Disney Mobile Magic Now on iPhone

[Keith]

Thanks for the ITunes answer - now I just need to try to set up a US iTunes account! Anyone?

Also, I found a company who sell the DataJack prepaid Mifi at a reasonable price, so that's on it's way to Saratoga Springs now. It will get there just before us! Thanks for the advice and help so far!

hey there, how did the datajack work out??

[Jax1970]

hey there, how did the datajack work out??

Datajack was perfect - wonderful to use, worked straight from the box. I managed to sort out a US iTunes account for the Mobile Magic app too!

Free wifi at SSR Paddock area was very fast and strong as well.

Thanks to all for the help!

Jackie

[Keith]

Datajack was perfect - wonderful to use, worked straight from the box. I managed to sort out a US iTunes account for the Mobile Magic app too!

Free wifi at SSR Paddock area was very fast and strong as well.

Thanks to all for the help!

Jackie

EXCELLENT good to know it worked so well

[Wendy]

Glad it worked well for you

Keith, how are you getting on with the sim - would you use one again or stick to your mifi

[Keith]

Keith, how are you getting on with the sim - would you use one again or stick to your mifi

interesting question. I'm still not 100% sure to be honest!

My major requirement these days is data. I tend to make no calls either US or back to UK at all and if I WAS making a call to the UK I'd tend to use VOIP for that so again, data or wifi needed.

so unlimited US calls? not that useful to me.

In UK I'll text a lot and receive quite a few too! Now that's changed a little too because of
1. apple imessage
2. whatsapp

All the apple devices now have a combined text/message app so if you try and text someone who is also on an apple device, chances are it'll just imessage them instead! using data and not text. I'd go so far as to say that accounts for over 80% of my texting now! so again, data.

whatsapp brings across phone messaging to all the usual devices so with more and more people using that, that saves texts too.

Finally, my theory was that unlimited international texting would be good for the remaining people. it's not really. Since it's a US number, the UK people have to take the burden of paying more so quite understandably, text less. (you find out who your real friends are when you need a text/call to a US number )

So.... unlimited texts hasn't really been the huge advantage that I expected either.

Unlimited data.... ok, so when this works, it's great. Great to just have the sim in the phone, nothing else and data working just like at home. Problem with the sim I got is that on the iphone, it only gives edge not 3g or 4g which is quite slow. It's liveable with but not optimal. The iphone doesnt have the right bands for this on the simple mobile (tmobile) network.

This brings me to the tmobile network. Ironically, my mifi device works on tmobile and had always been great but that had 4g capability. Strangely, without 3g/4g to use, tmobile hasnt been great. Again not AWFUL just not as great as I'd like. Next to no signal at the villa, or until hitting the main road. At universal citywalk restaurant, no signal then fine in the room next door. By no signal I mean zip, no service... not even talk/text. That's not good at all. At the same time my UK phone was roaming on at&t and that consistently had service.

The US number is confusing people. I tried to tell everyone but people are still texting the uk number so this ended up meaning that I carry both around with me. So the idea that the SIM would prevent me having to carry an additional mifi device hasn't really worked out.

One definite advantage to the sim, battery life is fine. The iphone easily lasts all day without a charge whereas the mifi would last about 4hrs and need a charge. This has never been an issue as we tend to go out, come back and recharge ourselves plus the phone, but still, advantage SIM.

So hmmmmm!

What would I get next time :/ well one things for certain, I wouldnt use mrsimcard... who resells a $40 simple mobile plan for $89.99. I probably wouldn't get simple mobile for the reasons above.

That leaves verizon who I don't seem to see doing this kind of thing really :/

AT&T and Sprint.

I dont really know anything about how good sprint is in Orlando. AT&T Seems promising although I don't know if it does 4G or just 3G in Orlando and again how good it is on the iphone.

The sim you mentioned Wendy the redpocket one may well have been the better option coverage wise and possibly data speed wise.

What I DO like about the mifi is, it lets me keep my UK phone sim in there and so anyone texting/phoning me still works and yet I have full data access too.

However, the battery life aspect is important and I do like not having to wonder how much longer I'll get out of the mifi battery.

As I've typed all this out (phew LOL) I find myself thinking that a sim card with better coverage both for speech/text as well as faster data (3g/4g minimum) may well make the best overall compromise. I could redirect my uk cell to the US number to catch any emergency calls and that would only leaves texts which as I've said, are less important nowadays.

So! I'd like the try the redpocket sim next perhaps.... or at least some kind of att/sprint one

I kinda feel verizon may be the best round here but I just dont see any pay as you go verizon sims

[Beccaberry]

Just a quick review of this app, as I used it for the first time yesterday. I thought it was pretty cool...I did some accuracy checks on waiting times and they were spot on each time! I also liked the ease of checking dining reservations...that was very handy! It recognized immediately when I entered the MK and I could definitely see it being particularly useful for families traveling for the first time...

[Wendy]

Thanks for the review Becca, it's good to hear from someone who has actually used it

[Keith]

Thanks for the review Becca, it's good to hear from someone who has actually used it

yeah I meant to say, although I didnt seem to be able to see it in the UK, once I was in the states using verizon I was able to download it fine (despite not having a US apple store login which is how I THOUGHT it worked :/ )

I've just checked it again now and its still working even though Im back in the UK although a lot of functions require you to actually be in a park.

It's quite nice though and good to know UK people CAN get it

[Keith]

just to update on sim cards and mifis

mrsimcard: very expensive way of buying sims ALTHOUGH he sent when he said and delivered what he said.

simple mobile sim: used tmobile but uk phones dont tend to have the right frequencies to get 3g so iphone was very slow on it AND because of lack of 3g, often lost service even for calls/texts. The best deal but not the best performer.

redpocket sim: uses at&t. Better service than simple mobile, right frequencies for uk. I still found that data was very off/on

tmobile mifi: Good data service, decent speed. Easy to top up

verizon mifi: verizon are new to this prepay mifi deal but now they do it it works great! verizon seems the most reliable network around orlando/disney and the mifi gives full 4gLTE which is amazingly fast. Faster than my uk home broadband in fact. Very impressive indeed. Topping up is more difficult, verizon dont like UK credit cards, so you can either use a prepaid visa card or buy top up cards from bestbuy.


If you plan to call/text US numbers as well as use some data, I'd get the redpocket sim. It's the best all rounder.

If you're not going to make inside US calls/texts but you need data, I'd get the verizon mifi.

For most people these days, data will give you most of what you need. iphone imessage will work, whatsapp, web browsing, forums, facebook etc.

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[Keith]

Soon as I had the verizon mifi, I was able to download disney mobile magic!

Its surprisingly good! It'll give wait times, character meeting spots for the day, allow you to make dining reservations and much more. It shows loads of information about resorts too, not just the parks.

It works back in the UK too although some things only show up when youre inside the parks...

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