Internet, Wx data, phone access in Oregon

[KUS]

Just thought I would start this thread, it's pretty imperative to have good access for good driving decisions during your coast/Gorge holidays. Apart from using Iwindsurf sensors historical data free, obviously having some access to readings and accurate forecasts is crucial. Iwindsurf free month trials were available and a pager pays if you cannot drop by the stores in HR to get a decent forecast/readings. www.Windonthewater.com , select Oregon, is another great resource.

WX forecast: I use Windspeed.com for a decent Gorge forecast and the MM5 for the coast. Tamara's is just too much fuzz and BingenBart & Victortheinflictor are long retired, too bad. It is amazing how many people use a variety of sources I have not heard about. Alton has provided a good NOAA link from his website http://wind.altoning.com/noaa
From windoverwater forecast map, here's one for Florence
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.ph ... -124.09861

Cams: obviously check those, BWD linked oregon coast and gorge cams are awesome

Access: Alton here also told us about T-mobile (any mall) allowing a pay-as-you-go $2/day unlimited data & voice in $10 incremgorgents, good for 3 months. Bumping the account allows an additional 3 months and saves the unused amount. U need an unlocked phone such as I-phone or android to get internet access and get a onetime SIM card purchase for $10. He has just provided us with fast internet access here at 3mile buttf&^knowhere in the middle of the desert by providing his phone as a hotspot. Very cool!

Fuel: And of course if you drive a gasguzzler like me, this http://www.oregongasprices.com/ is a good site to keep bookmarked on your data phone

[~~~~~4j~~]

Thanks Markus, good information. I dug up the T-mobile site.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prep ... vation-Kit

[altoning]

I've been using T-Mobile for several years. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

[firstonlastoff]

Newbie questions regarding this topic. I've got an iphone and a plan (R*&^%s). Can I simply pop out my current SIM-card out and replace it with another SIM card purchased for use in the USA? How do I 'unlock' the phone, and anything obvious that I need to investigate before swapping SIM cards?

[nanmoo]

No, not unless the phone is unlocked.

Locked is a tidy way your service provider makes sure the phone you buy from them stays with their service. Some providers will sell you an unlocked phone, but you'll pay for it over and above the locked version. Google the topic for your specific phone, some you can do yourself if you dig hard enough, some you can't and you'll have to put in a bit more effort to make it happen. Some phones your service provider will unlock for you (for a fee).

[Martin]

Recently drove down to Hood River, Portland etc.
Before leaving, I unlocked my LG phone using "unlock.canadagsm.ca".
Cost was $9.00! The first sequence of numbers they gave me didn't work but they replied to my email within 10 minutes with a new sequence which unlocked it. The phone only allows a certain amount of tries, I think 10 so be careful.
Found a T-Mobile outlet in the States and they sold me a sim card and the $2 per day unlimited voice, data, and text! For $20 I was good to go.
I still used a "phone card" to make long distance calls to Victoria.
The cellphone charge was included in the unlimited voice and the long distance was 5 cents a minute on the phone card. Think I bought the phone card at Costco long ago.

[Windsurfish]

FOLO, Let me know how it goes. I have a Telus Locked iPhone, would like to do the same....

[~~~~~4j~~]

$9! I see that Telus charges $50 to unlock an eligible phone.
http://www.telusmobility.com/en/BC/Unlo ... vice.shtml


Thanks for the alternative.

[Martin]

Yes, I checked with Future Shop and best Buy and they all wanted $50.00 to unlock my LG Telus phone. The online site worked great. I was hesitant at first but all went well.
In the States, the T-Mobile "guy" took out the Telus sim card and inserted the T-Mobile one for me.
As soon as I crossed the Canadian border on the way back, I pulled over, took off the back cover, removed the battery and took out the T-Mobile sim and inserted the Telus sim. Turned on the phone and it was good to go on Telus.

[KUS]

unlocked my LG phone using "unlock.canadagsm.ca".
Cost was $9.00! The first sequence of numbers they gave me didn't work but they replied to my email within 10 minutes with a new sequence which unlocked it. The phone only allows a certain amount of tries, I think 10 so be careful.
Found a T-Mobile outlet in the States and they sold me a sim card and the $2 per day unlimited voice, data, and text! For $20 I was good to go

awesome Martin, brings a smile to my face, frikking cell companies always gouging....and it should be noted you only get charged by Tmobile the $2/day if you actually USE it....and since you can turn some phones into hot spots you can take turns in your group as to who provides the service for that day ....used Alton's phone all day by three of us, next time we'll have ours figured to share it

[altoning]

T-Mobile will only work if your GSM smartphone (iPhone or Android from Rogers, Fido, Bell or Telus) is unlocked. If it's unlocked T-Mobile's Pay-By-The-Day is definitely the way to go. I recommend the $2/day plan for unlimited voice, text and 2G data. The $3/day also gives you 4G speed but throttles down to 2G after 30MB. I think 2G speed is good enough for most web browsing, email and Google Maps. Anyway, I doubt if your Canadian GSM smartphone will support the T-Mobile 4G frequencies. My Samsung Galaxy S, my wife's iPhone 3GS and my daughter's HTC Hero also don't support T-Mobile's 4G but 2G works fine.

