Kaktusdigital From Australia, joined Nov 2005, 48 posts, RR: 0 Posted (3 years 8 months 4 weeks 10 hours ago) and read 3745 times:
Hi all,
I was hoping that some of the North American members could help me out with finding a good prepaid plan. I'm coming from Australia and will be spending around a month in L.A, New york and San Fran. I'm looking for a plan which offers unlimited (or close to) Data , I own an iphone so I would love to be able to make use of all the maps function etc..
The price is not an issue as I'm only going to be here for a short period. I've googled, but there are tons of choices, but none which really tell you how good their services REALLY is. Hopefully someone can just share some of their experiences with certain carriers.
Pellegrine From United States of America, joined Mar 2007, 1845 posts, RR: 8 Reply 2, posted (3 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 3685 times:
I was going to recommend T-mobile, I've used their GSM prepaid before for my 2nd phones. (I like to buy unlocked GSM phones off eBay to play with them and use overseas)
But then I read iPhone, so you will have to check out the AT&T prepaid. But they are a pain, I don't know if AT&T will sell you a plain SIM card, they like to sell their prepaid thingie with an included el-cheapo phone.
Iflykpdx From United States of America, joined Mar 2007, 286 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (3 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 3636 times:
T-Mobile has the best prepaid plan, but their coverage is somewhat lacking compared to Verizon's. If you're in a big metro area it shouldn't be a problem though.
Pilotsmoe From United States of America, joined May 2005, 248 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (3 years 8 months 3 weeks 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 3598 times:
You won't be able to use your iphone with a prepaid plan unless it's jailbroken
Birdwatching From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 3573 posts, RR: 52 Reply 7, posted (3 years 8 months 3 weeks 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 3564 times:
Good thing I found this thread.
I have pretty much the same question. I will be visiting the US for a month and a half later this year. I would like to buy a prepaid SIM card to use in my own phone. I would like to do this with the least possible hassle, like I don't want this mailed to me, or pick it up somewhere I have to travel far, sign it and / or mail it somewhere, or have a phone and other stuff included. Would be best if I could purchase it at the airport, or some electronics store like BestBuy. Just a plain SIM card.
I'd use it for occasional phone calls (not a lot, maybe 5 minutes every other day) and mostly data connections.
Here in Germany, I'd just walk into any supermarket or other store, buy a starter pack and get my SIM card with some minutes included, with a plan that charges me about 8c per minute and 24c per MB traffic.
Is there a similar thing in the USA?
I think my question is pretty much the same thing the thread starter is asking for.
Thanks for your help!
Soren
All the things you probably hate about travelling are warm reminders that I'm home
Pellegrine From United States of America, joined Mar 2007, 1845 posts, RR: 8 Reply 8, posted (3 years 8 months 3 weeks 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 3516 times:
I have pretty much the same question. I will be visiting the US for a month and a half later this year. I would like to buy a prepaid SIM card to use in my own phone. I would like to do this with the least possible hassle, like I don't want this mailed to me, or pick it up somewhere I have to travel far, sign it and / or mail it somewhere, or have a phone and other stuff included. Would be best if I could purchase it at the airport, or some electronics store like BestBuy. Just a plain SIM card.
I'd use it for occasional phone calls (not a lot, maybe 5 minutes every other day) and mostly data connections.
Here in Germany, I'd just walk into any supermarket or other store, buy a starter pack and get my SIM card with some minutes included, with a plan that charges me about 8c per minute and 24c per MB traffic.
Is there a similar thing in the USA?
I think my question is pretty much the same thing the thread starter is asking for.
Thanks for your help!
I've bought T-mobile SIM cards both on eBay (easiest), and in their store (their employees are always slow as molasses and want extraneous information which is not pertinent to the transaction).
If you buy a starter SIM card off eBay, AFAIK you can call T-mobile customer service and have the number changed to whatever US area code you want.
Kaktusdigital From Australia, joined Nov 2005, 48 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (3 years 8 months 3 weeks 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 3499 times:
from looking at T-Mobiles pre-paid plans I've come to the conclusion that the sidekick prepaid makes most sense for the data traveller. With additional calls charged at 20c per minute, it sounds rather reasonable. - ALTHOUGH, is this a plan with no contract? I don't seem to see how many months you need to stay connected with them. If its not then, there doesn't seem to be any i-phone (+data)prepaid plans available anymore. (as of 11th August)
As we don't have the 'sidekick' here in Aus, is this something thats basically a phone used primarily for txting + web use more so than actual calls? Will this plan essentially work for all mobiles that have web access ?
Nimish From India, joined Feb 2005, 3078 posts, RR: 9 Reply 10, posted (3 years 8 months 3 weeks 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 3477 times:
I had to choose a pre-paid plan for the US a few years ago, and at that time went for the T-Mobile plan because it offered a year long validity with a single recharge once at Gold level subscription. Of course the caveat is that you need to have spent $100 before you get to this "gold status". I don't use data, just voice, and the plan works out to about 10-15c/min depending on how much I'm willing to pay per year. The best part is that I can recharge the phone (and hence keep it active) though I'm not even in the US (buy the recharge from ebay or callingmart.com, and then go online to the T-mobile website and update my account).
Pellegrine From United States of America, joined Mar 2007, 1845 posts, RR: 8 Reply 11, posted (3 years 8 months 3 weeks 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 3475 times:
Quoting Kaktusdigital (Reply 9): from looking at T-Mobiles pre-paid plans I've come to the conclusion that the sidekick prepaid makes most sense for the data traveller. With additional calls charged at 20c per minute, it sounds rather reasonable. - ALTHOUGH, is this a plan with no contract? I don't seem to see how many months you need to stay connected with them. If its not then, there doesn't seem to be any i-phone (+data)prepaid plans available anymore. (as of 11th August)
As we don't have the 'sidekick' here in Aus, is this something thats basically a phone used primarily for txting + web use more so than actual calls? Will this plan essentially work for all mobiles that have web access ?
And yes, the i-phone is unlocked.
1- Yes if it's a prepaid SIM card there is no contract.
2- I'm not sure what exactly the sidekick prepaid plan will allow you to do with the iPhone, so you actually might want to sign up to a mobile phone forum and ask someone there...
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