Whats the best USA sim card deal at the moment?

[infinity]

I will be in the USA for 6 weeks in December/January

I have used an AT&T card this year for an Iphone which included data

What do members suggest is the best sim deal going at the moment for a stay in USA?

Do I get the sim there or grab one from Oz?

I can do my international calls using Skype so data is essential on the sim

 

[Mwenenzi]

Look here: Communication & Internet. Your question has been asked many times before
How much data do you need ?

 

[Baysider]

Most of their services don't use SIM card technology, so the options are limited. I don't know about current deals but historically T-Mobile have been very good. To get a SIM kit you have to go to one of their stores, the kiosks in shopping malls don't carry SIMS.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

+1 to infinity's request - I too would like current info on USA sim cards.

I currently have T-Mobile in iPhone and it is useless for 3G - just does not work.

Go anywhere else in the world - buy a SIM - 3G just works - not so easy in the good ol' US of A IME.

We all know how telcos change / add new services / plans all the time - IMHO quite relevent to ask about best CURRENT option.

 

[kevrosmith]

Don't go T-mobile for iPhone. The band they use doesn't support 3G data on iPhone: only (2G / EDGE?). I got a 30 day pre-paid when I was there in September, and thought I'd be able to put up with the slower speed... but arghhh! It was painful. Lucky I had wifi in places I was staying, but trying to use maps etc. when out and about was painful.

A friend from States recommended Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and Tracfone for prepaid SIMs and plans. (I should've taken more attention this his email before I went over!)

 

[Limewood]

I will be in the USA for 6 weeks in December/January

I have used an AT&T card this year for an Iphone which included data

Yep what I used for 3 week USA trip recently, sim was free paid $30 for a month, cancelled when I left..

 

[kevrosmith]

Make sure you also check to that Personal Hotspot is enabled on the network/service if you want to use that. It's often an additional fee to make it available.

It was also confusing trying to work out whether I could send and/or receive International SMS or MMS from the US number. The website seemed to indicate that I had to have an additional "International" pack attached (which I didn't), but then I could still send SMS that sometimes seemed to get through to my family back in Oz and sometimes didn't. Same for receiving: seemed to be irregular.

And I had my Aussie mobile diverted to my Skype online number so people could leave a message that I could retrieve from my Skype voicemail if they rang my mobile (seeing I didn't have my Aussie SIM in my iPhone). https://help.telstra.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/17332/c/1986/kw/divert/r_id/130958 (I'm assuming you're Telstra). But when I got back, it took two phone calls to get it switched back to divert to my normal Telstra message bank. (From experience, don't do this after 24 hours flying! Your patience wears a little thing.)

The only downside in all this was I couldn't receive any text messages that people sent to my aussie mobile unless I swapped the SIM in and out, but this meant I had to re-enter the T-Mobile data APN settings each time etc. Does anyone know a way to divert SMS messages?

 

[drewbles]

Most of their services don't use SIM card technology, so the options are limited. I don't know about current deals but historically T-Mobile have been very good. To get a SIM kit you have to go to one of their stores, the kiosks in shopping malls don't carry SIMS.

Not so. Only Verizon and Sprint are CDMA based. T-Mobile and AT&T, which are more than 60% of the market combined, are all GSM/UMTS-HSDPA.

If you're there for a while, AT&T is still your best option (unless you have a 3G handset with 1700mHz, in which case, an MVNO of T-Mobile is going to be better with a flat-rate of around $40/month).

AT&T is $50-65/month for unlimited everything but 1GB of data is limited. Price depends on handset (although it's very very easy to work around).

 

[drewbles]

Make sure you also check to that Personal Hotspot is enabled on the network/service if you want to use that. It's often an additional fee to make it available.

It was also confusing trying to work out whether I could send and/or receive International SMS or MMS from the US number. The website seemed to indicate that I had to have an additional "International" pack attached (which I didn't), but then I could still send SMS that sometimes seemed to get through to my family back in Oz and sometimes didn't. Same for receiving: seemed to be irregular.

And I had my Aussie mobile diverted to my Skype online number so people could leave a message that I could retrieve from my Skype voicemail if they rang my mobile (seeing I didn't have my Aussie SIM in my iPhone). https://help.telstra.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/17332/c/1986/kw/divert/r_id/130958 (I'm assuming you're Telstra). But when I got back, it took two phone calls to get it switched back to divert to my normal Telstra message bank. (From experience, don't do this after 24 hours flying! Your patience wears a little thing.)

