Hi Sarah, Yes, one of the features of using an iPhone from AT&T is that the GSM standard means it can be used in most of the world by switching the sim card, provided your phone is not locked to a particular carrier. If you're using an iPhone 3GS, then you have a standard size sim card. The iPads with 3G coverage and the later model iPhones all use micro sim cards. They sell punch kits to cut down standard size sim cards for micro sim slots, and they also sell adapter trays so that you can put micro sim sized cards back into phones that use standard sized sim cards. Supposedly, you can cut the sim cards down yourself with a pair of scissors, but I wouldn't want to try it! There are also some services that will cut down your standard sized sim cards for you. However, with the spread of the later model iPhones and iPads internationally, more telecomm services will actually sell you micro sim cards as an option.
Because nearly all iPhones purchased in the US have been locked to specific carriers, short of jailbreaking your iPhone just to unlock it, there haven't been many options for traveling abroad. Some services offer to "rent" you an iPhone for use over a week or so when traveling in another country. Even if you buy an iPhone that is no longer associated with a particular US carrier, most of these models are still locked to an original carrier. But if you can legally unlock your iPhone from AT&T once you are past the terms of your service contract, or by paying a small fee for early termination -- not hundreds of dollars -- then you can use that iPhone and all its apps abroad with a sim card for another carrier's service. (For iPhone 4 owners, the earliest date for formal termination of your 2 year contract with AT&T is June 23 of this year, if you bought it on the day it was released.) Reportedly, AT&T would do this for some users before the present announcement. If you we re working for a company that was posting you abroad for the next six or seven months, and had been an AT&T customer for several years, they would unlock your iPhone even if you hadn't completed the 2-year term for a subsidized iPhone -- presumably because they expect to get you back when you return. It would also be interesting for iPhone users traveling to the US, if the CNet article you cited means that AT&T is considering offering short-term contracts and sim cards that could be activated and used for just a week or a month. >> Sarah Alawami wrote: >> >>> This should be good news for those of us in the states. >>> >>> http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-57410586-85/at-ts-iphones-free-at-last/?tag=cnetRiver >>> >> Cheers, Esther <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> To reply to this post, please address your message to [email protected] You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> or at the public Mail Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/>. Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> The Mac-Access mailing list is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free! Please remember to update your membership options periodically by visiting the list website at: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/>
