Hello - I will be traveling to England, N Ireland and Ireland for two weeks and am trying to figure out the best options for data and voice service. I have an iPhone 5 on AT&T and it is not eligible to be unlocked, so the way I see it my options are:
- rent a mifi device from xcom or Telecom Square - unlimited data from $13-15/day; seems expensive as I don't really need unlimited.
- rent a mifi from Tep Wireless - cheaper but the online reviews are ATROCIOUS!!
- buy an unlocked mifi device and add SIM cards as needed - not sure if this is worth the hassle. Would I need different cards in each location?
- I could add Skype to any of these options and use that for voice calls.
- I could also get a pay as you go phone but I don't know if I would be able to tether my ipad and phone to it.
AT&T's rates - voice ranges from about $0.50-$1.00 a minute if you prepay a certain number of minutes (how could you possibly know how many minutes you would need?). Otherwise rate is $1.50. Egregious.
Data starts at $30/120mb and goes up to $120/800mb if you prepay (again - how can you predict??). Otherwise rate is $19.97/mb. Crazy!!
I would appreciate any suggestions, ideally balancing convenience and cost. Thank you.