iPad 3G SIM Gives iPhone Data-Only for $15 USD

28. Jun, 2010 107 Comments

Something I have suspected since the iPad 3G’s launch but have not been able to confirm has now been verified by another blog: You can activate an iPad 3G SIM card on a $15/mo plan, then put that SIM into an iPhone and run it on a data-only plan. No more $40 restrictive voice plans!

With VOIP apps such as Skype working over 3G in the US now, this means you can get essentially unlimited calling on your data-only iPhone for roughly $20 USD a month, which includes a $4 unlimited skype calling account and phone number.

And with the upgrade to iOS 4.0 and background running apps, your VOIP apps can be left to run in the background without having to jailbreak. This means you can answer calls when you get them as the app will be running and able to receive the call.

It’s apparently a fairly easy (although not trivial) process. Just activate the iPad SIM (in an iPad 3G), put it in a microSIM -> SIM adapter, pop it into your iPhone, and change your iPhone’s APN settings.

What’s really nice is if you don’t have an iPad 3G, you can get just the SIM from AT&T for $15. Here in Canada, you can get one from Bell for $5, Telus for $10, and Rogers as well. I don’t know how much Rogers sells them for because their website isn’t very clear about it, but they do sell regular SIMs for $10, in case that is any indication.

If you are in the US, then you should also check out another story on the os-x files blog, namely relating to the use of google voice and skype to get virtually unlimited VOIP phone service for about $6 a month. Combine that with a 250MB data-only iPhone plan, and you can browse and talk for a little over $20 a month.

THIS is what wifitalk.ca is about. Data-only smartphone plans for a reasonable rate, with VOIP calling for voice. It’s not quite native in the US, and because Skype and Google Voice don’t yet offer phone numbers in Canada, it’s even farther away here, but this is the goal.

Credit to Kaido of the os-x files blog for the guide.

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3g, data only, iOS, ipad, voip

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Jordan

Hi George,

I’m a fellow Canadian and have tried using my Rogers iPad sim in my Rogers locked iPhone 3G using the linked to method and have not been able to make my iPhone receive service with it in; I simply receive “No Service”. Have you personally managed to make this technique work?

According to Myriam Joire on the Engadget Mobile Podcast #48, Rogers has somehow barred the sim from working in the iPhone (and possible other phones, but that’s not clear). I wonder also if Rogers has successfully blocked this, if sims from Bell or Telus would work with the above method with the appropriate locking or unlocking

Dariustheking

Have you guys correctly changed the pan settings to Rogers one? Maybe that’s why its not working

Dariustheking

I meant to say APN settings

http://www.wifitalk.ca george

Hi Jordan,

This was done by a friend of mine in the US. I haven’t been able to test it myself in Canada, but it doesn’t surprise me that Rogers blocked it. I may be able to do some testing on Bell’s network next week.
Tony

Hi, i also tried to use my iPad sim with Rogers, the micro sim got recognized on 3G network but whenever I try to go on the Internet, It leads me to Rogers website telling that I have no data plan and that I should get one.
I have heard that Rogers might have filtered non iPad device by the imei.

Anyway, I would love to see if it’s working on Bell or Telus.

Please let us know. Thanks.
Jordan

George, Tony,

I’ve been using a Telus iPad SIM in an unlocked iPhone 4 for the last few days and it has worked like a charm. It’s hard to know how long it will work for though. I also found out my iPad SIM can receive phone calls — I answered twice — but I’m thinking they will have noticed that so fingers crossed.

George, have you been able to test with Bell? Also your site has no option for receiving email on comment replies — it would be nice. : )

Ferdie

Hi Jordan, I don’t have an iPad but am planning to buy a unlocked iPhone 4 from apple store, for data use only. I am a Telus subscriber so I’ll buy my iPad micro from them.
Can you please provide the details to make my iPad micro sim work in my new iPhone4?
1. Once I bought the micro sim card from Telus store, do I just call Telus to activate it (I read from other blogs that I need a iPad to activate it, but since I don’t have one, what alternatives do I have other than borrowing ipad from someone else)
2. What settings do I need to do on my iphone4. Do I have to add/replace/change the default entries and what should they be?

