How International Is the iPhone 4S ‘World Phone?’

Jason Snell:

But there’s a new wrinkle that potentially makes the international-roaming experience better on Sprint and Verizon iPhones than it is on AT&T. Sprint plans to sell the iPhone 4S with its micro-SIM slot unlocked; Verizon’s will be initially locked, but if you’ve been a customer in good standing for 60 days, you can call Verizon and ask for an “international unlock.” […]

So if you’re a Sprint or Verizon iPhone 4S customer traveling internationally, you can buy a pre-paid micro-SIM card with dramatically cheaper rates for data and voice calling, rather than pay for international roaming offered by U.S. carriers to their existing customers.

Very cool. And keep in mind that while your phone number changes with a pre-paid SIM, your iCloud ID doesn’t, so you can use iMessage to send and receive messages from other iOS users.

★ Wednesday, 12 October 2011