GSM Sim card for USA & Canada

[drewbles]

Almost right - here's an email from the company:

With a SIMple calling SIM card, It will cost you:
* 25c per minute to call a USA landline or mobile
* 40c per minute to call an Australian landline
* 25c per minute to accept a call (from anywhere)

The toll-free number for people to call you from Australia is:
1-800-261-038.
You will be charged the usual rate (25c) plus a surcharge (39c) to
receive this type of calls. That is to say 64c per minute. This will not
cost your relatives anything.

The SIM card comes with $10 credit.

Dis-regard my last post. This is the company I actually work for. It's a great product

 

[Driver]

I bought two yesterday - I takes awhile with products such as these to really work out the actual costs. Sometimes it looks straightforward but it isn't really. Having the facts set out is helpful and there won't be any surprises.

 

[baldman]

We purchased the AT & T US simcard as we were only on the West Coast USA. We used the option that if you made a call you paid a $1 for the day and all calls were then $0.10 a minute. Calls between my wife's mobile and mine were then unlimited free for the day. As you pay for the calls you receive as well as make the international calls you receive are $0.10.

They give you a phone card as well with a $5 credit and calls back to Australia are $0.04 per min ( +flagfall) plus the $0.10 per min if you use your mobile.

Hi Crow,
I've read through the info on a couple of web sites offering the SIMple card yet can't seem to find any reference to this "option" of pay $1 a day etc. Can you pls steer me in the right direction on this?
Many Thanks
baldman

 

[Maca44]

I was in the USA two weeks ago and have been burnt buying various sim cards etc, and then finding out that the AT&T card won't work in Canada as they are mainly Rogers (and others). However, this time I went to Fred Meyer store and bought an LG cell phone with 300 minutes of air time for US$29.00, and you can top it up if needed. The phone carrier was with www.iwireless.com, and it provided sms, message bank etc. Quite reasonable and all that I needed for several weeks with good coverage of where I was going.

 

[Dave Noble]

I am using a T-Mobile prepaid sim in my GSM phone in the US. seems to be working pretty well over the 3 or so weeks I have been using it so far and costs 10c per minute to call US phones.

Dave

 

[heleno]

[I tried to post this before and don't think it went through, so here it is again. ]

I live in the USA and can give more info on pre-paid options here. The poster who said US pre-paids don't work in Canada is right, at least for AT&T phones (mine doesn't). Also, pre-paids don't have quite the coverage area that postpaid phones do. They appear to be on slightly different, less comprehensive, networks (I don't know why). In very remote areas (away from highways and towns), it's possible that your Aussie phone on roaming will be able to make a call, when your US pre-paid won't, so I'd advise holding on to both SIMs while travelling just in case.

Many US pre-paid phones are now GSM and do use SIMS (AT&T, T-Mobile and some TracPhone). However I've never seen a SIM for sale alone -- just with a phone. You'll typically pay something like $24.99 USD for a phone and an AT&T SIM, generally with $10 or more USD airtime credit.

Sprint, Verizon and Virgin Mobile in the US (which uses Sprint's network) don't use SIMs.

Pre-paid phones are available in electronics stores like Circuity City and Best Buy (super-sized Harvey Norman / Crazy John's equivalents), discount stores like Target, or some grocery stores. Be warned that you'll need a machete to liberate an AT&T go-phone from its plastic container; I've seen TracPhones packaged in a more friendly fashion.

I like AT&T's "go phone" pay as you go service, which allows for refills via card (bought in same places as phones) or the Internet. As others have noted, it's $1/day that you use the phone, plus 10 cents a minute for incoming and outgoing calls. Of course, you'll have to couple it with a calling card to call back to Australia.

Some extras that may make the AT&T worth it are:
1. For $20 USD you can get 30 days of unlimited night and weekend calls, incoming and outgoing. Given that US evenings are a great time to find Aussies awake, this can be quite a deal if you think you'll spend more than 200 minutes during your trip phoning home in the US evening/night. All you pay on top of that $20 is $1 per day that you use the phone and your calling card fees, which can be as low as a handful of pennies a minute, for outgoing calls. Incoming calls during the US evenings are free with this $20 plan.
2. For $20 USD you can get 30 days of Internet use on your phone. If you have a smartphone and plan to just move the AT&T SIM into your usual phone, this can be handy. You can read up on these two options by searching for them on the slickdeals dot net website, but note that you can't just purchase them online -- you have to call AT&T customer service and ask for them.

As far as for people calling you from Australia, as a repeat visitor to Australia, I recommend the OzCall card, which is just a few cents a minute to call the US. (It was originally recommended to me by a coworker whose son is in uni in Australia.)

I've been an AT&T pre-paid go phone subscriber for a year and given that my cell phone use is usually in the evenings, it's the best deal for me.

 

[Duckie92]

Rangeroamer. They ship you a sim card to use with your current phone. Not sure if you can use Australian phones though, you'll have to go on the site and see which phone models they can work with.

 

[drewbles]

Rangeroamer. They ship you a sim card to use with your current phone. Not sure if you can use Australian phones though, you'll have to go on the site and see which phone models they can work with.

I know our SIM cards work globally (and the US part of the SIM actually works in Canada as well, which a lot of US based pre-paid SIM cards do not offer).

ekit, phonecards, prepaid sim cards and international cell phones for international travelers is our site. Not heard of Rangeroamer but it appears they charge you $4/month if you want to keep your US number after your first month where we don't (and you get a UK number free too).

There's a lot out there on the market. Just pick the one that's best for your needs. I'm biased working for one of the companies that do it (and i'm one of the engineers there so I make nothing from promoting the product) but i'm happy to answer questions on how all this stuff works along with what handsets work best with them. I use our SIM exclusively whilst travelling, and it works well everywhere I go anywhere in the world