I hope your iphone4 is sill doing great with a iPad micro sim in it.

Appreciate your inputs. Thanks

Ferdie

http://www.facebook.com/phardy13 Patrick Hardy

Tell me us if it works cause i got a bell micro sim and it did not work

http://www.facebook.com/phardy13 Patrick Hardy

So i’m trying this also with a rogers micro sim but with no luck… should i try with another provider? I’m in canada

thanks

Anonymous

Hi Patrick. Apparently this does not work with Rogers. I can confirm that it worked with Bell very recently (I may be retesting on bell soon) and assume that it will work on telus as well.

http://www.facebook.com/phardy13 Patrick Hardy

Hi wifitalk, did you do the Broadband config or another cause i just tried with an activated ipad microsim from bell and it does not work

http://twitter.com/georgekamps George Kamps

What was the exact procedure you used Patrick? Is your iPhone locked or unlocked? When I did it, I used a standard bell microSIM (I don’t think it was iPad specific as it actually had a phone number tied to it), and activated it on an iPad. Then, I pulled it out and put it in the iPhone4 and it just worked.

As soon as I get some time, I’ll be trying it out again with a locked iPhone 4 to see how that works.

http://www.facebook.com/phardy13 Patrick Hardy

I bought a micro sim from the bell store, got it activated on a prepaid ipad account, put the sim in the ipad, got a 15$ plan. On the iphone (unlocked) i went (by wifi) on unlockit.co.nz and created a custom APN profil with Broadband.. then i put the micro sim in the iphone and nothing
http://twitter.com/georgekamps George Kamps

That sounds like the same procedure I used too. I know I had trouble with it a few times and the APN settings didn’t seem to help. I reset the iPhone and just waited a while and it worked fine after that.

Odd thing was, even though it was on an iPad plan, the phone had a phone number and you could make and receive calls with it.
http://www.facebook.com/phardy13 Patrick Hardy

Can you give me more details on the iphone reset? complete reset? network reset in the general settings? did you have to recreate an apn profil after the reset? or it just worked?

thanks
http://twitter.com/georgekamps George Kamps

To be honest, I don’t recall exactly as I was frustrated that it didn’t seem to be working with APN settings. I just removed the APN profile, turned the phone off, then back on, and it took a few minutes for it to find the network. After that it just worked fine. I pulled the SIM out and it worked in the iPad, then put it back in the iPhone and it worked in there again.

IphoneHappy

Thanks for your info… i built on your ideas and now have unlimited cell phone use to anywhere in North America and have a local number here where i llive in Canada as well. It great! Only a data plan of $20.00 a month and free calling to anywhere.

IphoneHappy

I meant to say I have unlimited FREE calling to anywhere in North America via cell phone.(other than the $20.00 monthly data plan). Thanks.

Bruce

This is really cool – I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile. I have switched my home phones to voip.ms. I have an iPhone 3GS and a number with Bell. Can anyone talk me through the steps to convert to data only and maybe retain my Bell phone number?, though that is not too important.

Anonymous

Hi Bruce,

Basically there are two steps: 1. Get a your iPhone on a data-only plan, and 2. Get your number ported over to the voip.ms service.

To get the first step done, you have two options. First, you can try the procedure listed in this article where you activate an iPad 3G SIM and then put it in your iPhone (you’ll need a micro-SIM to SIM adapter to get it to fit). Second, you may have luck in getting Bell to just give you a data-only iPhone plan. I have a friend who called them up and was persistent on the phone with the Bell rep when their contract ended and managed to get a data-only plan for his iPhone. YMMV though.

The second step is relatively easy. According to the voip.ms website they support number portability, so you can just call them and ask them to port your current Bell number over.

