iPad 2 In Australia

[maddesh]

Hi,

I am going traveling to Australia for 4 months this year, and I am planning on taking my 3g iPad 2 with me. It is currently unlocked, with wifi only being used, but when I get there I plan to connect with Telstra on their 3g plan for monthly data use. My question is when I come back to Canada, will I be able to insert a Rogers microsim card and sign up with them? or will I now be locked in with Telstra? I am moving this thread to the australian sub forum

Thanks!

 

[col.bris]

Welcome to our forums from Brisbane Australia,

Providing it is unlocked you can buy prepaid cards from any carrier including Telstra in australia or us a myfi telstra unit which costs $110 aus and allows 5 devices to connect. it comes with a 90 day prepay charge. You can also sign up for the Australian apple store by adding a new account I can provide more information if required If you are coming to Brisbane let me know happy to show you around.

 

[maddesh]

Well i think it is unlocked, when I bought it they said it would ship unlocked. They also warned me that if I put a Australia Micro sim card that would thus lock it, and then that carrier would have to unlock it in order for it to work again in Canada. Do you know if Telstra does that? Or does the prepaid microsim you spoke of eliminate that locked-in worry?

As a sidenote, is that wifi myfi thing a reliable tool? like does it have good internet speeds that are comparable to getting a 3g sim card?

I haven't fully decided my path yet but thats definitely worth keeping in mind if Brisbane is on my list!

Thanks again!

 

[K1W1]

They also warned me that if I put a Australia Micro sim card that would thus lock it, and then that carrier would have to unlock it in order for it to work again in Canada.

Wrong, wrong and wrong again.
It's not the SIM card that locks the device it's done in firmware before the device is even sent to the customer.
In Australia iPads are not locked to providers the way phones are.
I took my Australian 3G iPad that has a Telstra SIM to the USA recently, took the Telstra SIM out and put an AT&T SIM in and used that happily then took the AT&T SIM out when I got home and put the telstra one back and everything is fine.
Tell your dealer to say that they don't know the answer if they don't rather than making things up.

As a sidenote, is that wifi myfi thing a reliable tool? like does it have good internet speeds that are comparable to getting a 3g sim card?

A mifi device uses a 3G SIM card so the speeds are the same as a 3G enabled device. The difference is that multiple devices can share a mifi using 802.x wifi so if for example you want to use a Macbook you could get 3G connectivity at the same time as your iPad.

 

[col.bris]

I use the myfi and it is great I have both my ipad and iPhone connected to it as where I am right now I have poor reception on the optus card in the ph.

 

[daffy67]

Stick with Telstra especially if you're going much beyond the metropolitan areas of our major cities. Telstra has regional area coverage that the other telcos can't match.