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I need a data plan while in Finland for a month later this year.

I'm going to ask for loaner cell phone and laptop from my work.

I was thinking of asking for a GSM iPhone and Mac Book Pro.

Then getting a USB modem dongle w/sim card.

Will these American-bought devices work in Finland?

Which Finnish internet provider (if any) has short-term 4g contracts? My wife (a Finn) says these don't exist, but I find that hard to believe given Finnish cellular penetration.

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  • Whether a USB dongle with SIM card will work is a question for a tech site, not a travel sight. Which Internet you should buy is an opinion-based shopping question; off-topic here.
    – Flimzy
    Nov 8, 2013 at 3:57
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    Ok, I can ask it on StackOverflow, if that's what you're implying. Seems like more of a locale-specific travel question to me, though...
    – user8214
    Nov 8, 2013 at 3:59
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    Whether GSM phones will work in Finland is probably a fine question here (although I'm sure google can ansewr that for you faster than we can). Where you can buy a specific a SIM card in Finland can be on topic here, too, but which SIM card/phone plan is best is an opinion-based question.
    – Flimzy
    Nov 8, 2013 at 4:01
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    I would be surprised if a Verizon phone worked in Finland, too. Verizon and Sprint in the US are the bastard children of cell phones, using CDMA, when nearly the entire rest of the world uses GSM.
    – Flimzy
    Nov 8, 2013 at 4:05
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    There are too many questions in here, it is just a mess.
    – Nean Der Thal
    Nov 8, 2013 at 4:07

2 Answers 2

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Finland, as with most European nations, is all-GSM as per http://www.gsmarena.com/network-bands.php3?sCountry=FINLAND but your iPhone, if acquired in North America, may not support the frequencies used there, especially for 4G LTE. I'd check the model number of the iPhone offered to confirm that, if you want to tether the MacBook to the iPhone for bandwidth here's some discussion. A list of Finnish major carriers follows, and TeliaSonera clearly does have a prepaid data plan.

Aland
Home page: http://www.gsm.aland.fi/
Roaming page: http://www.gsm.aland.fi/

DNA OY
Home page: http://www.dnafinland.fi
Roaming page: https://www.dna.fi/Yksityisille/Matkaviestinta/­Hinnastot/Sivut/Puheluh­innatulkomailta.aspx­

Elisa
Home page: http://matkaviestinta.elisa.fi
Roaming page: http://www.elisa.fi/matkaviestinta/roaming/­index.cfm?o=199.40­

TeliaSonera
Home page: http://www.sonera.fi
Roaming page: https://kauppa.sonera.fi/yksityisille/raatali/data_prepaid.aspx?Selection=Sim&intcmp=Mob-prepaidnetti-tutustu-pieni5

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I've answered a similar question. Have a look at this wiki, in particular the Finland - Elisa page. They have very cost-effective prepaid SIM cards that include unlimited mobile data, including HSDPA (regularly 4.5Mbps+).

Whether your phone will work in Finland is down to which frequency bands it supports. If it's a Tri-band phone it should be ok, a T-Mobile US phone will work better than an AT&T phone (in my experience travelling to the US with European phones) because of some of the 3G frequency bands they use.

Anoter thing to note is WiFi. I don't know if you'll be staying in hotels of with family, but if you're in any public places (bars, cafes, etc.) or hotels there is usually free WiFi which (with the exception of some hotels) is usually of exceptional quality.

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