Bruce

Thank you so much for your informative reply. YMMV means?
Couldn’t I just forward my home calls to my iPhone? (I’m on voip.ms at home) then I wouldn’t even have to have a separate cell number… I rarely use the cell anyway, it’s mostly for the convenience of having my date-book and contact list handy and for the occasional call.

Anonymous

Hi Bruce,

YMMV = your mileage may vary. Basically I was just saying that even though it worked for the one person I know, it doesn’t mean that you’ll have the same luck with Bell.

And yes, forwarding your number should work just fine.

Bruce

Cool! I’m on my way. Now to avoid any interaction or argument with Bell (I’m on month to month with them and own my iPhone) couldn’t I get an iPad sim and activate it? (not exactly sure how that works). Anyway just put it in my iPhone and use the iPad data contract. Perhaps Bell just talks to the sim and whether it is in a phone or iPad would be invisible or of no consequence…
Bruce

Cool! I’m on my way. Now to avoid any interaction or argument with Bell (I’m on month to month with them and own my iPhone) couldn’t I get an iPad sim and activate it? (not exactly sure how that works). Anyway just put it in my iPhone and use the iPad data contract. Perhaps Bell just talks to the sim and whether it is in a phone or iPad would be invisible or of no consequence…
Bruce

to continue – once I got the iPad sim working I could just cancel my iPhone relationship with them.
Pat

Hey Bruce if you get this to work, please let us know cause I never got it to work on an iPhone with an iPad sim card (
Pat

Hey Bruce if you get this to work, please let us know cause I never got it to work on an iPhone with an iPad sim card (
Bruce

Hi Pat, I’ll keep in touch – Haven’t been to the store to get an iPad sim yet. But surely the devilish detail is this: I imagine that you have to sign up for a contract for your iPad. I’m hoping that the sim doesn’t broadcast that it’s in an iPhone. I have a jailbroken iPhone 3GS with OS 4.0.1 – these may well be pertinent details
Pat

I tried my Rogers activated iPad sim in a 3GS unlocked and a bell activated iPad sim in the same phone without any luck,,, I have a bb from work with unlimited cellphone minutes but limited data because of security so I would like a data only iPhone for personnal use… As I never was able to get it from any carriers despite multiple tries, I have to Cary my iPad around….
Bruce

have you been through all of the details here?
http://hijinksinc.com/2010/05/14/using-a-micro-sim-in-an-iphone-3g/
Pat

Unfortunately yes . I guess they made something to block it… They don t want to give data only plans in case people goes on the VoIP and they loose they money cow of cellphone minutes
Anonymous

It didn’t work right away for me. I had to mess around with it for a while, rebooted the phone a few times etc. People have said it works on Bell and Telus, but not Rogers.
Bruce

to continue – once I got the iPad sim working I could just cancel my iPhone relationship with them.
Anonymous

Yep, that’s basically how I got it to work. Activated a Bell iPad SIM in an iPad, then put it in an iPhone4.
Bruce

Thank you – Question is this – I could activate a new iPad sim in a friend’s iPad but then if I use it in my iPhone does my data get charged to my friend’s iPad? Don’t want to do that!

But could I then just cancel my iPhone monthly arrangement with Bell and then get a new data plan with them – I imagine I could get a month to month no problem.

Am I missing something?
Anonymous

You can use his iPad to activate your SIM and he won’t get charged so long as you don’t put his credit card number and name in when you’re doing the activation.

If you do get the iPad SIM working in your iPhone on the data only plan, then yes, you can cancel your old iPhone plan and just use the data.
Bruce

Brilliant! – thank you so much off to my corner sim shop. – I’ll report my experience here.

