I paid the $25 for 20 MB when I went to London to see my daughter, I was just there for 7 days. I used up all but a tiny amount, being very careful.
With the iPad, I would have gone to O2 (what I mean is that next time I will) and bought a sim with a pre paid plan.
One good thing. When our 2 year plans here are up, and we buy the new iPhones in September, AT&T will unlock our older 3G models (at least, that's what I've been told), so we can do that when we get to London.
ATT will unlock nothing. I went there with my 1st generation iPhone and they told me they can not do it and recommended me to jailbreak it.
The iPad is a relatively large device with a lot of free space inside.
Can someone offer a reasonable explanation as to why Apple has chosen to use these awful micro SIMs, instead of normal SIMs? It certainly isn't to save space.
Good luck to anyone looking for a micro SIM in Europe, the iPad is the only product I am aware of that uses them, which is rather silly given that it is one of the largest devices on the market that takes SIMs.
Despite the stated assertions that European carriers will carry the micro SIMs, I have my doubts as to whether they will follow through on that.
When you travel in Europe, how exactly does roaming work? Here in the States we have one very big country, with national carriers, so unless some coverage is missing, roaming is unusual.
But in Europe, the countries are small, and there are a LOT of them. Same thing with carriers by out standards.
How far do you have to roam before coverage from one carrier becomes a problem so that you need to invoke roaming, or a different sim?
Regularly after passing the border after 10-20km you have to sign in to one of the local providers. But EC has made a regulation that any active call within the EC is not allowed to cost more than € 0.58, any passive call € 0.29 (0.28?). Roaming with data costs ~ € 100 for 200MB pre paid. Valid for Austria.
Orange offers a package for € 49/month with 300min free voice within Europe, 1,000 min free voice in Austria (minutes are just accounted when you call someone), 1,000 free SMS in Austria, 1GB data free in Austria
Orange offers a iPhone Plus Pakage: € 2/month for tethering and € 0.2/MB when exceeding the data cab
Is there a difference in the price if you call from ATT to a Verizon phone? In Austria it can make a big difference if you call a different provider although located in Austria.
Rip off as hell. I don't know much about the whole world, but I know in Europe GSM is the standard, and you can cut that sim card down to nano size or whatever they are calling it. Will be cheaper (especially for those higher cap prices) I am sure that there will be "unlimited" plans as well, but even pay as you go there will be better priced. Before you buy here check the country you are going to, you will probably see a better deal.
Addon: I see some people are providing pricing already with prices like $150 for 200 meg. Maybe ATT's rates are not as bad as I thought. Still a ripoff though.
In Switzerland, I'd recommend getting a Sunrise "T@keAway" prepaid USB modem and popping out the SIM, trim to size. I think it's about $3 per day of actual use, unlimited 3G. That's actually what I use here in my iPhone, the non-prepaid version is about $50 per month unlimited, and it allows voice calls and text messages as well.
Hope not. That's what I do for laptops. If you opt for prepaid, you pay for the modem. A bit over $120 as I recall. The modem's for free if you go contract. Better off with a normal prepaid data card.
AT&T should let us swap out our sim cards from our phones and use them in our iPad whenever we want. Assuming the iPhone 4G will incorporate this new micro-sim, what is the downside of popping out our sim cards and swapping them from our iphones and ipads? Only one device would be accessing the AT&T network at the same time...
Or you could just physically modify your current sim to fit inside the ipad then have an adapter so it will sit properly when you put it back in your standard GSM phone.
However, Apple and AT&T will be all too smart and find ways to disable this feature. The only alternative is to jailbreak your ipad and stick either your current iphone or existing AT&T sim card with appropriate data plan to fully access and make calls from the ipad.
Why the F$%^ not???? At least have a mode where you can have the iPhone tether to the iPad while disabling all data features of the iphone! I do not understand the mandatory additional data plan. It is so ridiculous.
I bought an iPad 3G Friday (32GB) and when I activated the cell service, it was based on my credit card. It had nothing to do with my iPhone. Absolutely no connection whatsoever. So swapping SIMs isn't going to happen. However, it does appear pre-paid microsims in Europe might be a possibility.
I wouldn't count on AT&T unlocking anything. I've seen nothing that indicates they're planning on changing their policy with respect to iPhone unlocking. You'll likely have to resort to third-party methods to unlock an iPhone, and any AT&T employee who told you otherwise is blowing smoke up you-know-where.
Quote:
Originally Posted by melgross
Several overseas carriers have already announced that they do, or will soon have micro sim plans for the iPad.
While I paid the $25 for 20 MB when I went to London to see my daughter, I was just there for 7 days. I used up all but a tiny amount, being very careful.
With the iPad, I would have gone to O2 (what I mean is that next time I will) and bought a sim with a pre paid plan.
One good thing. When our 2 year plans here are up, and we buy the new iPhones in September, AT&T will unlock our older 3G models (at least, that's what I've been told), so we can do that when we get to London.
The iPad is a relatively large device with a lot of free space inside.
