[Galaxy S] Modded Galaxy travelling to US

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fatboy

62 posts

Master Geek

#83205 12-May-2011 14:22

Hey all,

I'm going to US in about a month and would like to use my SGS for data/calls and GPS there.

Please suggest:
1) Any changes that NEED to be made,

2) Changes that would be GOOD TO HAVE, but not necessary and

3) If you have any personal experience with NAVIGATION APPs in US (I have an oldish TomTom with US map, so SGS would only really be as a backup option).

Big Thanks!

ps. Phone specs in the signature are current

Galaxy S gone ... waiting for a pebble blue you know what

ArtooDetoo

1044 posts

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#468361 12-May-2011 15:53

fatboy: Hey all,

I'm going to US in about a month and would like to use my SGS for data/calls and GPS there.

Please suggest:
1) Any changes that NEED to be made,

2) Changes that would be GOOD TO HAVE, but not necessary and

3) If you have any personal experience with NAVIGATION APPs in US (I have an oldish TomTom with US map, so SGS would only really be as a backup option).

Big Thanks!

ps. Phone specs in the signature are current

No changes are required. I think that AT&T and T-Mobile are your best bets for potential carriers. I used AT&T mostly as they were everywhere. Data will be an issue as the Nth American carriers like you to be on a plan and often disallow data on pre-pay.

All calls, out and in, will use up your pre-pay as will sms/mms.

Google navigation works fine as a TBT solution when you have data available, so nail down your carrier before you travel so you know what you're in for.

As an aside, my SGS was more accurate than the standalone GPS provided with the rental car, so it's pretty good. Tried to download Navigon local maps for Nth America but the price was hellish high - more than a dedicated GPS with maps. Not recommended.

Free wifi is everywhere, thankfully. :-)

While you're in the US on their carriers, check out the market for apps you don't get here with the NZ version. :D

Cheers,
R2D2

Galaxy S has gone to its new owner. HTC Sensation has gone to its new
owner. Galaxy S3 has gone to its new owner. Now using Galaxy Note 3. Skipping Note 4 I think...

lchiu7

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#468364 12-May-2011 16:02

ArtooDetoo:

No changes are required. I think that AT&T and T-Mobile are your best bets for potential carriers. I used AT&T mostly as they were everywhere. Data will be an issue as the Nth American carriers like you to be on a plan and often disallow data on pre-pay.

All calls, out and in, will use up your pre-pay as will sms/mms.

Google navigation works fine as a TBT solution when you have data available, so nail down your carrier before you travel so you know what you're in for.

As an aside, my SGS was more accurate than the standalone GPS provided with the rental car, so it's pretty good. Tried to download Navigon local maps for Nth America but the price was hellish high - more than a dedicated GPS with maps. Not recommended.

Free wifi is everywhere, thankfully. :-)

While you're in the US on their carriers, check out the market for apps you don't get here with the NZ version. :D

Cheers,
R2D2

I was in the US over Christmas and had phones on both AT&T and T-Mobile. While AT&T has better coverage, T-Mobile had better plans and use frequencies that suited my Nexus One (AT&T use the same data frequencies as Telecom).

I had data on both carriers.

For T-Mobile I used this plan

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/prepaid-plans.aspx

The $30 for 1500 minutes/SMS and 30MB of data. Then I augmented it with $10 for 100MB as my 30MB got low. But most of the time I was using wifi and only data when wifi was not available and when I was doing the Google Navigation (which worked really well).

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

ArtooDetoo

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#468376 12-May-2011 16:24

lchiu7:

I was in the US over Christmas and had phones on both AT&T and T-Mobile. While AT&T has better coverage, T-Mobile had better plans and use frequencies that suited my Nexus One (AT&T use the same data frequencies as Telecom).

I had data on both carriers.

For T-Mobile I used this plan

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/prepaid-plans.aspx

The $30 for 1500 minutes/SMS and 30MB of data. Then I augmented it with $10 for 100MB as my 30MB got low. But most of the time I was using wifi and only data when wifi was not available and when I was doing the Google Navigation (which worked really well).

I have a feeling it was you who recommended the T-Mobile plan to me.

So thanks dude! :-)

Cheers,
R2D2

Galaxy S has gone to its new owner. HTC Sensation has gone to its new
owner. Galaxy S3 has gone to its new owner. Now using Galaxy Note 3. Skipping Note 4 I think...

lchiu7

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#468465 12-May-2011 20:01

Yes I was pretty happy with T-Mobile service and their customer service. Plus after I got back a friend went over and I gave them my SIM card, having topped it up on the Internet before they went. That saved a bit of hassle.

I linked my SIM card number to a Google Voice number so I can change the SIM the next time but people can still reach me on my GV number.

I would recommend you sign up for GV while you are there. You just need to have a local number for them to call you to confirm and that can be your prepaid T-Mobile number.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

fatboy

62 posts

Master Geek

#468494 12-May-2011 21:41

lchiu7:
ArtooDetoo:

No changes are required. I think that AT&T and T-Mobile are your best bets for potential carriers. I used AT&T mostly as they were everywhere. Data will be an issue as the Nth American carriers like you to be on a plan and often disallow data on pre-pay.

All calls, out and in, will use up your pre-pay as will sms/mms.

