Travelling to USA - advice please

dkay_2

Dear all,

Apologies if this has been previously addressed, but a search hasn't unearthed anything similar.

Need advice. In the US for 3 weeks in Sept. I have an unlocked iPhone 3GS on O2. Here's my plan:

1. Buy a T-Mobile US SIM from simcardguru.co.uk for £19 with $3.34 credit included.

The SIM is set to $50/month Unlimited Talk, Text & Web plan with a $10 International Unlimited Talk & Text add-on feature. This allows for unlimited texts, unlimited calls (in and out US landline and mobile calls), unlimited UK landline and texts, and unlimited data.

2. Top-up with $60 to enable the above - preferably pre-departure by using their 'US partner' site (due to non-US credit card). If this doesn't work, buy vouchers on arrival in the US.

3. At Heathrow airport: disable voicemail by dialing 1760.

4. At Heathrow airport: divert/forward all UK O2 mobile voice calls to my "Skype to go" - a Skype-provided UK landline number which forwards calls to a specific number anywhere, in this case, the US mobile number.

This way, I only pay 1.6p/min to Skype for incoming UK calls rather than muchos money to O2 for roaming charges. I don't expect that many incoming calls anyway but will need outgoing calls (UK and US).

My questions are

* How does this sound? Any experiences?

* I intend to use the iPhone with the US SIM and have other unlocked phones that I can pop the UK (O2) SIM into. I assume only voice calls will be forwarded? Can I leave the UK phone on (with the call forwarding still enabled) to receive text messages?

I have looked at UK2Abroad, but resent having to pay a UK (£) add-on in addition to the US call charges. Besides, their initial charge is £50 (for SIM and credits) is only £10 short of my idea and it comes with unlimited everything. Also, the bad reviews aren't exactly reassuring.

The point of getting a US SIM pre-departure is to enable the voice forwarding while I'm still in the UK.

If I forward calls after I get there, I pay double roaming charges (to receive the UK call and then the local call charge to the US SIM). Happy to be corrected on this.

Thanks in advance!

OneADay

Personally if I had to do I would try to get the cheapest prepaid US sim card which has lots of minutes (and texts maybe) to use in the US - i.e. local minutes.

Maybe AT&T http://www.usasims.com/ATT_SIM.html

Then sign upto Rebtel.com (in US) - register your US number with them and get cheap international calls and texts.

And also check the coverage for the network you choose for US - state by state they vary I think in the level of coverage.

dkay_2

OneADay wrote: »

Personally if I had to do I would try to get the cheapest prepaid US sim card which has lots of minutes (and texts maybe) to use in the US - i.e. local minutes.

Then sign upto Rebtel.com (in US) - register your US number with them and get cheap international calls and texts.

And also check the coverage for the network you choose for US - state by state they vary I think in the level of coverage.

Thanks for your reply. The Rebtel concept is exactly what Skype to go is.

The point of the whole thing is to get the US SIM here in the UK so I can forward incoming calls to my UK mobile to my US mobile before I leave.

Having said that, I've had a look at the simcardguru.co.uk website again, and just discovered the SIM is sent from Australia and there isn't an e-mail or phone contact. It's losing its appeal fast.

I could get an AT&T or T-mobile SIM from ebay but the AT&T UK seller is saying that it doesn't work on the iphone. Doesn't make sense. Any experiences, anyone?

gjchester

dkay wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. The Rebtel concept is exactly what Skype to go is.

The point of the whole thing is to get the US SIM here in the UK so I can forward incoming calls to my UK mobile to my US mobile before I leave.

Having said that, I've had a look at the simcardguru.co.uk website again, and just discovered the SIM is sent from Australia and there isn't an e-mail or phone contact. It's losing its appeal fast.

I could get an AT&T or T-mobile SIM from ebay but the AT&T UK seller is saying that it doesn't work on the iphone. Doesn't make sense. Any experiences, anyone?

Personally I leave my phone off, its a holiday after all, and just turn it on every day or so to pick up messages if I need to or in an emergency.

How many calls do you plan on making/ recieving?

Have you condidered a TracPhone or Gophone, they start at $10 for a prepaid phone, and are sold in most Walmart/Target/Publix stores.

Bear in mind that US calling plans you pay for service and minutes, usually in the same top up but not always you can top up your credit on some networks or your service credit but if you run out of service credit no matter how much call credit you have it won;t will till you add more service credit. Remember you also pay for incoming calls inthe US as the cell phone will have a "local number" so calls may be cheap in one area but long distace to other area's.

dkay_2

Leaving my phone off is not an option.

I need to be contactable via my UK mobile number which is why I have to forward calls before I leave, while in the UK.