Can someone offer a reasonable explanation as to why Apple has chosen to use these awful micro SIMs, instead of normal SIMs? It certainly isn't to save space.
Good luck to anyone looking for a micro SIM in Europe, the iPad is the only product I am aware of that uses them, which is rather silly given that it is one of the largest devices on the market that takes SIMs.
Despite the stated assertions that European carriers will carry the micro SIMs, I have my doubts as to whether they will follow through on that.
I think you missed the bottom of the AI article - the 'micro' SIM is just an illusory but not a real architectural difference from a normal SIM. You can cut any SIM to fit into the iPad.
I'm typing this post on a iPad 3G in Melbourne, Australia that is using the Three network. My 500G prepaid sim cost $15 for data after paying $10 for the sim. Not bad at all.
Here is the quick proof of concept video we made while it was raining yesterday.
I can say with confidence that the US version iPads will work internationally as I am using one with my Sonera card. The cool thing is I have unlimited data (not the AT&T brand of unlimited data) as well as a dual sim. So I have a data plan and two sim cards. One in my iPad, and one in my iPhone.
I think you missed the bottom of the AI article - the 'micro' SIM is just an illusory but not a real architectural difference from a normal SIM. You can cut any SIM to fit into the iPad.
Exactly. I did this. I posted pictures over at Macrumors as well.
I can say with confidence that the US version iPads will work internationally as I am using one with my Sonera card. The cool thing is I have unlimited data (not the AT&T brand of unlimited data) as well as a dual sim. So I have a data plan and two sim cards. One in my iPad, and one in my iPhone.
Are you guys saying AT&T is anticipating costs of interplanetary data transmission? Would this be their roaming rate anywhere in the solar system, or would there be extra charges for the outer planets? It would seem kind of cheap to limit service to Earth and Mars ...
Sine the distance between planets is much larger when you get past Mars, I would imagine they would have an air tight (ahem!) case for higher rates for the outer planets.
Comets, and Ort Cloud asteroids would likely have a varying rate, depending on where they are at the moment. I suppose most spaceship based calling would be subject to roaming charges.
Told by whom, when? Where can I check out this info?
I would love to explore this further, since I have a soon-to-be 3-year old first gen and 2-year old second gen iPhones. I would like to get both those unlocked.
I had asked someone in AT&T about this a while ago. Hopefully, that hasn't changed. I'll be asking again.
Comments
T-Mobile (according to a not yet official press release) will offer a Micro-SIM with a daily prepaid rate of 4.95 EUR (approx. $6.50 incl. VAT). It includes up to 1GB HSDPA traffic.
Simyo (a MVNO) will also offer a Micro-SIM. The SIM will cost approx. 15 EUR ($19.80) and includes a 5 EUR credit ($6.50). Once you have that SIM you can buy 1GB (which is valid for up to 1 month) for 9,95 EUR ($13) each. Simyo is a reseller for the E-Plus network which is decent in all urban areas, but not really reliable once you leave the bigger cities...
There should be additional offers once the iPad sells here.
I live in Switzerland and don't roam when I go into Liechtenstein.
Maybe not, but do you polka?
If I remember correctly, some 1st gen usergs received some assistance in at least making the iPhone work as an iPod touch after upgrading to a newer model; no idea if this was a "special" or a permanent policy though.
Yeah, that was some if the most condescending b-s ever. As though we needed ATT/Apple's permission to use it as an iPod Touch, after having paid for it!
So, contrary to what melgross said, I am not sure about the unlocking bit. I would love to be proved wrong.
Several overseas carriers have already announced that they do, or will soon have micro sim plans for the iPad.
While I paid the $25 for 20 MB when I went to London to see my daughter, I was just there for 7 days. I used up all but a tiny amount, being very careful.
With the iPad, I would have gone to O2 (what I mean is that next time I will) and bought a sim with a pre paid plan.
One good thing. When our 2 year plans here are up, and we buy the new iPhones in September, AT&T will unlock our older 3G models (at least, that's what I've been told), so we can do that when we get to London.
ATT will unlock nothing. I went there with my 1st generation iPhone and they told me they can not do it and recommended me to jailbreak it.
Can someone offer a reasonable explanation as to why Apple has chosen to use these awful micro SIMs, instead of normal SIMs? It certainly isn't to save space.
Good luck to anyone looking for a micro SIM in Europe, the iPad is the only product I am aware of that uses them, which is rather silly given that it is one of the largest devices on the market that takes SIMs.
Despite the stated assertions that European carriers will carry the micro SIMs, I have my doubts as to whether they will follow through on that.
When you travel in Europe, how exactly does roaming work? Here in the States we have one very big country, with national carriers, so unless some coverage is missing, roaming is unusual.
But in Europe, the countries are small, and there are a LOT of them. Same thing with carriers by out standards.
How far do you have to roam before coverage from one carrier becomes a problem so that you need to invoke roaming, or a different sim?
