Prepaid mobile SIM for the USA

[Kangol]

Hi all,

Travelling to the USA soon and am wondering what company people would suggest for cheap prepaid SIMs? I'm only there for 2 wks and will probably be going 1-2 times per year for 1-2 weeks at a time. Voice and SMS would be what I'm after, data will be a bonus for my Samsung Galaxy S2 but not necessary.

As I will be only using it as an emergency, I don't need to spend too much

 

[markis10]

If you are using it for an emergency, would you not just enable roaming on your home mobile service?

 

[Kangol]

If you are using it for an emergency, would you not just enable roaming on your home mobile service?

Whoops, should have been clearer - when I mean *emergency* I mean in case I need to ring the hotel or the airline or a friend's mobile (not a 911 life threatening one).. more of a convenience factor as opposed to carrying around coins to use a payphone.

International roaming is very expensive, plus another reason for me to go away is so that people from home don't contact me!

 

[robd]

I bought an AT&T Go Phone sim card off Ebay before I went to the US last year. It's just a pre-paid sim that you top up as you need. You can also add a data pack if you want. I think it cost about $8 including postage to get it sent here before I left for US, so I could set it up before we arrived. You can get sim cards just about everywhere in the US. If you're going to be going to the US a couple of times a year, you can load up the card with set amounts that last for several months. For example, I loaded a $100 on my card which is valid for six months. Have a look on the AT&T website and search "GoPhone".

 

[lovestotravel]

I bought an AT&T Go Phone sim card off Ebay before I went to the US last year. It's just a pre-paid sim that you top up as you need. You can also add a data pack if you want. I think it cost about $8 including postage to get it sent here before I left for US, so I could set it up before we arrived. You can get sim cards just about everywhere in the US. If you're going to be going to the US a couple of times a year, you can load up the card with set amounts that last for several months. For example, I loaded a $100 on my card which is valid for six months. Have a look on the AT&T website and search "GoPhone".

This sounds great, but I could find no reference to it on the AT&T website Get Started - from AT&T

What I used was

T-Mobile USA prepaid mobile phone SIM card with USD$3.34 credit - travelgear.com.au $29 to get started with no credit

Then you put $50 or $60 on.

The $60 option is the best as it's pretty much unlimted anything in the USA, includling data (but at 2G speeds, which is slow) and unlimited calls back to Aussie landlines!

The phone number cancels after 90 days though

 

[robd]

I can't post the link (I don't have enough posts yet). If you have the sim card, you can just activate it on the website. Google "gophone" and look for "Activate Account. Already got your phone? Get started here" on the website.

I'm sure there are a few different providers, this is just the one I used last time and will use again in a couple of months when I head back.

 

[lovestotravel]

I had another look and YES

$100 = 365 day expiry

I am guessing this is only good on the 10/c minute plan or the $2 a day plan, but it would be better than the option that I use with T Mobile

 

[Chrisd26]

I go to USA month at a time - just buy a prepaid such as below from Verizon
verizon| Walgreens

Cost depends on specials at KMart and Walmart etc typically $10 to$20
Crazy place - only need Zip Code and area code to register online - no ID needed!!!

Top up with vouchers or cards from same places - anyway comes with $10 - plenty for a month

 

[robd]

I actually used the phone with a "Penny Saver" card purchased from a local US 7 eleven store. I think it ended up being about 0.02c a minute rate back to Oz.

 

[pshepvic]

Avoid T-mobile as coverage isn't as good. I had one of their sims in the past and had issues in some places.

I'd highly recommend the AT&T Go Phone. Data is 3G pretty much everywhere, very reliable, generally fast, and the price reasonable. Top-up, plans, data packs etc are easy to manage online.

The only thing I couldn't do was forward it to my Oz mobile on departure from US. Instead I got a US Skype-in number to forward it to, then forwarded the Skype to my Oz mobile. I was expecting a couple of calls from US companies hence the need to forward the number.


Sent from my iPhone using AustFreqFly app

 

[pshepvic]

By the way, you can purchase an AT&T Go Phone SIM from http://www.usasims.com/


Sent from my iPhone using AustFreqFly app

 

[robd]

Just had a quick look on Ebay (US). The guy that I bought mine from is selling AT&T sim cards for under US$4 plus postage.

 

[Kangol]

Thanks guys, leaving in a couple of days so will have to wait until I get there!

 

[FuzzyAUS]

I use truphone from memory, gives me both a USA and aus number for people to call me on..

Am out at the moment so can't check

 

[Kangol]

Avoid T-mobile as coverage isn't as good. I had one of their sims in the past and had issues in some places.

I'd highly recommend the AT&T Go Phone. Data is 3G pretty much everywhere, very reliable, generally fast, and the price reasonable. Top-up, plans, data packs etc are easy to manage online.

I ended up getting a T-mobile SIM, with a $2 per day option (unlimited talk text and data). It only charged you if you used it that day (ie incoming and outgoing text/calls/data). If you had less than $2 credit, you would not be able to receive any calls or texts. The AT&T Go Phone did not include data in their $2/day plan which is why I went with T-mobile. I didn't find any major issue with coverage but I wasn't using it all that much...

 

[QF029]

As off Sunday it seems that you can only add an AT&T data pack to a monthly plan (not the daily $2 for example). I was able to do it two weeks ago but not yesterday when my allowance ran out.

 

[pshepvic]

As off Sunday it seems that you can only add an AT&T data pack to a monthly plan (not the daily $2 for example). I was able to do it two weeks ago but not yesterday when my allowance ran out.

Hmm that's not good - I'm off to the US twice in the next 8 months for about 3 weeks each time and have been keeping my ATT account active with top ups every 3 months. Won't be happy if I have to switch to the monthly plan - particularly if the rollover date means I need to pay for 2 months while I'm away.

 

[drewbles]

Correct. AT&T have recently changed (as I just found out when I got here). $50/month will get you unlimited everything though, which is a pretty reasonable deal. I don't mind paying that seeing as most my trips are 2-3 weeks in a 30 day period, that's decent value (I use data every day as well as plenty of inbound SMS from my flight notifications and use it for taxis, restaurants and work calls).

 

[robd]

Correct. AT&T have recently changed (as I just found out when I got here). $50/month will get you unlimited everything though, which is a pretty reasonable deal. I don't mind paying that seeing as most my trips are 2-3 weeks in a 30 day period, that's decent value (I use data every day as well as plenty of inbound SMS from my flight notifications and use it for taxis, restaurants and work calls).

So instead of topping up the data side as you need it, you can just add $50 for a month?

 

[jdlover23]

Correct. AT&T have recently changed (as I just found out when I got here). $50/month will get you unlimited everything though, which is a pretty reasonable deal. I don't mind paying that seeing as most my trips are 2-3 weeks in a 30 day period, that's decent value (I use data every day as well as plenty of inbound SMS from my flight notifications and use it for taxis, restaurants and work calls).

Does this apply to unlocked iPhones?