Mobile Phones in the USA

[LeanneDownUnder]

Hi,
Just wondering what people do about Mobile usage in the USA.
I have looked a few sites thats offer sim cards to pre-purchase and there are few to choose from or do you wait until you arrive and purchase a sim there?

Just interested at what people have found to work the best for them.

I plan on taking my own phone and possibly my Ipad so data for that.

Interesed to hear what you all do.

 

[PrincessInOz]

We normally just get a Prepaid $2 per day Go Phone plan from AT&T. DH also gets the data pack to go with it.

The shop gives us the (micro) SIM cards when we buy the plan.

We stick with AT&T because both DH and I have family in the US. They are all mostly with AT&T.



Some of the others like to purchase SIM cards on the internet and have it sent to them.

 

[kylieh]

On his last trip DH purchased a prepaid from AT&T. I think he paid around $40 for the SIM. Make sure your phone is unlocked before you leave. DH thought of getting the $/day, I'm not sure why he went the other way.

There is also a purchase before you leave option from t-Mobile (get it from http://www.travelgear.com.au/t-mobile-usa-monthly-prepaid-sim-card/ ) We used this the time before last, no problems, but it has risen in price by about $20 or so. It includes data and calls back to Australia.

 

[Sugarglider]

yep - same here - travelgear.com.au sim card for T-Mobile for my samsung android phone and tablet

 

[aussietravellers]

I'm in the US now. I bought an AT&T sim from www.mobipassport.com.au before I left. I put it in my old iphone4 and set it up before I left home (as per their instructions, including going to unlockit.co.nz to change some APN on the phone to make the data work, was super easy) and it worked great right from landing in the US.
I went with a monthly plan ($65 as it included calls, texts worldwide and data, but I'm using it a lot), you can get lower set plans or the $2 a day that PIO used. The lower plans don't include data but you can add a data plan once you get over there and also another plan for $5 for the month to call landlines in Australia.

I turned the phone on in the US (when I was still on the plane) and sent a photo to facebook and it worked. It was fantastic and very easy to set up.

Once I was here I went online and set up the $5 a month landlines calls to Australia (that can't be done from Australia).

Andona has done an awesome thread on this somewhere, that's where I heard of mobipassport.com.au


For my son, I bought a Tracphone from Target once over here. It includes calls to Australia, it's just a throwaway phone. You can get those at many places, target, walmart, 7eleven etc. It's been working fine so far, the phone was $10 and I added $20 of calls to it gives 120 minutes of calls (it was 60 but doubled as a special), then just had to register it online and it started working in about 15 minutes. Those minutes last 90 days. It's been working great as a throwaway phone as he hardly ever uses it. https://www.tracfone.com/

 

[aussietravellers]

PS. In the past I've always just bought each of us a throwaway phone from Target or Walmart or Bestbuys as soon as we got there. They have these prepacked bundles that have a phone and include calls from about $10. We've mainly gone with AT&T as we've read their coverage is better, but last trip got TMobile phones and the coverage was not as good.

 

[kylieh]

I'm in the US now. I bought an AT&T sim from www.mobipassport.com.au before I left. I put it in my old iphone4 and set it up before I left home (as per their instructions, including going to unlockit.co.nz to change some APN on the phone to make the data work, was super easy) and it worked great right from landing in the US./

Thanks for the Mobipassport info - I would rather go AT&T too (as opposed to t-mobile) I'll have a look before we go. DH has an AT&T sim already, I'll need one for mine and for DD if we let her have a phone whilst away!

 

[Mum from oz]

I've gone with the throwaway tracfonenobe year ad the T-mobile sim from travelgear. I used the t-mobile sim in my iPhone and it worked fine. I had no coverage issues any place we visited but we were in major cities the whole time. It came with data at edge speeds but edge over there was almost as fast as 3G here. I was able to use the lines app and Facebook and maps when I neede no problem. It is unlimited data at edge speed. It also included free calls to Australian landlines.