Google navigation works fine as a TBT solution when you have data available, so nail down your carrier before you travel so you know what you're in for.

As an aside, my SGS was more accurate than the standalone GPS provided with the rental car, so it's pretty good. Tried to download Navigon local maps for Nth America but the price was hellish high - more than a dedicated GPS with maps. Not recommended.

Free wifi is everywhere, thankfully. :-)

While you're in the US on their carriers, check out the market for apps you don't get here with the NZ version. :D

Cheers,
R2D2

I was in the US over Christmas and had phones on both AT&T and T-Mobile. While AT&T has better coverage, T-Mobile had better plans and use frequencies that suited my Nexus One (AT&T use the same data frequencies as Telecom).

I had data on both carriers.

For T-Mobile I used this plan

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/prepaid-plans.aspx

The $30 for 1500 minutes/SMS and 30MB of data. Then I augmented it with $10 for 100MB as my 30MB got low. But most of the time I was using wifi and only data when wifi was not available and when I was doing the Google Navigation (which worked really well).

Thanks guys. Looks like T-mobile it is then

Great that I don't need to change anything. However, just would like a confirmation that the "Vodafone specific" BUJP5 modem would be fine in US.

I was quite surprised at the data allowances after reading all the boasting by US guys that they have up to 5-10GB of data on their plans. But I guess carriers know that it's mainly tourists who use prepay and hence can be charged through the roof.

How long would 100MB last for Google Navigation? I was under impression that no more than a couple of days, no?

Galaxy S gone ... waiting for a pebble blue you know what

tanivula

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#468585 13-May-2011 08:38

There's a good guide linked off the XDA rom kitchen thread about modems.

Perhaps go through and find what you need and have a few CWM modems to flash once you're over there if BUJP5 isn't a goer.

HP

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Linuxluver

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#468614 13-May-2011 09:32

Just so you know, in case you don't: AT&T has bought / is buying T-Mobile (which was owned in large part by Deutsche Telekom). The plans aren't changing right away.

_____________________________________________________________________

I've been on Geekzone over 16 years..... Time flies....

ArtooDetoo

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#468621 13-May-2011 09:43

Linuxluver: Just so you know, in case you don't: AT&T has bought / is buying T-Mobile (which was owned in large part by Deutsche Telekom). The plans aren't changing right away.?

?

US Senate look set to reject the merger. There's much opposition to it but even if it were to be approved, it wouldn't go ahead for 12 months at the earliest, followed by a long hardware transition period to merge frequencies.

My prediction is that it won't fly.

Cheers,
R2D2

Galaxy S has gone to its new owner. HTC Sensation has gone to its new
owner. Galaxy S3 has gone to its new owner. Now using Galaxy Note 3. Skipping Note 4 I think...

fatboy

62 posts

Master Geek

#468684 13-May-2011 12:03

tanivula: There's a good guide linked off the XDA rom kitchen thread about modems.

Perhaps go through and find what you need and have a few CWM modems to flash once you're over there if BUJP5 isn't a goer.

Thanks, good thread that one!

But to be honest I'd really rather not muck around flashing my phone overseas (even if the reception is not perfect), just in case it all goes south and I be left without a phone

But from the above replies it seems it should be fine.

Galaxy S gone ... waiting for a pebble blue you know what

fatboy

62 posts

Master Geek

#495767 20-Jul-2011 15:06

figured I should update what actually happened.

I ended up going with At&T for no real reason

I went to BestBuy and one of the sales guys sorted most of the rest for me.

I bought a $9.99 phone for the sake of SIM card (SIM by itself is $35), the trick is NOT to insert the SIM in the new phone for activation, but activate it in your own phone (CSR did it all for me in store). I opted in for the Prepay plan =10c/min, and with a minimum of $15 that was 150 min of talk time - was enough for me. I also bought $25/500Mb data - which was exactly what I wanted and I was able to use data whenever I wanted.

Problems: My phone when I went to US was: 2.2.1/BUJP5/Speedmod-k13D-500hz/Doc's V10.ZSJPJI. I have encountered an extremely annoying problem. When moving between cities my phone would go into Flight mode and stay there. Reboot solved it for the first couple of times but then that stopped working. So flashed a JPP modem - it all went smooth after that. Just to clarify I didn't try to figure out what exactly was wrong: maybe it's just a reflash that sorted it, maybe the wrong modem. But that was a hell of hassle, until I managed to get a hold of a computer on which I could put ODIN etc etc.

So to be honest my advise would be to change to JPP if you're going to US. Other than that annoying problem, I didn't have any issues with my phone there (apart from lousy GPS of course

) and even though reception bars almost never reached full, and most of the time where 1-2 (2-3 on JPP) didn't have any dropped calls or bad call quality.

Galaxy S gone ... waiting for a pebble blue you know what

lchiu7

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#495777 20-Jul-2011 15:21

My last experiences were based on a stock N1 and a stock iPhone 4. Both were on T-Mobile.

The iPhone was only used for calls and SMS and occasional data. The N1 was full on phone and data and Google navigation. I had no problem with the phones in CA, NV or NY.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

Mighty Ape

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fatboy

62 posts

Master Geek

#495825 20-Jul-2011 16:25

That's all good lchiu7, my reply wasn't to prove anyone/anything wrong, rather just my observations.

Galaxy S gone ... waiting for a pebble blue you know what