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Apple SIM

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Re: Apple SIM

#121

Post by voltagex_ »

shkkmo wrote: post #80
Nullabillity wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fi's "included" roaming sounds great, until you realize how pathetically expensive even their domestic prices are. Fi's base price[0] is $20/mo + tax. Hallon (my current provider) will sell you 8GB/mo of data for $18/mo, tax included.[1] With Fi that would cost you.. $80/mo + tax. Hallon doesn't actually have anything comparable to that, price-wise; their most expensive plan is 100GB/mo at ~$40. And no, population de…

As a digital nomad with Fi, its roaming and service is amazing. What you are complaining about is the US Cell market, which is awful and has horrible prices compared to the rest of the world. I usually buy a local sim card for data because it's usually cheaper than Fi per GB. However, I pick a different carrier than what I can access through Fi so I have more reliable access for work (and can use both using Speedify)…

I wonder if speedify is detected by the carriers - most SIMs outside my country appear to have heavy tethering restrictions.

Re: Apple SIM

#122

Post by voltagex_ »

oarsinsync wrote: post #35
untog wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you don't mind not having a local-to-the-country phone number This is actually one of my big pain points with SIM-juggling while travelling. iMessage would work great, except for the fact that Apple unregisters your US number and registers your new SIM number in its place. Which makes total sense on a technical level, but is irritating in practise.

My slightly expensive hack-around is to have a second travel iPhone, and tether my primary phone to that when I travel. I used to swap SIM cards around so that my primary SIM ended up in my travel phone, and my region-specific SIM ended up in my primary phone, but ultimately that became more hassle than it was worth, and tethering was a less painful solution with the prevalence of wifi everywhere in most places I vis…

Do you find a lot of carriers blocking / limiting tethering?

Re: Apple SIM

#123

Post by [deleted] »

hughes wrote: post #101
shkkmo wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fi plans are only "outrageously expensive" if you are comparing them against other countries.

I was pretty regularly hitting the $80 cap until I switched to Cricket for their $40 unlimited deal. If they're literally charging double compared to the domestic competition, it's pretty outrageous.

[deleted]

Re: Apple SIM

#124

Post by dzhiurgis »

paublyrne wrote: post #87
dzhiurgis wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Roaming is included in all of EU's countries Kind of - if you buy monthly plan that’s 2X more expensive (at least in Eastern Europe).

In the EU roaming charges were abolished last year.

Yes and in turn operators just created new “European” plans.

Re: Apple SIM

#125

Post by exikyut »

gsich wrote: post #117
digi_owl wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The more i learn about US telecom, the more i wonder how the hell they managed to invent both the landline and mobile phone. Their infrastructure sounds like a balkanized mess...

First telephone was invented by an Italian (Antonio Meucci). Probably the best landline system was/is in Germany. The ISDN was a complete digital system beginning from the 80s, having features that are not present in current mobile technologies. Calling was almost instant, probably only matched with VoLTE or SIP in local networks. Deutsche Telekom tried very hard to adapt most of the ISDN features to SIP.

What do you mean by "calling was almost instant"?

Re: Apple SIM

#126

Post by Camillo »

cosmie wrote: post #72
scrollaway wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It would fit so well into their premium brand of "your iPhone works the moment you step off the plane wherever your amazing life takes you". If there's anything that would make me buy an iPhone, this is it. I travel a lot between the US and Europe; I'm using Fi at the moment even though I shouldn't actually have access to it. It's mind boggling to me the crazy things we can do with tech today, and not make it all w…

I have T-Mobile's Simple Choice plan, and while I haven't flown too much internationally, the few times I have, my service has worked seamlessly. My plan includes 4G coverage in Mexico and Canada, and 2G coverage in 100+ other markets (with the option to upgrade for 3G and 4G rates in those markets). Looking at [1] it appears the current plans may not offer this for free anymore, but it's still available. [1] https:/…

The problem is that then you have to use T-Mobile in the US. I have it too, but only because I'm too stingy and lazy to switch. There are areas of San Francisco where it just has no signal, and forget about the Muni tunnels. It's kind of pathetic.

Re: Apple SIM

#127

Post by alphakappa »

cosmie wrote: post #72
scrollaway wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It would fit so well into their premium brand of "your iPhone works the moment you step off the plane wherever your amazing life takes you". If there's anything that would make me buy an iPhone, this is it. I travel a lot between the US and Europe; I'm using Fi at the moment even though I shouldn't actually have access to it. It's mind boggling to me the crazy things we can do with tech today, and not make it all w…

I have T-Mobile's Simple Choice plan, and while I haven't flown too much internationally, the few times I have, my service has worked seamlessly. My plan includes 4G coverage in Mexico and Canada, and 2G coverage in 100+ other markets (with the option to upgrade for 3G and 4G rates in those markets). Looking at [1] it appears the current plans may not offer this for free anymore, but it's still available. [1] https:/…

While T-Mobile has 2G coverage for no additional charge outside of US/Mexico, in practice it's not very usable due to the extremely slow speeds. After trying to painfully use maps with that data plan, I had to switch to a regular 3G data plan so I could get on with being a tourist.

Re: Apple SIM

#128

Post by jbuzbee »

mvid wrote: post #99
garmaine wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are T-Mobile plans that work this way.

The T-Mobile plan is limited to high speed in North America, and 2G elsewhere. Even when you pay to upgrade to 3G, it’s capped at something like 1/4 MBps. It’s borderline unusable internationally.

> It’s borderline unusable internationally.

The T-Mobile plan has worked fine for me in both Australia and the UK, even for navigation.

Re: Apple SIM

#129

Post by ClassyJacket »

ellisv wrote: post #66
blhack wrote: post #53

I've always wished that apple would offer this in the macbook pros. A laptop that doesn't have to tether, but just carries its own internet connection with it would be really nice.

I think this will make more sense once 5G is adopted. But even then carriers will either charge a lot for these data plans and/or severely underdeliver.

LTE is already faster in theory and in practice than most people's home connection. My parents just got a brand new internet connection thanks to the Australian Government, that costs about 2500$ per premises, that maxes out at 25mbps and will never go faster due to being DSL. 4G however can hit 100mbps easily. Mine tests at 130mbps.

The limiting factor for 4G on a laptop is data caps, not speed.

Re: Apple SIM

#130

Post by badestrand »

acrooks wrote: post #105
hughes wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did you find pricing information? Google Fi is already outrageously expensive for data at $10/GB

That sounds like a dream for me! As a Canadian who spends a lot of time on the road it’s not uncommon to see $200-400 phone bills at the end of the month. Getting a local SIM isn’t really an option because having my normal phone number is important. If there was something like Fi I could have some consistency and a lot of savings!

Just FYI: There are phones which accept two SIM cards so you can keep your number and insert a local card in the second slot.
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