Using Your iPhone with 3G in Vietnam
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(Updated Nov 8th, 2012. Please let me know how it works for you in the comments)
In nearly every country I travel to, I pick up a local SIM card for my iPhone, and if it's reasonable enough, get online with it as well. Spending nearly a month in Vietnam, and wanting to tweet photos from my Easyrider journey, I needed to get my 3G set up. Unfortunately, the lack of English (or my lack of Vietnamese), and a general unfamiliarity with iPhones and data plans at the mobile shops made it a tricky proposition.
Luckily for you, all of my struggles mean it's going to be strictly smooth sailing for you!
What you need:
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1) iPhone, jailbroken / unlocked
2) Vinaphone SIM card (65000VND)
3) Some Vinaphone credits depending on your usage
4) Paperclip or pin to change the SIM card
What you need to do:
1) Pop in your SIM card and you should be connected to Vinaphone
2) Send a text to number "888" with the message "GPRS ON"
3) Send a text to number "888" with one of the following messages:
"U1" for 1 day unlimited (12000VND)(~$0.65)
"U7" for 7 days unlimited (80000VND)(~$4.25)
"U30" for 30 days unlimited (300000VND) (~$16.00)
*note* these prices were current in June 2010. It would be worth checking out the posters in the mobile shops to confirm the pricing, as the staff likely won't be able to help you out.
4) Open up Safari and head to http://i.giaitri.net/
http://web.archive.org/web/20100802051701/http://i.giaitri.net/internet.php (Though the original site is down, I found a link on the Internet Archive that will allow you to install the profile. Note that it may look different than my images below, but it is the same site minus the pretty formatting)
5) Choose "Cai Dat Internet Tethering" under iPhone 3.0 Setup Tool
6) Pick Vinaphone and install the profile when prompted.
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7) Reboot your iPhone and you'll now be online!
This will enable internet access on your iPhone, as well as tethering. Vinaphone was my first experience tethering my iPhone, and I was very impressed. The wifi in Vietnam is very hit & miss, but the 3G was almost always rock solid, and very fast. My max download speed was 350K/sec. I had excellent 3G coverage in the major centers, but also along the roads less traveled in the Central Highlands, at worst dropping to EDGE.
3G tethering with your iPhone is a cheap way to avoid the headaches of flaky wifi points in your hotel and coffee shops while in Vietnam.
June 17, 2010 by Dustin Main in Articles | tagged Vietnam, iPhone, mobile | 13 Comments | Email Article 
Reader Comments (13)
nice share man. hoping someday I'll also be needed to use the 3G service in Vietnam
I hope you get the chance! Great country to travel.
Hopefully this post will come in handy in 2011. From all reports, Vietnam is a must-visit. Many thanks for the info.
I'm guessing that this guide can be adapted for use in ANY country, right? You just have to change the SIM depending on the country, perhaps.
@Cal,
Yes and no. This article has specific info for Vietnam, including all the hoops and codes you need to jump through to get it up and running with your iPhone, tethering and 3G.
In general though, with an unlocked iPhone (or any phone pretty much) you can pop a SIM card in from overseas and run with it. Calls / txt are usually no hassle but settings for data can sometimes be a pain in the neck, depending on the country. Australia was easy, Vietnam & Cambodia were harder.
I'll have an article on 3G iPhone access in Cambodia soon.
Hi,
many thanks for the info, really helped me set up data on my iPhone. Maybe i'm stating the obvious, but you should charge your card in advance with the amount necessary for you data plan (U1, U2 or U3).
Somehow the giaitri site hasnt been working for me, you can also manually set the APN by going into Settings->Network->Mobile Data and entering the APN for your mobile network there. You can find the right APN settings here: http://unlock.vn/iphone/Content.aspx?topicID=143
By the way, i found the mobile network in Cambodia much easier to set up. Just get a prepaid SIM card, enter the APN details and off you go. No need for manual activation or anything similar.
Hi I'm planning to go to Saigon this December 2010. I'm bringing my iPhone 4 with me swell as a sim card cutter. I won't be tethering, but I just want 3G on my phone to facebook and use google map. Will I have to do the above instruction?
@Peter Nice! I was planning on writing one for Cambodia as well, but it was just plug in and go so I didn't bother. Much easier!
@Thien As far as I know this should be all you need to get up and running. Let us know how it works for you.
I just got to Vietnam, getting 3G to work on Viettel was easy enough but I can't seem yto get tethering to work. Giaitri.net doesn't work nor did the apn website posted by a user here.
Can anyone help me?
Thanks mate , im going over at christmas time and this is exactly the info i was looking for , your a champion cheers
Dan
I've made some changes to the article which should allow people to get back online (and tethering) with their iPhones using Vinaphone in Vietnam. Please let me know how it works for you.
Went to Vietnam with my iPhone 4 in Feb 2011. This page gave me a lot of help trying to get Vinaphone to work, but my solution was much simpler:
Went to one of the thousands of small shops in Hanoi
Bought a Viettel sim card
Trimmed it to Micro sim size
Installed in phone
Sent a message to Viettel number for 3G ON.
Away it went!
The 3G service in Vietnam is amazingly good, only one isolated spot right out in the mountains near the Laos border did I have no service.
Thanks for the update Dave! Glad it's much easier now than it was a couple of years ago. iPhones were nowhere to be seen at the time there, and people were offering to buy mine all the time.
I did find their 3G service really good even then! Much further ahead than Thailand which is still EDGE in most of the country.