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Renting a local personal hot-spot and cell phone in Australia/NZ?

Renting a local personal hot-spot and cell phone in Australia/NZ?

Old Jul 5th, 2013, 05:07 PM
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Renting a local personal hot-spot and cell phone in Australia/NZ?

We are 2 couples going to Australia in December for 3 weeks. We're hoping to avoid enormous voice and data international roaming charges while visiting Australia and NZ. (We are Americans with iphones/AT&T).

Has anyone had any luck finding a local prepaid wifi and cell or any other viable alternative to roaming while in this part of the world?

Does anyone have any experience with these outfits:

https://shop.lebara-mobile.com.au:8081

http://www.amaysim.com.au

Any suggestions and recommendations are much appreciated!
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Old Jul 6th, 2013, 03:33 AM
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We are Australian and have the same issues when we travel to America or Europe. In America last year we bought cheap mobile phones for about $10 with $20 of calls.

For use in Australia, if we are travelling, we have a Vodafone device (modem) which provides prepaid mobile broadband. It looks a bit like a USB or memory stick and just plugs into the laptop or whatever. I'm not at all good with technology and don't know if you could use this with an iPhone but might be worth looking into. You can top up the money on the mobile modem online or on the phone using your credit card.

Other companies will have similar things, you could try Virgin, or the two big companies Telstra and Optus. Check the cost of calls per minute etc as this varies a lot and we found can make a big difference in overall costs.

Free wifi is available at some cafes, McDonalds, some shopping centres, some hotels etc. We've found most hotels, in our experience, in Australia charge for internet connection but in America we found it was nearly always free.

I did hear that smartphones in America do not have a SIM card, is that right? If you do have a SIM card, you could just buy one on arrival in Australia and let your family and friends at home know your 'new' local number.

I hope someone with a lot more knowledge chimes in and helps. I know it's an issue for all travellers, the potential high cost of using the technology we all seem to take with us on our travels. It makes a guidebook and map seem easy

Kay
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Old Jul 6th, 2013, 04:09 AM
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I've used Amaysim and they were very good as their call and data rates are quite low. I used them on a prepaid basis so I could avoid any nasty surprises. I'm a low usage user and they suited me well. However, one thing to watch out for is that for some time they were unable to provide the nano sims required by iphone5. They have probably fixed that problem by now.

An alternative provider is Vaya but you normally sign up for a month by month plan so you'd need to check out whether they are suitable for short term usage. Their call rates are high (like Optus and Telstra) but they have reasonable inclusions in their monthly allowances for voice and data. You can get a monthly plan from $11-12.

Another alternative is a global sim card such as RoamingSim, GoSim or TravelSim. Of these, the only one I've used was RoamingSim and I used it for overseas travel, not home in Australia. It was fine but watch the data charges.
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Old Jul 6th, 2013, 06:57 PM
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Thank you for your responses. This is very helpful!
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Old Jul 6th, 2013, 08:29 PM
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I'm also quite interested in this topic, as we are two couples traveling together in Aus/NZ and would like to stay in contact with one another during our individual outings. Part of our trip will be on a cruise (Regent).
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Old Jul 7th, 2013, 12:25 AM
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"I did hear that smartphones in America do not have a SIM card, is that right?"

CDMA phones (generally) do not have SIMs (predominantly Verizon and Sprint in the U.S.). GSM phones do have SIMs (ATT and T-Mobile in the U.S. and most of the rest of the world). As the OP has an ATT phone, it will have a GSM sim.

The first question for the OP is whether your ATT phone is unlocked? If not, can you get ATT to unlock it? Assuming it's unlocked (or you can get it unlocked), just get a local prepaid SIM from either of the carriers you've already identified (or Telstra or Optus or Vodaphone etc.) and use that while you're here. Whether you can get it unlocked probably depends on where you are in the life of your contract -
http://www.att.com/esupport/article....id=HpoCi_77aAT
[The solution to this issue is to avoid the carriers altogether and simply buy your next (unlocked) iPhone direct from Apple. Yes, you'll "pay" a lot more up-front but ATT isn't giving you an iPhone for free.... you're just paying it in your inflated monthly contract rate.]

Telstra has the best network in Australia but they do not resell access - you have to get a Telstra SIM to use it. Lebara uses the Vodaphone network and Amaysim uses the Optus network.
https://www.telstra.com.au/online-sh...ro-starter-kit

Do you have iPads you need to use? If so, (and assuming you have a 3G iPad and not a wifi-only version) just get a prepaid Telstra iPad SIM ($30).
https://www.telstra.com.au/online-sh...le-starter-kit
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Old Jul 8th, 2013, 12:50 AM
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In terms of service coverage, my observation is that Telstra is the best, followed by Optus followed by Vodaphone. However, Telstra is generally more expensive. Need to consider whether you need service outside of the main cities and towns. Needless to say, as far as cost is concerned, it's the call/data rates that count.
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Old Jul 10th, 2013, 07:39 AM
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Thank you again. Here is an update that might be helpful.

For voice/cell:

Based on all feedback above, I had a long call with AT&T - my carrier. If your carrier is AT&T AND you can have iPhone, here is what I learned:

(I don't know about other carriers or other phones but I presume they have a similar process).

My iPhone is "locked" through AT&T and I have an AT&T SIM card in my iPhone. However, my AT&T iPhone 4G can be "unlocked". That is, I can use other carriers' SIM cards and use their service - as long as I request AT&T to "unlock" my iPhone. There IS a SIM card in my iPhone. In the earlier iPhones the SIM card slot is located on the top base of the iPhone. For my 4G model it is on the left hand side of the iPhone. You can use the point of a paper clip to remove it. AT&T's "unlocking" process is through a form on their website and it takes anywhere from 5-7 business days. So good to plan ahead. The AT&T link to request an "unlock" is:

www.att.com/deviceunlock

After you read and click on "accept", the next page is a form to fill out. The "IMEI" number requested on the form is found on your iPhone. It is located in "settings > general > about". Scroll down for "IMEI" and use the number listed there.

Once your phone is unlocked, it stays unlocked.

For data:

I was recommended to check out www.boingo.com. For data plans (e.g. for laptops), they have hundreds of hotspots in Australia and NZ. And their Asia Pacific plan is $11.95 for unlimited data usage per month. However, you need to be at or close to the hotspot in order to get access. You can also cancel anytime. I guess this is an worst case option for data.

Hope this is helpful.
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