American Sim Cards

strange13

I am going to America with my partner. A lot of the time he will want to go off and do his own thing, so it is vital that we keep in touch through our mobiles. We both have phones that work in the USA, the only problem being we need a USA sim card. We will not be phoning home, nor will anyone need to phone us, so that is not an issue. Everywhere I have looked, the price seems very expensive for a sim card, prepaid or not. I just feel as if I am missing something? I have looked across these forums, but couldn't really see anyone in the same boat. Is my best bet Ebay?

Kind Regards
Helen

dc

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/usa.html

This site from Martin's article http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1119870249,48922, on using phones abroad, lists some US sims, the 25cent/ min Cingular one suits me as it is good for general use including cheapish calls back to UK. Both Cingular and T mobile have the best coverage.

Sims around $50 are fair value. imo, you have to be careful on how long they are active for, it varies quite a lot.

dc

redux

Welcome

info on networks and tariffs, and links to their sites at
http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/usa.html

quite a few of the US networks only sell deals with phones, but some of these SIMs reappear on eBay, like T-mobile and Cingular the largest GSM networks

there are roaming arrangements within the country, so you'd need to check coverage maps for the larger networks for the area you'll be in, I might go for BeyondWireless if I was in their coverage

don't forget you'll pay for incoming call charges as well, and if you think you might after all call home a couple of times, get a calling card, of which there are huge numbers.

pin

You can easily pick up Sims when in the US. When I was there last, was easily able to pick up T-Mobile Sims. As others above has suggested check out coverage maps to see where you are going. The GSM world website has coverage maps for all GSM networks in the world.

rapido

. .

rasputin

Well, I went to the US for 2 weeks in 2005, and bought an American SIM card for use in my triband phone. I got the seller to post it to the hotel where I would be staying at. I ended up with a Washington DC number (202). Yeah sure, you pay to receive incoming calls (and texts). However, at 5c a text, it works out well to text each other, rather than have long voice calls. I was on the Cingular network on the East Coast.

I can recommend the seller "vastamps" on ebay. That's the guy I used and I got the basic 9.99 Cingular KIC sim card which included 10 bucks of airtime. He even offered to top it up prior to shipping, if I needed more credit.