Hi rfranzq, thanks for the reply!
I tried to initially buy this phone from Bestbuy, but they only sell on contract.
So I went to the Samsung store, and they sold it outright, but I was given a choice of Bell or Telus. So I chose Telus. Honestly, I am a simple cheapo prepaid user, and did not do enough research
. I just needed it before they left. My parents are old, and I thought this was much easier for them to use because of the size and especially because of the stylus. Anyway, I was told I could call Telus and request the unlock code from them since the phone is bought outright. Later I find there is a three month grace period I must wait, but they were leaving before that, so I did the easy unlock method.
The unlock I used is supposed to be permanent, involves no rooting, and doesn't void the warranty (because no rooting). It was definitely locked prior to the unlock.
Regarding ekit: I did not even think about them being different!!! I think you figured it out for me!!! I logged into both accounts, the old sim was Passport PLUS, and the new sim is just Passport. There is no Passport Plus on the website anymore, and that's why I chose the Passport, unless it is well hidden on their website? The passport plus sim makes you select geography by entering either passcode xxxx (international) or 2xxxx (North America). The new passport sim doesn't use the passcode.
I can only test at home in Canada, but so far... The old passport plus sim registers fast. The new passport sim is either slower to register or doesn't register at all. The piranha is the one that gives me the invalid sim message.
The piranha works in the LG unlocked phone, and that's actually what they ended up using. The Piranha in the LG was the one that worked (not all the time though).
The new Ekit passport sim in the Note II would not roam at all.
This was a South American cruise around the horn from Brazil to Los Angeles.
I really want the piranha to work in the note, but it just isn't
I think I will try ordering mysims2go and onesimcard to try out, and go through the pain of teaching them how to change out sims. Seriously... it will be difficult...
*edit*
I thought I'd mention, they don't use the phone on the ship. They only use it at the ports, on land where it shouldn't be a problem to connect. They say they also did wait a long time for the roaming, but it just won't work with the note. Surely it shouldn't take more than 10minutes to connect?
Also, if you have recommendations for other travel sims, please let me know! I want to be prepared for the next time they travel.
*edit 2*
When I tried the new Ekit and Piranha sims, I connected the Note to my home wifi, and it did an automatic software update.
I only noticed when a lot of software appeared and the layout changed a bit *sigh*
I read that there are a lot of bugs with android 4.3, maybe this is part of the problem?
*edit 3*
I forgot to mention, when I tested out the new Ekit passport, it really doesn't like me selecting North America for some reason. It works better when selecting Rest of world, but of course I get charged a lot more.