Ah, maybe this is an iPhone thing. I seem to remember reading that AT&T were happy enough to unlock their phones in general. I might be wrong though.
I believe that you can do some kind of a carrier unlock that is some way short of a full jailbreak. The iPhone experts on here should be able to give more info though.
Surely if you take out the AT&T sim and replace with one in Taiwan, it’ll work. How would AT&T even know?
I am ignorant in this. I am not sure if the Iphone is easy as the others to take out SIM card. I never tried. I thought due to contract issues with Apple that they built it in the phone not so accessible. Again I might be wrong. haha .
In most countries, a phone you get cheap with a contract is SIM-locked. Some carriers will unlock it for free after a certain period.
It’s a software lock, not a physical one. There are no barriers to removing the iPhone’s SIM card.
When my wife got her iPhone she just took the sim out of her old phone and put it in the iPhone. I guess its a. simple procedure.
Interesting. I been doing some googling and have found I would have to “unlock” and “Jailbreak” the phone in order for a sim card from another country to work inside the phone. I might just buy another Iphone in Taiwan.
In most countries, a phone you get cheap with a contract is SIM-locked. Some carriers will unlock it for free after a certain period.[/quote]
Really? Id have thought that be illegal under competition laws.
In most countries, a phone you get cheap with a contract is SIM-locked. Some carriers will unlock it for free after a certain period.[/quote]
Really? Id have thought that be illegal under competition laws.[/quote]
It was due to a contract that AT&T had with apple that they could be the only legal carrier of this phone.there is these unlocking programs that are supposedly illegal but who knows
No need to purchase a new iPhone here (unless you want to hold out for an iPhone 4). Your US phone will work fine, but you will need to unlock it first. Phones in some countries are sold locked while phones in other countries are sold unlocked, which is why people have different experiences.
You don’t have to worry about unlocking until after you reach Taiwan. Choose any of the local mobile companies, then tell them you already have a phone. They will give you a SIM card. Remove your AT&T one (you will need to use a pin to eject it out from the top of the phone) and replace it with the Taiwan one. Your phone will give some message saying it only works on AT&T or that the new SIM card is unauthorized. This is the point you will need to unlock your phone.
There are several free solutions to unlock your phone. Here is one. Download the software and follow the instructions.
I’m sure there are many on this forum who can help if you run into any difficulties.
Hello all,
I am looking for the cheapest, most value-for-money, mobile phone contracts out there in taiwan… what do you guys use and why?
I use FarEastone and my base rate is 149/month. With charges for text and calls, my normal monthly bill is around 300.
Hi
I’m moving to Taiwan to study Mandarin and would like to ask about a good mobile plan with data services. In particular, I am wondering if I should sign up for a permanent plan or use a prepaid method. From my experience, prepaid is much more expensive over the long run and since I will be there on and off for about a year, would a permanent plan be better?
However, I only have a 3-month visa to study which may then be extendable at a later stage depending if I meet the criteria. Will mobile companies require proof of residence? How does it all work in order for me to get a permanent mobile subscription.
Also, any advice on which mobile network is best (most reliable) and which ones to avoid?
Thanks and regards
Plenty of information on exactly this topic can already be found in many previous threads on this BBS - you may want to do a search. 
Anyway, prepaid is the only option for you unless you have a resident visa…
Hi Yull, thanks I have been trying to find out what I can on the forum. As you say, everything seems to point towards the fact that without an ARC, I have to use prepaid data plan. It seems that there is no prepaid unlimited plan, the plans are only for a few days and I couldn’t quite figure out which would be the most cost-efficient plan. One thread mentioned that a month-to-month post-paid plan would be cheaper, but didn’t say whether you could get this without an ARC…
For the first few months i used a prepaid plan that i had to renew (by phone) every 5 days - it was for unlimited usuage. That plan is available at NT$350 for each 5 days (which adds up to an average of abt. NT$2140 per month)
That is hard to tell from the distance anyway since there are other parameters to consider, like what does the telephone that you want cost at this or that provider, what services exactly do you want, etc.
Right - you can’t normally get a post-paid plan without a resident visa (which is the basis of having an ARC).
Hello, I’d need a bit of help from you guys who are more experienced with Taiwanese mobile operators.
I’m googling about products, services and rate plans which each company has, but I have to admit that I’m a bit lost.
Anyway, I’d need a really good data plan for my iPhone (I plan to unlock it, but since I’m going to upgrade it to iPad baseband in order to do so, I will lose my GPS and probably Wifi as well.) However, I need possibly Unlimited Data plan because I communicate mostly only via Viber and Skype on iPhone (I need 3G coverage for that and loaaads of data traffic.)
I don’t care for calls and text messages inside Taiwan, because I usually spend nothing on that, so what could you recommend for me?
Couple of questions:
Which mobile provider has the best deal for Unlimited Data and the most reliable (or convenient, to express myself with the word I can often hear here)?
Is there any prepaid Unlimited Data except the one for 5 days costing 350 NT which would be payable per month?
How smart would be signing a contract with one of the operators in order to get a cheap iPhone 4? (or even wait for iPhone 5)? Those who did it, were you satisfied? Because when I did it back in Europe, I was totally ripped off looking in long run.
Is there any way to be a postpaid user, but without contract (in case I’m not buying a cheaper phone)?
In one-two weeks, I’ll get my ARC, already have Resident visa, so postpaid wouldn’t be a problem. Just, I’m more inclined to taking a prepaid option if that one would be suitable with my needs described above. (I’d make an exception for a new iPhone, though 
)
Thanks in advance, responding to any of the above would be greatly appreciated.