BTW I am getting duplicated emails for this forum. I have registered during this dialog and just stopped email notifications. I’m hoping that will fix it. I’ll subscribe again and see what happens.
Bruce

I have a Bell micro sim, have made the adapter (looks pretty flimsy) and am about activate the sim and then put it in my iPhone. I see that Bell talks about a fee for roaming – if I am in the US (or even traveling elsewhere outside Toronto in Canada and want to use this then it could be expensive. Wondering about another option before I take the leap…

This from Bell’s data plan for iPad
Additional plan information:

Data usage over 5 GB: $0.015/MB U.S. data roaming: $3/MB International roaming available upon requestOne-time activation fee: $35 Monthly optional paper billing fee: $2
Anonymous

Yes it could get expensive with roaming, however:

1. You should double check what roaming means in Canada. I’m pretty sure that as long as you’re on the Bell network in Canada, it isn’t roaming.

2. If you are in the US, then yes, it’ll cost you, but typically VOIP data usage is so low it can be cheaper to use roaming data + VOIP than to use roaming voice.
Bruce

Bell CSR confirmed that there are no roaming charges in Canada. However, when I went to activate the card the rep told me that the cart had already been used! Back to Wireless Wave…
Bruce

Hmm – sitting on my hands till I can exchange my defective micro-sim. I may buy a micro sim adapter since my homemade adapter was hard to insert and I’m afraid I might have to take the phone apart to extract it next time.

By the way Apple.ca
http://store.apple.com/ca/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone
says:

Are iPhone 4 and iPad micro-SIM cards interchangeable?
No. Your iPad micro-SIM card will not work with your iPhone.

is this not true?
Bruce

One other query. If I get the iPad sim working on my iPhone, I wonder if I’ll be able to receive text messages. I’m thinking of using my voip.ms forwarded home number on my iPhone though it’s not a problem to get a dedicated number from voip.ms
Anonymous

So the odd thing about this procedure is when I used the Bell iPad SIM in the iPhone4, the iPhone ended up with a working phone number too. I could use it to make and receive calls and texts without there being a voice plan on it. I used a test SIM from work for this so I never saw the bill.
Anonymous

You can use his iPad to activate your SIM and he won’t get charged so long as you don’t put his credit card number and name in when you’re doing the activation.

If you do get the iPad SIM working in your iPhone on the data only plan, then yes, you can cancel your old iPhone plan and just use the data.
Bruce

Thank you – Question is this – I could activate a new iPad sim in a friend’s iPad but then if I use it in my iPhone does my data get charged to my friend’s iPad? Don’t want to do that!

But could I then just cancel my iPhone monthly arrangement with Bell and then get a new data plan with them – I imagine I could get a month to month no problem.

Am I missing something?

Bruce

Update on getting my 3GS working: Bought 2 micro sims from a local cellular shop. When I went to activate them both had already been used!!! Bell will look into it – some sort of scam going on there. So I went to a Bell store and got a new micro sim from them. No cost for the sim! just a $15 service charge. There is a service charge anyway with Bell – when I activate the card I only have to pay the first month on a payg plan.

I went to Pacific Mall to a shop that unlocks phones and got a micro sim adapter for $6. I’ve decided to activate it in a friends iPad.

But BTW I figured out a great hack to make the micro sim (if it’s from Bell) into a regular sim. Since the micro sim comes on a punch-out card just cut around it as shown in the image.

I’ll get my card into an iPad in the next couple of days and I’ll post my experience here.

Wifinoas

did this work?
Wifinoas

did this work?

Jeastes

did it work bruce?

Bruce

I see a friend with an iPad on Friday and then I’ll activate the chip – might take me a couple of days arter that to try it because I have a mad work weekend. I will post my experience. iPad user has been hard to find among my friends.
Bruce

I see a friend with an iPad on Friday and then I’ll activate the chip – might take me a couple of days arter that to try it because I have a mad work weekend. I will post my experience. iPad user has been hard to find among my friends.
Bruce

Hi Jeastes
Well I activated the micro-sim and put it in my iphone and I’m on the 3G network. No problem. Have to sort VoIP out now then I’ll be boppin. Tried to make a call to my home phone and was told I have 0 dollars in my account – don’t know what that’s all about. Sort out the details later…

Anonymous

That’s great news Bruce. Sounds like it is working in pay as you go mode, which probably wouldn’t be a bad thing. I don’t know if you can get them to let you operate it as such, that way you can throw $5 into a pay as you go account so you have the standard voice backup in case your VOIP is wonky.

