Traveling to Taiwan. Temporary switch of carriers?

[cking1130]

I am going to Taiwan from June 20 - August 23.

Here is what I would like to do. I would like to know if AT&T's rules allow me to do this.

I have an Iphone 4, still on contract.

• temporarily suspend service with AT&T
• get a temporary carrier while in Taiwan for use in Taiwan
• use 3g / wifi with skype/google voice to talk to people from back home
• ---- if possible port-foward my number to skype/google voice temporarily, and then port back after I come back to US
• once back continue my with AT&T as my carrier, reasumming my contract.

AT&T customer support has told me that I can suspend my contract, but outside of that have been wholly unhelpful.

Can I actually continue with this perfectly rational plan which, or is there something that gets in the way? Will I not be able to use my IPhone because it is "locked", or are there any other problems?

There really shouldn't be problems. AT&T will get my money no matter what.

[dmapr ACE - Champion]

Yes, the main problem with your perfectly rational plan is that AT&T rules for unlocking iPhone4 are not nearly as rational. Basically, the iPhone can not be associated with an on-contract line of service.

A workaround would be to use a third-party unlocking solution for iPhone, of which there are many.

Another problem is in the porting/forwarding setup. I do not know what AT&T rules are for forwarding a number that is suspended, but I would expect that it will be hard-wired to some AT&T announcement declaring it out of service. Porting the number is not an option since it'll automatically cancel the service.

[cking1130]

Is the 3rd party unlocking a viable solution?

It seems risky. But I know nothing about it.

[DWC1 ACE - Professor]

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cking1130 wrote:

Is the 3rd party unlocking a viable solution?

It seems risky. But I know nothing about it.

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It could be risky and is frowned upon by at&t. 

[stufried]

You can get a 3g MiFi and use it to push the wifi to your iPhone (which is in airport mode). You can get a We3g for about $125 off Amazon. If you go the unofficial unlocking route, you better be behind on your upgrades. If you are current, I don't think it can be done. If you are behind, look at the Gevey SIM. It works without having to touch the firmware or the baseband. A simpler solution might be to just buy a cheap unlocked Android phone off Amazon.

[BadBadLeroyBrown ACE - Warrior]

Gevey SIMs are very touch and go. Apple has really outstripped the developers working on unauthorized unlocking solutions with recent releases of iOS. 

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stufried wrote:
You can get a 3g MiFi and use it to push the wifi to your iPhone (which is in airport mode). You can get a We3g for about $125 off Amazon. If you go the unofficial unlocking route, you better be behind on your upgrades. If you are current, I don't think it can be done. If you are behind, look at the Gevey SIM. It works without having to touch the firmware or the baseband. A simpler solution might be to just buy a cheap unlocked Android phone off Amazon.

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[BadBadLeroyBrown ACE - Warrior]

Outside of your first question, none of those are really AT&T issues. AT&T doesn't provide support for Google Voice or Skype. 

Your first problem is that you can't forward a Google Voice number internationally. I learned that the hard way. I'm not sure about a SkypeOut number (or whatever it is they call the assigned Skype number you pay for). Second, I don't think you'll be able to forward your AT&T number to any other number if you suspend your service.

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cking1130 wrote:

I am going to Taiwan from June 20 - August 23.

Here is what I would like to do. I would like to know if AT&T's rules allow me to do this.

I have an Iphone 4, still on contract.

• temporarily suspend service with AT&T
• get a temporary carrier while in Taiwan for use in Taiwan
• use 3g / wifi with skype/google voice to talk to people from back home
• ---- if possible port-foward my number to skype/google voice temporarily, and then port back after I come back to US
• once back continue my with AT&T as my carrier, reasumming my contract.

AT&T customer support has told me that I can suspend my contract, but outside of that have been wholly unhelpful.

Can I actually continue with this perfectly rational plan which, or is there something that gets in the way? Will I not be able to use my IPhone because it is "locked", or are there any other problems?

There really shouldn't be problems. AT&T will get my money no matter what.

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