Thinkpad+iPhone thru Europe+Canada: PrepaidGSM & Data HELP

[crashnburn]

Thinkpad+iPhone thru Europe+Canada: PrepaidGSM & Data HELP

Thinkpad & iPhone travel thru Europe & Canada: Prepaid GSM & Data Help

I’ll be traveling through
Europe (24th June – 8th July), mostly Germany (Berlin, Bad Antogast) but maybe entering Europe via Brussels, Belgium etc.
Canada (8th July – 17th July), mostly Montreal
Frankfurt (18th – 19th July).

I have an unlocked & jailbroken iPhone 4 & Thinkpad T61 & X61T. (If not MicroSIM, I have cutter, but do mention)

What would be my best options for? : Hardware & Service Providers.

Prepaid GSM:
Calling & SMS Rates for > Local, Across Europe, International (India, US, Canada) Numbers:

Data/Internet access via iPhone:
Data (GPRS/EDGE/3G?):
via iPhone
Options of Unlimited Data/ Fixed amount Limited Data/ or Weekly Unlimited/ Daily Unlimited data.. etc?

Internet Access via Laptop:

Option 1:
3G/4G Unlocked Data Card + SIM for Data Access via Laptop:
Which are best Data Cards for Europe – Internal (Thinkpad) or External (USB/PCMCIA/Express)

AND/OR

Option 2:
If a pre-paid SIM provides access to 3G/4G data via tethering with iPhone 4 (I can install iPhone tethering enablers from Cydia etc & Configure the IPCCs if the right app or tutorial is pointed out).
This saves me having to buy a Data Card. Also, I’ll have lesser time to access my laptop so via iPhone is the best option.

GUIDE PLEASE:
Please guide for mainly Germany & Canada even if you don’t know all of the above. Whatever you know / understand.

[bill bolton]

Good luck with your quest..... in my experience there aren't any good answers in Europe or Canada for short term 3G mobile data usage when making the sort of journey you describe.

Specifically, I had a thorough look at pre-paid 3G service to cover a week long period in Vancouver about this time last year and came up blank with anything that came anywhere even vaguely near being cost effective (even when the bill would have been paid by my employer).

Short term pre-paid 3G services are very easy to get/use in Australia and New Zealand, so it was somewhat of a shock to me to find out just how hard they are to get/use in North America.

European 3G services are usually on the 900MHz band, while North American 3G services are usually on the 850MHz band (though I realise that is rather sweeping statement given the number of competing technologies across North Amercian mobile data service offerings), so if you are looking for mobile data devices, keep that in mind.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[TTY]

I might not be the member best suited for answering your question as i live in Austria, but here is what little i know:

http://simyo.de is a low-cost wireless provider. They offer micro-SIMs and prepaid plans with data options. As you probably already are in Germany now, i guess you need the SIM fast. The fastest way is to find an outlet (shop), where you could buy the card immediately. On their website, i didn't find info about outlets, they have a web shop.

Deutsche Telekom (http://t-mobile.de) has lots of outlets (shops). They offer prepaid SIM plans with data options. I'm not sure whether they offer micro-SIMs for prepaid plans. They even have roaming options (including data roaming) for prepaid plans.