Bruce

guess i goofed. went online to check my plan and logged and connected my account to one-bill and then it sent a confirmation number to my phone and when i entered it then ‘cellular data plan unavailable’. looks like i’ve told bell that it’s in a phone…
i’ll try putting the sim in an ipad and going into itunes and see what happens – it’s just that i rarely have access to an ipad.

Jeastes

did it work bruce?
Alwash D

any news if this still works?

Bruce

Have to re-authorize the SIM on an iPad – will manage that in a couple of days.

Alwash D

does this work on iphone 4?

Anonymous

Yes it does. Or, it did on Bell when I tried it last.

Boul Morpat

Help can’t get my data sim to work on iphone4 4.3.5

Boul Morpat

Help Help data plane not working on my iPhone 4
Bruce

OK – I have finally got the Bell micro sim working on my iPhone 3Gs. I didn’t have to change the APN – as a matter of fact when I went though the steps and changed it to Broadband then I couldn’t get online. I’m cooking now with my wifi off.
I use voip.ms at home and I’m wondering how to integrate that with my iPhone. Anyone know how?

Bruce

I’m on a jailbroken 3GS OS 4.0.1 – quite an old OS but fine for my uses. The micro-sim works fine. I’m using Acrobits as a softphone client. I also have Whistle and VaxVoip. I have voip.ms at home and when I call out (and I can do so) it appears that I am calling from my home number. I have yet to receive a call although it should work. I have a ring group set up on voip.ms so that when someone calls me at home both my home phone and cell should ring. However push notifications might be a problem. i.e. I may not receive calls (if Acrobits is off) till I get that implemented. Also I’m not sure about texting as ‘push’ will have to be involved there as well.

Bruce

cracked it – I’m receiving calls on my iPhone and push is working (had to activate it from within the Acrobits app) – now to figure out text.

Anonymous

Hey Bruce, great to hear you got it working!
Anonymous

Hey Bruce, great to hear you got it working!

Bruce

My iPhone 3GS works with data-only micro sim for ipad. Quality is very
bad much of the time using Acrobits. Anyone know how to get texting to
work? Can NOT get logged into this site – so I’m on as a guest yet again. Bruce

Anonymous

No idea about texting. Log in troubles? The site uses disqus for comments, so try re-setting your password with them.
Kristian

TextPlus will give you a local phone number to use for unlimited texting. Is free to use.
Bendc003

Textfree is another good free texting program and it allows you to send pics and attachments as well. It also has a voice program and you get a local number for people to text or call.
keith mcmahon

with sms gv extension in cydia it will work with the stock texting app
keith mcmahon

with sms gv extension in cydia it will work with the stock texting app
keith mcmahon

with sms gv extension in cydia it will work with the stock texting app

jfmartel

Can it work with another phone? Like any prepaid phone?
jfmartel

Can it work with another phone? Like any prepaid phone?
Ctktcmt2

since i read this at the beginning of summer 2011 i’ve been doing it. works great for me on bell data plan of 20 bucks a month.
Activemind

Can you use this on a iPod Touch?
Activemind

Does this work if you use the iphone on a pay as you go plan and utilize the data plan?
Mac