International text (eg. to Canada) is $0.10/text (inbound and outbound). I don't send many texts to Canada so I find it quite affordable. Also, a reset my Twitter mobile settings to my US number.

Some other considerations:

1. Since you'll swap out your Canadian SIM card while in the USA, you will not receive calls to your Canadian number. Make sure you know what number to call to access your Canadian voice mail.

2. Use a calling card for international calls (eg. calling back to Canada to access your voice mail). Skype has a calling card service called Skype-To-Go. Otherwise, T-Mobile charges $0.49 per minute to call back to Canada.

3. Turn your smartphone into a wifi hotspot using the Personal/Portable Hotspot feature. My car was a wifi hotspot for the KUS and Jellyfish when we were at Three Mile Canyon and Arlington.

4. Voice, text and data work perfectly along I-5 and I-84. It's sketchy at Tuckers. If you're going to the Oregon coast, you can only get voice and text along Hwy 101 in bigger towns like Florence and Gold Beach but no data. At Pistol River, no one (including AT&T except maybe Verizon) could get any cell reception.

5. There is a one-time $10 setup charge for the new T-Mobile SIM card but it's well worth it.

6. I only fill up my pre-paid account $10 at a time but the remaining balance will stay there for 3 months. I always check my balance online and if necessary top up using my credit card before leaving home. Or top up in the US by dialing *233.

7. If you really need hi-speed Internet (to upload huge pictures or stream video), you can poach free wifi from Windance, McDonalds, Starbucks, Doppio. For the Gorge, see http://www.gorge.net/community/wifi-hotspots.cfm. In Gold Beach you can poach wifi from the Curry County Event Center and I heard from somewhere in the marina.

[bwd]

If anyone has an iPad with cellular you can get an AT&T sim card and pay $30 for one month of data (3 GB). You can cancel any time so you are only charged for the one month. Here are the steps:

1. Buy an AT&T sim card. Online is best but you can probably pay $10 for one in the US. I bought mine from amazon.com for $2.25 each plus shipping. Look for "AT&T Micro SIM Card for iPad Wi-Fi + 3G (TM) and iPhone 4"

2. Sign up for a virtual visa card using entropay.com
Load your card up with $50 or so using your real visa card. Use your real Canadian address for Entropay. They charge you 5% on the amount every time you load the card.

3. In Canada and using wifi, insert the AT&T sim card and go to Settings then Cellular Data then hit the account settings button. This takes you to the AT&T account setup. Under account settings, select a username and password and select the plan $15=250mb, $30= 3GB per month. Enter the entropay details using "Entropay user" in the name field. You need to enter a US address (any US address will work). You don't use your name or Canadian address at all...they just need to think you live in the US. I don't think you can do this without the Entropay virtual Visa since your regular credit card is tied to a canadian address.

Don't forget to cancel after a month or they will automatically bill you.

4. Use facetime/skype for calls...3 GB is a lot of data.

5. You can create a wifi hotspot if you jailbreak your iPad.

This worked well last year. It sounds complicated but it's actually quite easy. The Entropay virtual visa can be used to get US netflix too.

[altoning]

Keith Teboul got data on his AT&T iPhone in Gold Beach during the AWT Pistol River Wave Bash - but still no signal at Pistol River. I only got voice/text in Gold Beach using T-Mobile and nothing at Pistol River.

I suspect AT&T is better for data along the Oregon coast in bigger towns like Gold Beach and Florence. T-Mobile will partner with AT&T to get voice/text but no data along the coast.

Next time I'm in Bellingham, I'll look into AT&T options for my Android. http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/data-plans.html says you need the $50/month plan for Mobile Hotspot/Tethering so I may have to root (similar to iPhone jailbreak) my Android to share my Internet for $20/month for 300MB.

[bwd]

AT&T data was fine for me at Gold Beach too, but like you said there was no signal at the Cape pullout or the Rock. But if you drive ~1 mile south from the Rock and take the first left (Frontage Rd from the Pistol R Loop) and stop at the corner, the AT&T data signal was good. That was useful when we camped on that side of the hump.