Switching SIMs (and maybe phones) to go abroad

[Melon Hunter]

At the end of June, I'll be heading off to East Asia for a month. I'll be spending a week each in Singapore and Malaysia, and two weeks in Japan. As the first half of the trip will be on business (at least it's a university research trip on behalf of corporate sponsors), I'd like to be able to use my phone during the day. Mostly to keep in touch with the other people on the trip while we're split up during the day, and to use 3G data so I can use Google Maps and look things up without having to keep running to Starbucks or McDonalds for free Wi-Fi.

I was looking into getting a cheap pre-paid 3G SIM card in each location, until I realised two things:

-I have an iPhone 5, which requires a nano SIM, and apparently these are a bit of a hassle to source in pre-paid format (at least compared to regular-sized SIMs)
-It's still on contract, so I'd need to unlock it to put other SIMs in it anyway.

I have an old HTC Desire at home, and I've wondered whether it's worth getting that unlocked (if it isn't already) and possibly rooting it, and using that instead. It takes regular-sized SIMs, and at the end of the day, if it gets stolen, I won't really care about it.

So, a couple of loosely related questions: does anyone have experience with using local SIMs when in a foreign country, and is worth unlocking my iPhone while still on contract for? I'm from the UK and on the 3 network, if that makes a difference.

If not, is it worth rooting the Desire? I don't remember the last gasps of Android 2.2.9 on that thing especially fondly, and if I am going to use it, I'd rather stick some more up-to-date software/firmware on there. Any suggestions?

 

[SnowyGamester]

I've never even been overseas but I still have a few bits of useful information.

The only difference between a 'regular' SIM (technically not the original which was the size of a credit card) and a nano-SIM is the amount of plastic surrounding the chip. You can cut down a regular SIM card and use it in one of the smaller slots without issue assuming you don't accidentally cut into the chip itself (did it myself a year and a bit ago, still using the same SIM today).

When you pick a phone to use you have to consider the frequencies used for telecommunications in the country you're going to. Even the same name model of phone can have a different radio installed depending on the region or carrier it was purchased for. Check your model numbers, check the bands they support (GSMarena is a good resource for that) and look up what bands are used in the region you're travelling to (it may vary between carriers so keep that in mind).

A bit of googling suggests that the HTC desire can be carrier unlocked for free by booting into download mode and flashing a software mod (or presumably flashing a custom ROM will also do the job). If not that then you can probably get it carrier unlocked for free or cheaply (considering it's age) by contacting the original carrier. The iPhone on the other hand will definitely cost you since it's still on contract. I'm not as familiar with iDevices but it's possible you may be able to do it for free using a similar procedure but it will definitely void your warranty. Whether it's worth paying to unlock is really up to you and whether or not the device will work properly where you're going (it probably will...I think iPhones are made to be pretty much universal, at least at the time when they're released).

Putting custom firmware on an Android device is a pretty quick and simple procedure so if you're interested I say go for it. I recommend getting the latest version of Cyanogenmod for HTC Desire and plonking it on there. Will give you root access, a bunch more customization options and upgrade it to Android 2.3. There are probably other custom ROMs that take it to newer versions but considering the old hardware it's running I wouldn't recommend it.