The only downside in all this was I couldn't receive any text messages that people sent to my aussie mobile unless I swapped the SIM in and out, but this meant I had to re-enter the T-Mobile data APN settings each time etc. Does anyone know a way to divert SMS messages?

Whilst the standards do exist on the GSM platform to forward SMS's, no one does it. Not quite sure why no one ever bothered to implement it, but I don't know of any carrier that does.

As for the SMS issue, if you're using AT&T you can most certainly make and receive text messages. Australia is one of the countries included in the 'unlimited' monthly pre-paid plan too. MMS is not though I don't believe (but I have an iPhone so I never use MMS, it's all iMessage as all my friends I picture message have iPhones).

Be aware though, people sending an SMS from Australia to a US number will incur an international SMS charge from their carrier (typically $0.50-75 per message). If you're on an iPhone though, it's all iMessage iPhone to iPhone, which will be a matter of fractions of a cent in data use instead of 75c!

 

[beardoc]

Don't go T-mobile for iPhone. The band they use doesn't support 3G data on iPhone: only (2G / EDGE?). I got a 30 day pre-paid when I was there in September, and thought I'd be able to put up with the slower speed... but arghhh! It was painful. Lucky I had wifi in places I was staying, but trying to use maps etc. when out and about was painful.

A friend from States recommended Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and Tracfone for prepaid SIMs and plans. (I should've taken more attention this his email before I went over!)

I use T-Mobile regularly, but I have a Galaxy Nexus (which works on the T-Mobile frequencies just fine). I just buy T-Mobile SIM cards when I go.

Just a heads up for people that visit the USA regularly and would like a phone number that stays the same, but don't have a continuous service in the US - sign up for Google Voice when you get there. This way you'll have a number in the US (your Google Voice Number) that will be redirectable to any phone in the US that you choose. This way I get a new SIM card every time (with a new number) but my friends always call me on one number (my Google Voice number) - and you can get your voicemail from that number over the web when you aren't in the US, too:

Google Voice - Features

 

[blueflamenco]

I use T-Mobile, and have never had an issue with their service. I have the "pay as you go" prepaid SIM and my monthly plan is unlimited text and data for $30 a month. I use the Skype app and I think its a pretty good deal for $30 a month.

 

[Rebekkap]

Has anyone with an iPhone tried net10? They use the AT&T network, so you should get 3G coverage, and for $50 a month you get unlimited data, voice and text, or for $65 you can have unlimited international calls as well (there is a list of destinations, but it's pretty extensive and includes Australia). I'm tempted to go with this for my next trip but would like to hear from someone who's actually used it - last time I used t-mobile, bought a sim card before I went and text messages didn't bloody well work. Grrr. There are various net10 sims available on ebay for shipping to Australia too.

 

[Isochronous]

Has anyone with an iPhone tried net10? They use the AT&T network, so you should get 3G coverage, and for $50 a month you get unlimited data, voice and text, or for $65 you can have unlimited international calls as well (there is a list of destinations, but it's pretty extensive and includes Australia). I'm tempted to go with this for my next trip but would like to hear from someone who's actually used it - last time I used t-mobile, bought a sim card before I went and text messages didn't bloody well work. Grrr. There are various net10 sims available on ebay for shipping to Australia too.

I'm in the US for 3 weeks in Jan and also need a sim. Based on my last (and only) trip to the US when I was there for 3 months, $65/month is a really good offer if you have 3G with unlimited calling. Can that be combined with the Google voice function too? Having one US number sounds like a great idea.

 

[Rebekkap]

I'm in the US for 3 weeks in Jan and also need a sim. Based on my last (and only) trip to the US when I was there for 3 months, $65/month is a really good offer if you have 3G with unlimited calling. Can that be combined with the Google voice function too? Having one US number sounds like a great idea.

It does sound good - haven't used it yet though, but am going to the US at the end of the year and am definitely thinking this is the best deal I've come across so far. Using EDGE is just too slow.

 

[Isochronous]

Damn, neither net10 nor Amazon will ship it to Australia. Am trawling ebay now for one!

 

[sjholty]

You can get AT&T SIMs from Mobi Passport.

 

[infinity]

Why not just arrive in USA and go to AT&T store ?

 

[Isochronous]

Found one on ebay and ordered it. AT&T stores as far as I know won't sell these net10 cards.

 

[infinity]

Found one on ebay and ordered it. AT&T stores as far as I know won't sell these net10 cards.

So how do you buy the Net 10 card in USA?

 

[Isochronous]

So how do you buy the Net 10 card in USA?

Net10 website mails to US & Canada addresses