Cheap internet service when travelling in USA.

stav1

Hi,

Do you know of a cheap USA internet service/3G which can be used for internet on a mobile phone while travelling there for about 2 weeks ?
Maybe a USA sim card which can be bought there for internet use ?

Thanks.

benjus

I think T-mobile is probably the cheapest for PAYG data - about $1.50/day for data on prepaid, IIRC. However, I believe that your device would need to support BOTH 1700 MHz and 2100 MHz WCDMA bands to get full 3G speeds. Otherwise you'll be limited to GPRS/EDGE speeds. Also, check their coverage in the areas you plan to visit.

You'll probably have to register the SIM to a US address when you activate it. Getting a SIM card from ebay might be cheaper if you do have an address to use.

If you're in a major city free wifi is quite easy to find. You might be better off with that, unless you can't live without data or you want to use Google maps navigation or something.

eslick

coverage might be your problem, look at the coverage maps before you book anything. We were caught up in the ash cloud last year and moved to another state and the mobile phones we used in the first one only had coverage in certain parts of the second one. Verizon we were told has the better coverage in many states but even this doesnt cover the whole state.

As mentioned might be worth using free wi-fi in the likes of starbucks.