I realise it is cheaper to buy a 'disposable' pay-as-you-go phone or even a SIM when I'm in the US. If anyone has any suggestions as to how I can forward my UK mobile calls to the US mobile (on the cheap), please let me know.

gjchester

dkay wrote: »

Leaving my phone off is not an option.

I need to be contactable via my UK mobile number which is why I have to forward calls before I leave, while in the UK.

I realise it is cheaper to buy a 'disposable' pay-as-you-go phone or even a SIM when I'm in the US. If anyone has any suggestions as to how I can forward my UK mobile calls to the US mobile (on the cheap), please let me know.

You'll have to pay to port the calls to Skype as you said but can you not assign the prepaid GSM a number with Skype to go, that way when you get the number you can log on and send it to that?

dkay_2

gjchester wrote: »

You'll have to pay to port the calls to Skype as you said but can you not assign the prepaid GSM a number with Skype to go, that way when you get the number you can log on and send it to that?

Yes, that's exactly what I was planning to do. Assign a UK skype to go number to the US number, then forward all calls to this skpye to go number.

The point is, as far as I understand, I need to enable call forwarding on my home network (UK O2) - therefore before I leave for the US. If I do this in the US, I'll be hit by roaming charges.

This is why I think I need the US SIM and number here in the UK before I go.

Just in case some of you are wondering why i don't just get a skype to go number for some random overseas number first before changing it to the US SIM on the skype website once I get there? I have tried it - the skype to number changes everytime you change the 'overseas' number.

gjchester

dkay wrote: »

I have tried it - the skype to number changes everytime you change the 'overseas' number.

Ah right, thats a bummer...

mrcamp

You are correct, you can get the US sim for next to nothing if you wait to get to the US. You can walk into a Tmobile or AT&t store and get a free sim as long as you buy topup.

You can forward/unforward your phone from anywhere in the world as long as there is GSM signal. So, NO. You do not have to forward your number while int he UK, you can forward it when you get to the US. As long as your UK sim roams in the US. The only way you will get hit with roaming charges is if (before you do the forwarding) your phone is on, and a call comes in, and you pick it up, or let it go to voicemail. So, leave your phone off while in the US, then as soon as you know your US number, turn your UK phone off, do the forwarding, and that's it. You can leave it on afterwards, so that you can still receive your txt messages which should be free to receive.

Someone mentioned different rates for local vs long distance calls - That's totally FALSE. Calls to anywhere in the US, and its territories cost the same. So, you can get a number with a NewYork area code, and it does not cost extra to call a NY number vs a number in Texas and vice-versa. The US charges for incoming calls because they do NOT differentiate between mobiles and land lines. So, folks in the UK or anywhere in the world pay the same rate to call a US mobile and land line. Hence, the receiving party pays (RPP).

gjchester

mrcamp wrote: »

Someone mentioned different rates for local vs long distance calls - That's totally FALSE. Calls to anywhere in the US, and its territories cost the same. So, you can get a number with a NewYork area code, and it does not cost extra to call a NY number vs a number in Texas and vice-versa. The US charges for incoming calls because they do NOT differentiate between mobiles and land lines. So, folks in the UK or anywhere in the world pay the same rate to call a US mobile and land line. Hence, the receiving party pays (RPP).

Sorry thats me not being clear..

If you get a US mobile it will live in a area code. Lets say Orlando which I know if 407 (or Disney is...). Anyone in that area code will pay local rates to call the phone and indeed the recieving party pays some of the cost.

Anyone in another code in the same state (say 813 in Tampa) or even out of state will pay long distance rates to call that number as well as the reciever paying some costs. Given some area codes are small geogrphical areas (212 is manhatton island only) it's possible that a geographically close call may result in a long distance number charge to the caller.

My thinking there was that if the OP is expecting incoming US calls he may want to pick a suitable area code.

mrcamp

No problem. This issue is almost a moot point these days. Since all mobiles (for sure) and most land lines include long distance. So, for anyone using a mobile in Orlando it should not cost them extra to to call a number in Orlando Vs a number in New York, Tampa, etc. For some land lines that do not include long distance (rarely these days), then yes, they will pay extra to call a number out of their local area. But these days, pretty much everyone has a mobile phone.

gjchester wrote: »

Sorry thats me not being clear..

If you get a US mobile it will live in a area code. Lets say Orlando which I know if 407 (or Disney is...). Anyone in that area code will pay local rates to call the phone and indeed the recieving party pays some of the cost.

Anyone in another code in the same state (say 813 in Tampa) or even out of state will pay long distance rates to call that number as well as the reciever paying some costs. Given some area codes are small geogrphical areas (212 is manhatton island only) it's possible that a geographically close call may result in a long distance number charge to the caller.

My thinking there was that if the OP is expecting incoming US calls he may want to pick a suitable area code.