Mobiles in the usa

woolie1946

My daughter is off to the States for 2 months next week, but today she has also said goodbye to her boyfriend who has left the UK to start a 3 year post in Singapore. Does anyone have any idea what will be the cheapest way for them to communicate by mobile phone at first, or mobile to landline when he gets to his office?? They are both students so money is tight!

funkysi

Might be worth buying international calling cards. Tend to be set fees.

US mobile networks are very odd. I've bought a PAYG SIM whenever I have been in the US and whilst texting is relatively cheap, calling...or rather receiving sometimes isn't. For example, to receive a call, as a PAYG user in the US, you actually have to pay to receive calls! Stupid! So if you have no credit, there's no way of anyone calling you!

Stubert

Get skype!

Much like funkysi, when I was in the states I found texting to be relatively cheap, 10 cents to text any number (US or international). But receiving a text cost 5 cents and receiving calls were especially expensive. So if I didn't have any credit, I didn't get texts or calls. Having a PAYG whilst you're there is probably essential obviously though staying in contact with chums.

Skype is dirt cheap. When I was there I bought $10 of credit (decide to dollars instead of pounds, but you can do whatever currency you like). Plus admin fee came to $11.50. But for some reason they only charged £2.50 to my creditcard. So calling worked out to be really cheap as that got me quite a lot of minutes for the price.

Skype to skype calls are free too, so if they both have they could communicate for free. And if one isn't available on it, calling is pretty cheap.

mrcamp

US does not differentiate between mobiles and landlines. So it does not cost callers extra too call a US mobile vs a landline. So, it's not stupid. It's just that the receiver pays. Instead of the caller paying extra to call a mobile like it is in the UK for example. It's called RPP (receiving Party Pays) vs CPP (calling party pays) in the UK.

As for OP, calling cards will definitely be your best option. Skype is another option. She will also need to get her own payg phone. If she already has one with the bands used here (850 and/or 1900) , she can just pick up a tmobile or AT&T sim card on ebay or any of the grocery stores and she is good to go. International texting and calling is very cheap on tmobile and Tuyo mobile $0.10 for texting and Tuyo onlu costs $0.25 to call a UK mobile.

sparkeytec

Hi all,

i was wondering if anyone could help with the confusing situation of calling and receiving calls from the USA.
My girlfriend is in the USA for a few months. She has her UK mobile with her but i am going to get her a T-Mobile US sim to cut down costs.
I am going to get it from this site - icallabroad.com


unless anyone has any better alternatives??

Now i will be calling and receiving calls to and from her using this sim to my vodafone mobile so no landline calls will be made, just mobiles only. I don't have regular internet access so Skype isn't an option.
Now my questions are:
1. If she calls me from her US T-mobile using an international calling card will i be charging for reciving this call on my vodafone mobile?
2. If i call her from my mobile using an international calling card will she be charged for receiving the call. If so does anyone have any idea how much?
3. If shes call me from a landline in the US using a international calling card to my uk mobile do i incur any costs for receiving the call?
4. Is there any other costs that i should take into account

Many thanks in advance for any replies

xbrenx

sparkeytec wrote: »

Hi all,

i was wondering if anyone could help with the confusing situation of calling and receiving calls from the USA.
My girlfriend is in the USA for a few months. She has her UK mobile with her but i am going to get her a T-Mobile US sim to cut down costs.
I am going to get it from this site - icallabroad.com


unless anyone has any better alternatives??

Now i will be calling and receiving calls to and from her using this sim to my vodafone mobile so no landline calls will be made, just mobiles only. I don't have regular internet access so Skype isn't an option.
Now my questions are:
1. If she calls me from her US T-mobile using an international calling card will i be charging for reciving this call on my vodafone mobile?
2. If i call her from my mobile using an international calling card will she be charged for receiving the call. If so does anyone have any idea how much?
3. If shes call me from a landline in the US using a international calling card to my uk mobile do i incur any costs for receiving the call?
4. Is there any other costs that i should take into account

Many thanks in advance for any replies

Ummmm see posts 2-4?

Don't assume skype isnt an option because you're not using a computer, most phones will let you download it to them these days, I believe.

mrnomoneybags

isnt stauntip free to both usa and singapore?

mrcamp

Why can't she just buy the tmobile sim on ebay for dirt cheap, or have her get it at walmart, bestbuy, radioshack, etc. They will come with a cheap phone for about $30 or so.

In the US incoming and out going calls cost the same. The US does not differentiate between mobiles and landlines, hence the reason for paying for incoming calls. The caller does not pay extra to call a US mobile vs a landline.

Tmobile charges the same ($0.10) for all text sent international or not. So, may not be a bad idea to use text.

sparkeytec wrote: »

Hi all,

unless anyone has any better alternatives??

Now i will be calling and receiving calls to and from her using this sim to my vodafone mobile so no landline calls will be made, just mobiles only. I don't have regular internet access so Skype isn't an option.
Now my questions are:
1. If she calls me from her US T-mobile using an international calling card will i be charging for reciving this call on my vodafone mobile?
2. If i call her from my mobile using an international calling card will she be charged for receiving the call. If so does anyone have any idea how much?
3. If shes call me from a landline in the US using a international calling card to my uk mobile do i incur any costs for receiving the call?
4. Is there any other costs that i should take into account

Many thanks in advance for any replies

bubblesmoney

funkysi wrote: »

Might be worth buying international calling cards. Tend to be set fees.

US mobile networks are very odd. I've bought a PAYG SIM whenever I have been in the US and whilst texting is relatively cheap, calling...or rather receiving sometimes isn't. For example, to receive a call, as a PAYG user in the US, you actually have to pay to receive calls! Stupid! So if you have no credit, there's no way of anyone calling you!

why should people who call have to subsidise people who only ever receive calls? it is right that in a true capitalistic system you pay for what you use and that includes receiving calls as it uses the phone network.

regarding the OPs query.... singapore used to sell calling cards and it was reasonable cheap calling via them on public phones, but my information is a decade old! same for the usa, calling cards are usually the cheapest way to call from the usa too even if you have a landline or mobile. unless both have internet connections and use skype or yahoo messenger etc for video chat for free i cant think of a cheaper way than calling cards.

lorrenna

i had this prob a couple of months ago. i looked at 2 options, o2 wireless simcard, which i purchased on ebay - can only be used with certain mobiles. that seems to have cheapest texts and calls to uk. i topped up with $49.99 and received unlimited texts and unlimited calls to the UK. there are about 50 countries included that you can text and call for free.

or net10 mobile but i dont think you can text to the uk on that, but the calls are cheap, running at 5c a minute.