 

[Andona]

This was our experience with buying and using American sims for our iPhones and my iPad for our trip in October last year

For this trip we were travelling with 2 iPhones ( mine and DH's) and an iPad. On previous holidays we have just used global roaming for phone calls and have not used data at all on our phones. However, this time I knew I'd want to be able to use my iPad and phone for Maps, Facebook, apps etc while we were on the road and I didn't want to be hit with big bills on our return. Getting the phones up and running with American sims was a bit of an effort but it was Definitely worth the effort.

I used 200Mb of data on my iPhone on our trip - at Telstra's data roaming rates that would have cost me over $3,000. !!

I used 3.5Gb of data on my iPad. At Telstra INternational data roaming ratesthat would have cost me over $8000 !!!!

We were planning to travel in some pretty remote areas so I decided that we'd have one phone with T-Mobile and one with AT&T to , hopefully, improve our chances of having a signal as much as possible.

We chose plans that would give us plenty of credit for calls to American phones, texts to American & Australian phones and data.

The plans we chose did not include cheap calls to Australian phones. We only rang home to Australia using Skype when we had access to WiFi.

My DH also took an old phone with him and put his Aussie sim in that as a backup. He left it off most of the time and just turned it on occasionally to see if there were any messages etc.

FOR THE PHONES

T-Mobile

From travelgear.com.au I bought a T-Mobile sim. Travel gear will activate the sim for you and add as much credit as you want.

For DH I asked them to activate the "Pay by the Day" $2 per day plan. With this plan you pay $2 for any day that you "use" the phone. It includes unlimited calls and texts to American phone numbers as well as unlimited Edge/2G data. (Australian phones don't use the right frequency to use the T-Mobile 3G system so with T-Mobile you will only get 2G data speeds)

The sims arrived promptly and there was no setup required, they are already activated for you. They sent some instructions about the plans and about adding credit and once we were in the USA, we popped the sims into the phones and everything just worked.

When I purchased the Sim I asked them to add $10 of credit to DH's phone because I didn't think he'd use it very often. However , some of DH's apps on his iPhone were set to receive notifications, this meant that although he didn't make or receive calls/txts every day, he WAS "using" his phone every day as his apps were accessing the data every day. So we ended up having to add extra credit to his phone. That was easy to do through the ezetop.com website.

The T Mobile coverage seemed to be pretty good, he only lost signal in some of the remoter areas that we covered on our trip.

However, the 2G/Edge data speed is really slow when you are used to Telstra 3G data speeds. It was able to access emails and use the maps etc but it was pretty slow to load. Personally, I'm glad that we also had AT&T 3G speeds for my iPad and my iPhone as 3 weeks of 2G speeds would have driven me nuts!

AT&T

For my iPhone I bought an AT&T sim from mobipassport.com

The sim arrived promptly in a little wallet with some basic instructions, for the detailed information you need to go to the Mobipassport website to get step by step instructions.

The AT&T sims come unactivated and with no credit so you have to go through the process of activating them and adding credit and data yourself.

Activating and choosing a plan


I followed the instructions on their website to activate my sim a few days before we left. That was easy. They have very detailed insructions on their website.

I chose the $25 monthly plan.You MUST choose a monthly plan if you want to add a data pack to your smartphone. If you don't need to use data you can use one of the $2 per day plans instead.

ONce you activate your sim you are supposed to be able log in to the AT&T website (https://www.myprepaidrefill.com/MobilityUSWeb/login.do ) to look at your account, add credit and add data. However, when you activate the sim they send a text with your new website pin to your AT&T phone number. So you can't get your pin until you get to the USA and put the sim in your phone. Once in the USA you can go to the website and use the "Forgot my Pin" link and they will resend your pin to your phone.

