Comments on: Bermuda, the iPhone, and AT&T - BEWARE the Data Roaming!

By: Denis Robert

Denis Robert — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:26:45 +0000

I’m a Digicel customer. I’ve asked them to respond to this issue. I’ll post whatever answer I get.

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:04:08 +0000

Denis -

Thanks! Awfully kind of you to do so. I’m assuming most tier-1 folks in a carrier’s call center wouldn’t even understand the concepts of MCC’s and MNC’s … so I appreciate your efforts in helping us try to come to a final understanding!

By: Denis Robert

Denis Robert — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:26:01 +0000

FYI: “CDMA outside the US”. Yep, we have a CDMA carrier here: Cellular One. It’s actually quite healthy, it seems. Many Bermudians travel only to and from the U.S., so it kind of makes sense for them to be on a CDMA network.

Digicel came to Bermuda, taking over AT&T’s operation here. Unfortunately, Digicel is not what you’d call a very well run company, and we’ve had our share of issues. So this doesn’t *really* surprise me much…

By: Jason Freih

Jason Freih — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:56:10 +0000

Having lived in Bermuda for over a year now I found out a few things. First of all while we may have different names for our services, these all basically just US companies, under different names.

Under Bermuda law a company must be Bermudian owned, but can have minority partnership with any outside company. So far I found out that Cell One in Bermuda is actually Verizon, and Digicell is AT&T. I am not sure about the others.

Consider the fact that unlike other countries Bermuda has a North American long distance code (441) no need to dial +011. It’s entire system of communications (including TV and Internet) are US based.

Unfortunately I still cannot by a iPhone in the US and use it here.

By: Denis Robert

Denis Robert — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:15:17 +0000

Actually, Jason, Digicel is not AT&T. It’s a separate Caribbean company; they just bought AT&T’s operations in Bermuda. It happened about 3 years or so ago.

Bermuda is in fact on the NANP (the +1 country code area), but so are quite a few other countries in the Caribbean, and they don’t use the 310 MCC. Digicel is definitely in the wrong there (they should be using 350).

-> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_country_code

Then again, it wouldn’t be the only place where a Bermudian “utility” did something screwy; Cablevision comes to mind…

btw, hi! Have a good Cup Match weekend (Jason’s a co-worker of mine)

By: Denis Robert

Denis Robert — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:18:17 +0000

No reply from Digicel. What a surprise!

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:29:08 +0000

Oh well — thanks for trying anyway, Denis! I’m still trying to get an answer from AT&T on this one, from the help of one of the writers at iphoneatlas.com. If I find out anything else, I’ll post it here.

By: Lin Wyncoop Jr.

Lin Wyncoop Jr. — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:11:14 +0000

Great, informative article. I went on a cruise in March and was shocked that I was getting ATT (it said ATT) service on/from many of the islands. I thought nothing about it. Until I got my bill. It was about $200 more than usual, but what was odd was that much of the usage was showing up as Aruba……which we were not even close to. I figured as you did, it said ATT, so I must somehow be on their network, now I know not necessarily true! What I do now is this. I have the SIM card locked, so when I turn it on, it asks me if I want to unlock or not. If I do, I just put in a 4 digit code. This serves 2 functions. If I lose my phone they won’t be able to make calls and If I turn my phone on in, say Europe…….the SIM card is locked so theoretically I should not be doing any roaming ever……am I correct in my thinking? The phone feature is locked off, with the SIM card locked, but I can still get wifi. So far it has seemed to work perfectly doing this.

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:17:52 +0000

Lin,

After my experience in Bermuda, I’ve given up on assuming I know what’s going on with the iPhone and these odd roaming problems where the phone thinks it is on AT&T. Certainly, a SIM lock would *hopefully* block all data use … but I would expect it would also block all voice calls and text messages as well. At that point, you might as well just turn your iPhone on in Airplane Mode, and then activate the WiFi afterward (firmware 2.0 lets you do this now). That should effectively be the same solution - you’ve got an iPod Touch at that point.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:25:59 +0000

I just spoke with an AT&T rep about taking my iphone to Bermuda. She simply said “Don’t do it.”

I just wonder if I unlocked my iphone, could I add a local sim card or could I get by with just removing the sim card before landing in Bermuda.

By: Patricia M.

Patricia M. — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:27:21 +0000

Wow I’m really glad I found your site. I’m heading to Bermuda on a cruise next week and was really nervous about checking email on the iPhone (I’ve been burned before!). I don’t want to make or receive calls - just do the occasional email check without being gouged. I appreciate any updates and advice you guys may have.

By: Doug

Doug — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:56:25 +0000

Patricia -

I don’t have any additional information to provide. As far as I can tell - if you power up your iPhone, it’ll think it’s on AT&T and you’ll be paying roaming voice, text, and data rates. Be careful!

Oh, and enjoy Bermuda!

By: dvsjr

dvsjr — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:38:17 +0000

How to take a simple iPhone screenshot: With the 2.0 update installed, you can click and hold the HOME button on the front of your iPhone, and then click the Sleep/Wake button on the top right of your iPhone. Screenshots taken like this will just drop into your Camera Roll like any other photo. Makes for more effective presentations on websites where you are showing iPhone screens. Or telling people about your iPhone.