3G in the USA ?

mrcamp

Wow! Summer of what year 1999?. Even my 6 year old knows what a sim card is. You can walk into any walmart, kmart, radio shack, best buy, and buy a prepaid phone with sim from any of tmobile, AT&T, or one of the so many MVNO's. You can even walk into a tmobile or AT&T store and walk out with a free prepaid sim card as long as you buy credit. There are gazillions tmobile and AT&T sim cards on ebay for next to nothing! My siblings in the UK have been using/buying prepaid sim cards here in the US for years. They hop off the plane and they change sims and that's it!

Getting 3G on your Euro phone is another story. AT&T uses 850/1900 and tmobile uses 1700/2100 as their 3G bands. Both of them have 1 year expiration once you topup with $100. Also, they both have data. With tmobile being cheaper at $1.49 for unlimited data for the day.

As is already posted in this thread and others, getting a prepaid sim in the US is as easy as it gets. May be not as easy is in Europe, but easy enough.

Chorlie wrote: »

Do they do PAYG in the USA?

I was over there in the summer and most people didn't know what a sim card was, there deals are expensive and long term.

You might be better looking to buy before you leave the UK, there are several site that sell sim cards that can be used in the USA, I'd have a look into them and there costs first.


http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-roaming-calls#simcards

d123

Chorlie wrote: »

Do they do PAYG in the USA?

I was over there in the summer and most people didn't know what a sim card was, there deals are expensive and long term.

You must have been with a pretty ignorant bunch, the iPhone became the best selling phone in the US in 2008 and it is the identical phone to that sold in Europe (it has a sim card, just like ours).

And a list of best sellers for q4 2009 shows all of the US top 10 are phones with sim cards

Top 10 Best Selling Phones of Q4 2009:

RIM – BlackBerry Curve
Apple – iPhone 3G S
Motorola – DROID
Apple – iPhone 3G
RIM – BlackBerry Pearl
RIM – BlackBerry Bold
RIM – BlackBerry Storm
Palm – Pre
RIM – BlackBerry Tour
T-Mobile – myTouch 3G

mrcamp

You certainly must have been among a bunch of clueless Americans. Geez! The biggest mobile carrier in the US (AT&T) uses GSM. What are you talking about! Go to ebay and search for AT&T or Tmobile sim card. Just bought an AT&T prepaid sim card on ebay for $2.25 (shipping included) to use in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in December because of the good $0.25/min rate AT&T prepaid charges to roam in Mexico.

Heck! My wife's parents who are in their 70's swap sim cards when they travel, like no man's business!

Chorlie wrote: »

You might be able to buy one, I was with a group of people and my (UK) friends phone was flat so borrowed my phone and swoped sims as we do often and all the Americans where amazed, never seen it before, or even knew what a sim card was (it was like we'd shown them fire for the first time).

So we got chatting about mobiles and cost etc, there monthly charge is high but they have a standard number (landline) so it's cheaper to call a mobile.

Have a look on best buy web site or the USA T-Mobile site it should give you the answers

swayzak

Thanks all

I found this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Brand-New-ATT-at-t-3G-Sim-Card-wireless-phone-/280516492319?pt=SIM_Cards&hash=item415015fc1f

Firstly it is 3G (as is my phone) - will this be OK or will there be a problem using AT&T 3G in a UK/European quadband phone ?

Secondly, it says you need to have an AT&T / Cingular compatible phone - what does this mean ? Is my Nokia 5800XM OK ?

If I use data (e.g Satnav), will this suck up the credit on a prepay SIM v quickly !?

I gather that Googlemaps works fine on 2G, although not sure if OviMaps satnav would ... ?

TrishaM

Go into an AT&T store(like our o2 shop) you can pick up a sim card there. they are really helpful and if you check the web site http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/packages/prepaid-packages.jsp?wtSlotClick=1-00463O-0-1&WT.svl=title, You can pick up a sim only. also Cingular was a mobile company that was taken over by AT&t. I took an unlocked sony ericsson phone with me and it worked.

mrochester

swayzak wrote: »

Thanks all

I found this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Brand-New-ATT-at-t-3G-Sim-Card-wireless-phone-/280516492319?pt=SIM_Cards&hash=item415015fc1f

Firstly it is 3G (as is my phone) - will this be OK or will there be a problem using AT&T 3G in a UK/European quadband phone ?

Secondly, it says you need to have an AT&T / Cingular compatible phone - what does this mean ? Is my Nokia 5800XM OK ?

If I use data (e.g Satnav), will this suck up the credit on a prepay SIM v quickly !?

I gather that Googlemaps works fine on 2G, although not sure if OviMaps satnav would ... ?

You'll get no 3G coverage on any American network with your 5800 but you will get 2G coverage.