When we arrived in the USA i had to put the sim in the iPhone. This was a bit tricky as the AT&T sims seem to be fractionally larger than our Australian sims. I was able to get it in OK but it involved a little effort.


Adding credit and Data

I then needed to use the hotel's free WiFi to go to the AT&T website so that I could add some credit to my phone and to purchase a data pack. I added $25 of credit to cover the payment for the first ( and only) month, then I bought a $15 data plan ( this gave me 200Mb of data for the phone)

There is an option to add 1Gb of data but I thought I'd mainly be using my iPad for data and so 200Mb on my phone should be enough. However, I did use my phone a bit for the Disney Apps and also I used it to upload photos to facebook when I didnt have WiFi access and so my data did run out in about 2 1/2 weeks.

I was able to pay using our Australian ANZ Visa card to pay for the credit etc without any problems.

AT&T send a confirmation email and after that my iPhone was functioning just fine as a phone.

However to get the data working on the iPhone requires one more step. ( all the details our outlined clearly on the Mobipassport website) Using the hotels free wifi I had to use my phone browser to go to unlockit.co.nz In this site you need to choose the option to "Download APN" ( to copy the correct data settings to your phone) , then choose AT&T from the list and the correct settings are downloaded to your phone. After that the data was up and running on my iPhone. The coverage was pretty much the same as my DH's T-Mobile. IN built up areas I had excellent coverage, I found the AT&T 3G data to be pretty fast. In more remote areas my 3G data dropped to 2g/Edge speeds.


FOR THE IPAD

I purchased an iPad data sim from travelgear.com.au. This comes to you with a set of instructions for setting up the iPad once you get to the USA and put the sim in your iPad.

The setup process is all done from the iPad itself so you need to have access to a WiFi hotspot to do it. I used my Hotel WiFi. Setup includes choosing a data amount and entering a USA address ( I just used the hotel address). Travel gear say that AT&T won't accept all Australian credit cards. I was able to pay using my ANZ Visa credit card. Others have been able to pay using a Travelex Visa from Australia Post or by purchasing Visa Gift cards in the USA.

I chose the 3Gb data package that cost $30. I used my iPad every day of our trip for Google maps ( we were on a road trip) I also used it to access Facebook and Disboards and to upload photos etc. I tried to use the Hotel Wifi as much as possible but I did use it alot on the road so My data ran out about 2 1/2 weeks into the trip so I had to purchase an additional 3gB.

Andona

 

[LeanneDownUnder]

Wow this is great information.
Thanks so much everyone especially ~ Andona thanks for going into so much detail.
Off to check out the websites.

 

[darrenf67]

Excellent information - thanks so much

 

[Snickals]

I have a duos phone so have my regular aussie sim in one slot and a TravelSim in the other. Am happy with TravelSim for calls and texts although last trip I used the internet and Skype to contact those back at home as there is free wifi in a lot of areas.

 

[australiankaren]

This was our experience with buying and using American sims for our iPhones and my iPad for our trip in October last year

For this trip we were travelling with 2 iPhones ( mine and DH's) and an iPad. On previous holidays we have just used global roaming for phone calls and have not used data at all on our phones. However, this time I knew I'd want to be able to use my iPad and phone for Maps, Facebook, apps etc while we were on the road and I didn't want to be hit with big bills on our return. Getting the phones up and running with American sims was a bit of an effort but it was Definitely worth the effort.

I used 200Mb of data on my iPhone on our trip - at Telstra's data roaming rates that would have cost me over $3,000. !!

I used 3.5Gb of data on my iPad. At Telstra INternational data roaming ratesthat would have cost me over $8000 !!!!

We were planning to travel in some pretty remote areas so I decided that we'd have one phone with T-Mobile and one with AT&T to , hopefully, improve our chances of having a signal as much as possible.

We chose plans that would give us plenty of credit for calls to American phones, texts to American & Australian phones and data.

The plans we chose did not include cheap calls to Australian phones. We only rang home to Australia using Skype when we had access to WiFi.

