USA SIM Card

[aussie_princess]

Hi friends,
I'm heading over to the states next month for a part disney/part other places in the USA trip. After looking into the international roaming and data charges of phone companies here in Australia, I'm thinking I'll probably buy a pre-paid SIM card is the state so I can get decent access to mobile data (something I use a lot).

Can anyone recommend a SIM card and/or convenient store where they bought said item? I think there's a target near Disneyland (we go to Anaheim first) so I thought that may be an option, but definitely would love to hear other thoughts.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I tend to walk into an AT&T shop when I get to the US and get myself a prepaid plan. I have family members in the US and they are mostly with AT&T, so we tend to stick with that carrier.
I've bought a $40 and a $60 prepaid plan in the past. It lasts a whole month and it comes with all talk and text included; plus data. The current iteration of these plans look like they come with either 4 or 8 GB of data depending on which price point you choose. If you need it for more than a month, then you can top-up either using the phone option or online or walking into another store.

https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/gophone-plans.html

When you buy one of these plans, the SIM is free.

If you have a car when you get to Anaheim, I think there is an AT&T at Main Place Mall.

Depending on where the 'other places' are that you are heading to, it may pay for you to check the AT&T coverage maps. I think Verizon might be better in the 4-Corners region.

 

[aussie_princess]

Unfortunately it's not really viable for us to go to a telco shop (I've checked). We won't have a car and don't really want to make a special trip if we don't need to. Fortunately we can apparently get sim cards at the 7-eleven on the corner of harbour blvd and patella ave which is a short walk from our hotel so problem solved! Thanks for your thoughts

 

[ssour]

USA prepaid SIM card is an Aussie company that organises AT&T SIM cards and posts them to you before you leave.

 

[BecBennett]

I tend to walk into an AT&T shop when I get to the US and get myself a prepaid plan.

This is what I do too, if you go to a decent sized mall they generally have a few different telcos and you can choose one.

 

[viaggiamo]

We bought a prepaid SIM card and had it sent to us before we left. We didn't want to wast time trying to figure it out over there. It was pretty good value, from memory, and allowed us to call and text home included in the price as well as calling in the USA. I think they were $60 each for a month, DH and I both got one. They may have ben cheaper but I can't find the receipt.

 

[lffam]

Unfortunately it's not really viable for us to go to a telco shop (I've checked). We won't have a car and don't really want to make a special trip if we don't need to. Fortunately we can apparently get sim cards at the 7-eleven on the corner of harbour blvd and patella ave which is a short walk from our hotel so problem solved! Thanks for your thoughts

I did this our first trip and from then on I pre-bought it. You can buy the recharge cards pretty much anywhere however to get and actual SIM I had to (in 2010) go to an AT&T store. We were staying in Hollywood and I thought there might been one there but closest was about 10min cab ride away. The store part was easy but took forever. I had left DW & DS at hotel and was getting latish but I had no way to contact them. Then I had so much trouble trying to get a cab, I ended up going to a security guard at the shopping centre I was at who got one for me. While I'm sure it or I wouldn't have the same experience again it was our first trip to USA so I was I was kind of freaking out a little by then! I'm a much more calm traveller now LOL

 

[Rebekkap]

The easiest and cheapest way - and the way I always do it - is to order a pre paid sim on Amazon and have it delivered to the hotel when im staying so it's there when I arrive. Far cheaper than the resellers here - I think from memory last time I got an unlimited data t-mobile sim for $18US with free postage

 

[aussie_princess]

So I just got back from my trip. Once we had checked in at our hotel on Harbor Blvd, we walked to the 7-11 on the corner of Harbor Blvd and Patella Ave (It was approximately an 8-10 minute walk). We had to ask at the register for the SIM cards, it was LycaMobile and it cost $29 USD for unlimited calls, texts and data for one month. It also included international calls which was awesome because I was able to call home a couple times. The data wasn't always the strongest, but 98% of the time it did exactly what I needed it to do. It also meant my travel buddy and I were able to stay in contact via text message which helped a lot.

Honestly, if you're going straight to Disneyland, and you don't want to go the ordering online route, or if your online order falls through, I strongly recommend this SIM card. It was totally worth it for such a small amount of money.