3 Sim was great advice - thanks

[chocolateMinnie]

A few months ago I asked for up-to-date advice on mobile phones for USA. generally we only require the wifi but due to my Dad being seriously ill and going for the first time without my DH we really wanted text/call availability.

Some helpful disers advised the three sim. Can I say this was amazing value and couldn't have been easier.

I contacted my mobile phone provider a few weeks before our trip to get the code to unlock my phone. Then ordered a free sim from 3 online. I paid £5 pluse £20 add on. Put the sim in my phone and was a little concerned that here in the UK the signal did not seem great.

Put my plane on flight mode and didn't switch back on until we were on the DME. wOW! We were able to phone home from the bus. It took about two minutes to connect to AT&T. We were able to phone and text throughout the two weeks. Found getting a signal in our resort tricky but all the theme parks and Disney Springs were amazing. Only used about half of my entitlement of calls and next to no texts.

Absolutely outstanding value. Thanks for your help and I can't recommend this one highly enough.

 

[LiquidSunshine]

Glad it worked so well for you!

This will be our first time using it in USA. Previously we have only used it in Europe, and find it great value.

 

[dixonsontour]

Glad you were able to keep in touch

 

[wayneg]

We have used 3 Feel at Home for a few years now. Never had a problem until this Easter. For our trip to the Deep South I bought a new phone, Moto G 3rd Gen. I really struggled with internet connection. DW had a reasonable connection with a HTC M9, my Brother even better with his iPhone.
After spending hours checking the settings etc we found out my phone only works on 2G in the US, DW's works on 3G and my Brothers iPhone on 4G.
In future I will always check before buying, I just assumed new phones would work without any problems in both UK & US.
http://willmyphonework.net/

 

[Jon84]

The 3 deals are good for feel at home.

As Wayne said, worth keeping an eye on phones comparability with the GSM bands in the states. The 3 site does mention this.

Even my wife's latest iPhone had slower signal than at home, I'm assuming either because not all bands are available, or because networks are just slower

 

[Scottk]

We all used 3 again this year without a problem in South Carolina and Florida - I bought a "cheapo" Blu 4G smartphone from Best Buy and that worked a treat as my iPhone was locked down. We all found that selecting AT&T as the preferred network gave a much better signal than letting all of our phones decide - this may help receive a better 3G signal.

 

[Thickey]

We all found that selecting AT&T as the preferred network gave a much better signal than letting all of our phones decide

Yes I have found that my iphone wants to connect to tmobile which is truly terrible around WDW. Forcing the phone to stay on AT&T had much better results for me as well.

 

[Molyneuxd]

This on Pay as you go or contract only? My parents would benefit from data in NY.

 

[finchy3]

Pay as you go

 

[london75]

I bought a payg sim especially for the trip this year in an iPhone and topped £25 as per the rules to get a decent chunk of downloads and it was shocking, when it roamed to T-Mobile I got no connection at all, when I forced it onto at&t it occasionally connected but very slow. I'm a nerd for a career so not a novice when it comes to phone settings either. It was a stark difference to when I was on pay monthly 3!

The point of this post is that I got by fine on wifi in a Disney hotel and in the parks. If anything it kept me from using the phone so much and I run my own IT business so that's rare for me, so just because you can connect all the time, should you!