My DH also took an old phone with him and put his Aussie sim in that as a backup. He left it off most of the time and just turned it on occasionally to see if there were any messages etc.

FOR THE PHONES

T-Mobile

From travelgear.com.au I bought a T-Mobile sim. Travel gear will activate the sim for you and add as much credit as you want.

For DH I asked them to activate the "Pay by the Day" $2 per day plan. With this plan you pay $2 for any day that you "use" the phone. It includes unlimited calls and texts to American phone numbers as well as unlimited Edge/2G data. (Australian phones don't use the right frequency to use the T-Mobile 3G system so with T-Mobile you will only get 2G data speeds)

The sims arrived promptly and there was no setup required, they are already activated for you. They sent some instructions about the plans and about adding credit and once we were in the USA, we popped the sims into the phones and everything just worked.

When I purchased the Sim I asked them to add $10 of credit to DH's phone because I didn't think he'd use it very often. However , some of DH's apps on his iPhone were set to receive notifications, this meant that although he didn't make or receive calls/txts every day, he WAS "using" his phone every day as his apps were accessing the data every day. So we ended up having to add extra credit to his phone. That was easy to do through the ezetop.com website.

The T Mobile coverage seemed to be pretty good, he only lost signal in some of the remoter areas that we covered on our trip.

However, the 2G/Edge data speed is really slow when you are used to Telstra 3G data speeds. It was able to access emails and use the maps etc but it was pretty slow to load. Personally, I'm glad that we also had AT&T 3G speeds for my iPad and my iPhone as 3 weeks of 2G speeds would have driven me nuts!

AT&T

For my iPhone I bought an AT&T sim from mobipassport.com

The sim arrived promptly in a little wallet with some basic instructions, for the detailed information you need to go to the Mobipassport website to get step by step instructions.

The AT&T sims come unactivated and with no credit so you have to go through the process of activating them and adding credit and data yourself.

Activating and choosing a plan


I followed the instructions on their website to activate my sim a few days before we left. That was easy. They have very detailed insructions on their website.

I chose the $25 monthly plan.You MUST choose a monthly plan if you want to add a data pack to your smartphone. If you don't need to use data you can use one of the $2 per day plans instead.

ONce you activate your sim you are supposed to be able log in to the AT&T website (https://www.myprepaidrefill.com/MobilityUSWeb/login.do ) to look at your account, add credit and add data. However, when you activate the sim they send a text with your new website pin to your AT&T phone number. So you can't get your pin until you get to the USA and put the sim in your phone. Once in the USA you can go to the website and use the "Forgot my Pin" link and they will resend your pin to your phone.

When we arrived in the USA i had to put the sim in the iPhone. This was a bit tricky as the AT&T sims seem to be fractionally larger than our Australian sims. I was able to get it in OK but it involved a little effort.


Adding credit and Data

I then needed to use the hotel's free WiFi to go to the AT&T website so that I could add some credit to my phone and to purchase a data pack. I added $25 of credit to cover the payment for the first ( and only) month, then I bought a $15 data plan ( this gave me 200Mb of data for the phone)

There is an option to add 1Gb of data but I thought I'd mainly be using my iPad for data and so 200Mb on my phone should be enough. However, I did use my phone a bit for the Disney Apps and also I used it to upload photos to facebook when I didnt have WiFi access and so my data did run out in about 2 1/2 weeks.

I was able to pay using our Australian ANZ Visa card to pay for the credit etc without any problems.

AT&T send a confirmation email and after that my iPhone was functioning just fine as a phone.

However to get the data working on the iPhone requires one more step. ( all the details our outlined clearly on the Mobipassport website) Using the hotels free wifi I had to use my phone browser to go to unlockit.co.nz In this site you need to choose the option to "Download APN" ( to copy the correct data settings to your phone) , then choose AT&T from the list and the correct settings are downloaded to your phone. After that the data was up and running on my iPhone. The coverage was pretty much the same as my DH's T-Mobile. IN built up areas I had excellent coverage, I found the AT&T 3G data to be pretty fast. In more remote areas my 3G data dropped to 2g/Edge speeds.


