Taking my iPhone to Australia

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alsta

157 posts

Master Geek

# 41987 27-Sep-2009 16:41

In the same vein as the Europe topic does anyone have any experience taking their NZ iPhone to Aussie on a short trip?

Quick questions...

Best network to use?
Can you just drop in a sim in, change APN and use data or will you need a sync to get carrier settings?
Best pre pay plan?

Cheers,

Al

RedJungle

Phil Gale
1108 posts

Uber Geek

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Red Jungle

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# 258882 28-Sep-2009 09:31

When I was in Sydney earlier this year for CEBIT I took advice from ScottPalmer and just visited a Telstra store, grabbed a pre-paid, slipped in the SIM, Added on a couple of their data packs, updated APN, and away she went.

Red Jungle: we make fantastic software

eddyg

56 posts

Master Geek

# 260986 4-Oct-2009 15:58

I also went with telstra, excellent 3G coverage everywhere I went on the gold coast. Didn't have to update anything, just popped in the prepaid sim and it worked.

Note. Do not roam with data. It's $10 per Mb. I used 6mb worth on google maps before I could get my sim. Almost cheaper to have bought an ozzy satnav app.

Cheers Ed.

Commodore

65 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

# 260987 4-Oct-2009 16:18

i went over to Autralia and lived there for 9 months i personally found Vodafone Australia to be the Best Carrier. Optus being the cheapest the network Automaticly sends you out the settings you need i had no problems.

Telstra Being the Most Costly But has the best 3G Coverage i was only in Australia last year.
I Recamend Getting a Aussie Sim Card it's way way cheaper

cranz

675 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

# 261012 4-Oct-2009 19:06

Telstra prepaid sim here too, whacked it in at brisbane airport and bought a data bundle. No issues driving around brisbane, up to sunshine or down to gold coast

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

# 261015 4-Oct-2009 19:27

Vodafone AU now have a semi national 900/2100mhz 3G network but that is no good for the iphone

John

NZHarrier

77 posts

Master Geek

# 263595 12-Oct-2009 22:28

I moved to OZ in Feb of this year and have an iPhone 3G that I bought from Vodafone NZ before moving across, when I searched around for prepaid SIM's for iPhone I found you needed the following info & ID

Photo ID - Passport (as NZ Drivers Licence means zip)
Address - Austrlian (I used my brother inlaws as he was living in OZ at the time but can use hotel etc)

The Telcos.

* Telstra: is very expensive. I wouldn't use them personally (but currently have to for ADSL & Home phone yuck lol)

* 3 Mobile: have the best caps, $29 CAP + $8 for 100MB data would be an option. cost for USIM is $9.95 AUD Click here for Prepaid costs & here for Data info. Now 3 Mobile have full coverage in all Metro areas of all main cities and you will Roam on the Telstra network outside metro areas at no extra charge for voice calls however for Data there is a charges.

Now in regards to the Carrier settings if you buy it from 3 Mobile just ask them to connect your iPhone to iTunes instore (used to activated iPhones as 3 Mobile now sell them) with your 3 SIM card, it will update your carrier settings with all APN/ MMS info. Did to mine, before this I had to add them manually.

* Optus: Ok I used these guys for the first few weeks when in OZ until I got my job at 3 Mobile, only reason I went with them is that they had included data, however I found the coverage was lacking for example I lived in Belemont, WA which is in the Metro area but I kept on getting dropped calls etc, until I changed to 3 in the same are was 100%.

* Vodafone: This would be my 2nd choice as it is part of VHA (Vodafone Hutchison Australia - 3 Mobile & Vodafone Austrlia merged this year), again pretty much like home (NZ) have some great Prepaid options.

I currently work for 3 Services in Perth, WA so if you are visiting there come and visit I can help ya out.
256 Adelaide Terrace is the address lol.

Well thats my 2cents lol

Jace

gehenna

6071 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

# 263627 13-Oct-2009 09:10

I'm on 3 in Australia. $49 cap gives me $300 calls and 1GB data. No doubt 3 have the best deals around, but the coverage is not the best if you're leaving metro areas.

den55

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

# 263640 13-Oct-2009 10:21

For data have a look at the Virgin $2 Twin Starter Pack. The packs are available from Dick Smiths in Australia and they will require photo ID such as a passport. You will get 300mb of data on each sim card once registered.

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/4ad39cc2030a54c4273fc0a87e0106b3/Product/View/E8849

You will need to visit an internet cafe to register the sim card online and ensure you select the data option during the sign up process. I'm going over next week and will be giving it a try out.

Have a good read of this very long forum which includes all instructions.
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1149871

There are reports of some users getting 1gb of data after registering. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.