Regularly after passing the border after 10-20km you have to sign in to one of the local providers. But EC has made a regulation that any active call within the EC is not allowed to cost more than € 0.58, any passive call € 0.29 (0.28?). Roaming with data costs ~ € 100 for 200MB pre paid. Valid for Austria.
Orange offers a package for € 49/month with 300min free voice within Europe, 1,000 min free voice in Austria (minutes are just accounted when you call someone), 1,000 free SMS in Austria, 1GB data free in Austria
Orange offers a iPhone Plus Pakage: € 2/month for tethering and € 0.2/MB when exceeding the data cab
Is there a difference in the price if you call from ATT to a Verizon phone? In Austria it can make a big difference if you call a different provider although located in Austria.
Addon: I see some people are providing pricing already with prices like $150 for 200 meg. Maybe ATT's rates are not as bad as I thought. Still a ripoff though.
In Switzerland, I'd recommend getting a Sunrise "T@keAway" prepaid USB modem and popping out the SIM, trim to size. I think it's about $3 per day of actual use, unlimited 3G. That's actually what I use here in my iPhone, the non-prepaid version is about $50 per month unlimited, and it allows voice calls and text messages as well.
Hope not. That's what I do for laptops. If you opt for prepaid, you pay for the modem. A bit over $120 as I recall. The modem's for free if you go contract. Better off with a normal prepaid data card.
AT&T should let us swap out our sim cards from our phones and use them in our iPad whenever we want. Assuming the iPhone 4G will incorporate this new micro-sim, what is the downside of popping out our sim cards and swapping them from our iphones and ipads? Only one device would be accessing the AT&T network at the same time...
Or you could just physically modify your current sim to fit inside the ipad then have an adapter so it will sit properly when you put it back in your standard GSM phone.
However, Apple and AT&T will be all too smart and find ways to disable this feature. The only alternative is to jailbreak your ipad and stick either your current iphone or existing AT&T sim card with appropriate data plan to fully access and make calls from the ipad.
Why the F$%^ not???? At least have a mode where you can have the iPhone tether to the iPad while disabling all data features of the iphone! I do not understand the mandatory additional data plan. It is so ridiculous.
I bought an iPad 3G Friday (32GB) and when I activated the cell service, it was based on my credit card. It had nothing to do with my iPhone. Absolutely no connection whatsoever. So swapping SIMs isn't going to happen. However, it does appear pre-paid microsims in Europe might be a possibility.
Several overseas carriers have already announced that they do, or will soon have micro sim plans for the iPad.
While I paid the $25 for 20 MB when I went to London to see my daughter, I was just there for 7 days. I used up all but a tiny amount, being very careful.
With the iPad, I would have gone to O2 (what I mean is that next time I will) and bought a sim with a pre paid plan.
One good thing. When our 2 year plans here are up, and we buy the new iPhones in September, AT&T will unlock our older 3G models (at least, that's what I've been told), so we can do that when we get to London.
The iPad is a relatively large device with a lot of free space inside.
Can someone offer a reasonable explanation as to why Apple has chosen to use these awful micro SIMs, instead of normal SIMs? It certainly isn't to save space.
Good luck to anyone looking for a micro SIM in Europe, the iPad is the only product I am aware of that uses them, which is rather silly given that it is one of the largest devices on the market that takes SIMs.
Despite the stated assertions that European carriers will carry the micro SIMs, I have my doubts as to whether they will follow through on that.
I think you missed the bottom of the AI article - the 'micro' SIM is just an illusory but not a real architectural difference from a normal SIM. You can cut any SIM to fit into the iPad.
Here is the quick proof of concept video we made while it was raining yesterday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EiEkbQyVEY
Here in Sweden i can get unlimited data for about 25-30$ a month (3G of course). Included in the price is also wifi hotspots in the city
I think you missed the bottom of the AI article - the 'micro' SIM is just an illusory but not a real architectural difference from a normal SIM. You can cut any SIM to fit into the iPad.
Exactly. I did this. I posted pictures over at Macrumors as well.
I can say with confidence that the US version iPads will work internationally as I am using one with my Sonera card. The cool thing is I have unlimited data (not the AT&T brand of unlimited data) as well as a dual sim. So I have a data plan and two sim cards. One in my iPad, and one in my iPhone.
Wow. That is pretty cool. Seriously.
Are you guys saying AT&T is anticipating costs of interplanetary data transmission? Would this be their roaming rate anywhere in the solar system, or would there be extra charges for the outer planets? It would seem kind of cheap to limit service to Earth and Mars ...
Sine the distance between planets is much larger when you get past Mars, I would imagine they would have an air tight (ahem!) case for higher rates for the outer planets.
Comets, and Ort Cloud asteroids would likely have a varying rate, depending on where they are at the moment. I suppose most spaceship based calling would be subject to roaming charges.
Told by whom, when? Where can I check out this info?
I would love to explore this further, since I have a soon-to-be 3-year old first gen and 2-year old second gen iPhones. I would like to get both those unlocked.
I had asked someone in AT&T about this a while ago. Hopefully, that hasn't changed. I'll be asking again.