FOR THE IPAD

I purchased an iPad data sim from travelgear.com.au. This comes to you with a set of instructions for setting up the iPad once you get to the USA and put the sim in your iPad.

The setup process is all done from the iPad itself so you need to have access to a WiFi hotspot to do it. I used my Hotel WiFi. Setup includes choosing a data amount and entering a USA address ( I just used the hotel address). Travel gear say that AT&T won't accept all Australian credit cards. I was able to pay using my ANZ Visa credit card. Others have been able to pay using a Travelex Visa from Australia Post or by purchasing Visa Gift cards in the USA.

I chose the 3Gb data package that cost $30. I used my iPad every day of our trip for Google maps ( we were on a road trip) I also used it to access Facebook and Disboards and to upload photos etc. I tried to use the Hotel Wifi as much as possible but I did use it alot on the road so My data ran out about 2 1/2 weeks into the trip so I had to purchase an additional 3gB.

Andona

oh god.......

 

[Tara2004]

We just got back and used our Iphone 5's over there. Just go into an AT&T shop and they will hook you up. Sim cards are free. JUST UNLOCK YOUR PHONE BEFORE YOU GO. Simple. Over the phone with them is no good. go into the shop.

 

[WAMUMOF4]

We just got back and used our Iphone 5's over there. Just go into an AT&T shop and they will hook you up. Sim cards are free. JUST UNLOCK YOUR PHONE BEFORE YOU GO. Simple. Over the phone with them is no good. go into the shop.

That's intersting because we went into several different AT&T shops and they told us they could not sell us a sim only we had to buy a phone so DH couldn't use his phone when we were there as a phone.

 

[Andona]

oh god.......

You know you love it!

 

[PrincessInOz]

That's intersting because we went into several different AT&T shops and they told us they could not sell us a sim only we had to buy a phone so DH couldn't use his phone when we were there as a phone.

I've done the same as Tara for the last 3 trips.

Walked into an AT&T shop, bought the GoPhone Prepaid $2 per day plan. Gotten the micro SIMCard for free each time.

Shops - twice in SoCal; once in San Francisco.

 

[Andona]

PIO, were you using an iPhone? and did you have/want a data plan with your sim? I've read about people having problems with AT & T staff refusing to sell them a data plan for their ( non-American) iPhones- although that was about 12 months ago, things may have changed?

Andona

 

[PrincessInOz]

PIO, were you using an iPhone? and did you have/want a data plan with your sim? I've read about people having problems with AT & T staff refusing to sell them a data plan for their ( non-American) iPhones- although that was about 12 months ago, things may have changed?

Andona

iPhone 4S. Last time was November last year. The only concern the person helping me had was that it would be an unlocked handset. He insisted on putting in the microSIM to make sure before he let me walk out the store.


I didn't want a data plan. I gather from DH that you might need to set your APNs differently if you want to use a data plan on your iPhone. He googled and found the APNs on the internet. DH has a data plan on his phone although I recently double checked the AT&T website. Seems like they don't offer dataplans with the prepaid GoPhone. Not sure how he managed it.

I know he purchased the data plan at least 4 trips ago and he's just kept it topped up ever since. Of course, it helps that he travels to the US at least once or twice a year and it makes sense to keep his plans topped up.

 

[WAMUMOF4]

I've done the same as Tara for the last 3 trips.

Walked into an AT&T shop, bought the GoPhone Prepaid $2 per day plan. Gotten the micro SIMCard for free each time.

Shops - twice in SoCal; once in San Francisco.

I wonder why we couldn't get one then I am not going to share that with DH he was annoyed with me as it was cause I should of ordered before we left oops