Hi wifitalk thank you for the great video. I’m just wondering if this still works in Canada? I think you said you tested it on the Canadian Bell Network, is that right? And I remember reading an article from apple that you wont be able to use ipad sim cards with iphone 4s? Is that true? Also how is the Voip’s? quality wise is it worth it?
keith mcmahon

i have a iphone 3g on 4.2.1 lock to Telus will this work on a telus network

Yvaron

Havé you found the way to get the iPad Telus sim in the iPhone 3G . I did it was easy, but after about 2 hours got a message 50$ spend… Wow after a call at Telus they saw That the sim was in the iPhone and consequently the agreed plan do not apply, pay per mg very expensive. They obviously told me that i should not use it in my iPhone . Any suggestion

keith mcmahon

thats bad how did u get the ipad sim

Yvaron

It is the sim card of my iPad 2, but I would like to use internet on my iPhone 3G unlock and use it to give acces to my Mac Pc and iPad , it works !!
But I have to configure it to ensure that telus believe it is my iPad 2.
Still don’t know.

keith mcmahon

how did u unlock your iphone is it on a ipad basband ?
keith mcmahon

and u can get mywi in cydia to use with your ipad to give internat acces to mac pc and iphone

Ctktcmt

just an added note: you can also use the magicjack app and have free calls to anywhere in north america. This way you still only have a data plan cost and the magicjack yearly cost (quite cheap for mobile calls to anywhere in north america)
Anonymous

Worked for me

jfmartel

Worked with which carrier?

Anonymous

Virgin Mobile.

keith mcmahon

did u atia

Anonymous

no ipad at all.
keith mcmahon

so where do you get the card
keith mcmahon

and is it on a plan ?

Anonymous

Whoops, I clicked Post too fast. I put some details in my blog. I did it using a Virgin Mobile iPad SIM.
http://wentari.blogspot.com/2011/10/iphone-4s-using-ipad-micro-sim-on-data.html
Thanks for the article. One thing I have not been able to figure out is how to configure inbound calls on VoIP, but I’ll re-read the comments later.

keith mcmahon

for volp calling the best is us google voice and the app talkatone

keith mcmahon

im on iphone 3g on 4.2.1 with virgin mobile ipad sim it works, NO IPAD.

Winkymeats

I’ve used unlockit to change my APN to pda.bell.ca (the one recommended for use with virgin mobile’s ipad microsim), but only get “no service”. if you have any walk thru suggestions.. not sure what I’m doing wrong.

keith mcmahon

dont use unlockit i just did put the sim in my phone and restart it and it worked. what update u on ?

Cornelius Talmidge

it’s not far away here though! In fact with Canadian-native services like voip.ms; we’ve been running voip-based mobile service for our company for years.
I haven’t had a “real” cell phone account for a long long time and pay nominal fees for the actual phone account because not only is it the same account as my office desk phone, but it’s wholesale rates that are ridiculously cheap. The only downside for the moment, is that getting a true data-only plan for a smartphone has been elusive so I’ve been using a mifi – works really well but its battery life is limiting; plus I use it for carrying around my network for client demonstrations etc (which I could do with tethering anyway)
Cem Argun

Hey, I’m planning a visit to Vancouver, BC next week. I wonder if Bell’s data only iPad SIM still works with an iPhone 4? On Bell’s web site they claim it won’t work on another device than the iPad. Any updated information? Thanks in advance.

keith mcmahon

unlock and use virgin it just as good as bell and the cards come activated so its plug in and play. I got it to work in my phone as i was exiting the store. The iphone 4 needs a micro sim so its best to use ipad sims.

keith mcmahon

is there a good way to receive calls on google voice number on a iphone
http://twitter.com/SuperCharge14 Danny Vo

Can you confirm that this works on an iPhone 4? I’m planning to get it but I only need it for data. Would the iPad sim work with the iPhone 4?

keith mcmahon

PeterYeung confirm that is works on a iphone 4s and it works on my 3g

You

Peter.. I have a sim and I have a plan that can add the 10 dollar share my daughter has the iphone I want to do this with but I couldnt add it to my bell account no how her phone is at baseband 6.15, is there a way I could use my wifes rogers iphone to add the data only onto then just send it to her.. I have the sim adapter

http://www.iphonelox.com/ unlock iphone 4

News make crazy me to get and use it. Information is the best for good features on use.

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iPad 3G SIM Gives iPhone Data-Only for $15 USD

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