What SIM to use in USA please?

andrewmoorcroft

I have an unlocked tri-band phone that i use in the UK. I will soon be going to the USA and notice that the international call checker has access numbers to call USA mobiles at just 1p/minute. To this end i wondered if i could get a SIM on a USA network (cheap) and put it in my phone so that people can call me at 1p/minute in the USA.
Will USA SIM's fit our UK phones and if so which is the best one to get and where do i get it from please?
Sorry if this has been asked before!

redux

For a tri-band phone, get a SIM for T-mobile or one of the virtual networks on it.

Rates are in the range 10 to 20 cents a minute. Info on tariffs, and links to network sites, at http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/usa.html

Note that incoming calls are charged as well. This receiver-pays system is why it's cheap to call them though.

Biggles

Whereabouts in the States are you going?

We toured for a few weeks a couple of years ago and spent one stretch of 14 days with no GSM signal at all. CDMA phones are more widespread than GSM, esp in the more remote parts.

Check a coverage map, you may find you want to get a cheap CDMA phone if you need to be contactable.

andrewmoorcroft

redux wrote: »

For a tri-band phone, get a SIM for T-mobile or one of the virtual networks on it.

Rates are in the range 10 to 20 cents a minute. Info on tariffs, and links to network sites, at http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/usa.html

Note that incoming calls are charged as well. This receiver-pays system is why it's cheap to call them though.

Thanks. I didn't realise that you had to pay to receive calls on mobiles with USA SIM's in the USA. I thought that if i got a USA sim then i wouldn't pay to receive just like using a UK SIM in the UK when someone calls from another country.
So is there any mobile/SIM combination that can receive calls in the USA FOC?

andrewmoorcroft

Biggles wrote: »

Whereabouts in the States are you going?

We toured for a few weeks a couple of years ago and spent one stretch of 14 days with no GSM signal at all. CDMA phones are more widespread than GSM, esp in the more remote parts.

Check a coverage map, you may find you want to get a cheap CDMA phone if you need to be contactable.

Thanks. Shows how little i know. Whats a CDMA phone? Is it a different phone or a different SIM?
I will be going for 3 weeks at mainly Lake Havassu, Yucca, and Death Valley with one day at Phoenix, and Vegas.
How does the price compare and is it free to receive on one of these?

appleseed_2

Think depending on coverage maps, it's still worth considering a GSM phone. Ideally, it should be a quadband phone for coverage in more remote areas that support GSM, but in major conurbations and for most scenarios a tri-band phone should be fine because that's exactly what all the UK networks require for use with the roaming partners (Cingular/ATT/T-Mobile) with GSM networks.

As for networks, worth buying a Cingular (now rebranded as ATT) Pay as You Go Sim. Can pre-register online, add initial credit via Zaptel.com - a reputable reseller of top-up vouchers, $25 or $50 - before you go and then apply additional credit as required by buying a voucher from the numerous Cingular retail/partner stores or Zaptel.

A Cingular SIM should cost no more than £10 or so pounds delivered from the US - lots of dealers on ebay, takes about 4 days via international post from the US (can recommend one if you like).

Two plans are available on Pay as You Go Cingular. I'd recommend the 10c min $1 a day w free M2M (free Cingular to Cingular Calls). You're only charged the 1 dollar if you use the phone. Texts are 5 cents regardless of length.

Service works well, you can add vouchers either via a freephone number or via online account management. When registering, just use the Zip Code of your first port of call - Cingular try and assign you a 'local' mobile number. You'll also need the IMEI number from the mobile that you'd like to use. Account balances are sent to phone after you terminate each call or send a text, so it's easy to keep track of the balance.

HTH

redux

T-mobile uses only 1900 MHz, whereas Cingular also uses 850 MHz, hence the recommendation of T-mobile with the tri-band phone

hartcjhart

not sure about all the techie stuff, but see if this is any good

http://www.travelfone.com/default.aspx

redux

hartcjhart wrote: »

not sure about all the techie stuff, but see if this is any good

Not for the USA, as there aren't any cheap roaming deals there - a local SIM card is much cheaper

For other countries, there are several global roaming SiMs like that, with a range of tariffs. See Martin's roaming article and its discussion thread for more details

appleseed_2

redux wrote: »

T-mobile uses only 1900 MHz, whereas Cingular also uses 850 MHz, hence the recommendation of T-mobile with the tri-band phone

I've used a Cingular SIM in a triband phone with no difficulties because of the 850/1900 MHz with Cingular. Cingular generally use 850 MHz in low population density areas and are more competitive than T-Mobile on the suggested plan (their coverage is also better). Both are the only viable GSM options without having to resort to one of the virtual network providers.

If you check T-mobiles coverage map, you'll notice it's along major highways and big cities - equivalent to Cingular on 1900Mhz. If you want the most coverage, get Cingular. T-Mobile often roams on Cingular, so Cingular is generally considered better for coverage. My suggestion is to compare the coverage maps to see which one would suit your needs. Cingular is likely to be the better candidate.

850Mhz provides better in-building penetration, requires fewer towers so is better for larger areas. In the longer-term, GSM users would be better off with a Quadband phone such as the upcoming Motorola Z8, but Triband is fine too.

For truly remote areas, though, neither T-Mobile nor Cingular are good choices; you'd need to go with a CDMA provider such as Verizon.

Also, ease of use with a Cingular SIM - in terms of account management, top-up, ability to switch plans for free etc - is a valuable commodity for a first time user.

mrtg0525

And even with Verizon and similar, there are "inhabited" areas where you won't get a signal.

GSM mobiles are pretty much useless outside the the West Coast and East Coast areas with a couple of more touristy areas and bigger cities thrown in. If you rely on your mobile, as everybody else said, go CDMA.

Also, if buying a SIM, check with the vendor that that doesn't incur roaming charges either - at least on their normal price plan, a lot of vendors do charge roaming fees if you're going outside your normal area. My wife more than halved her phone bill when she switched to a tarrif that incurred no roaming charges.

The main reason for charging for incoming calls is that you don't get a special mobile number as you do in the UK and most of Europe; in the US mobile phones and landlines are indistinguishable just by looking at the number, so receiver gets to pay their share of the call. Please note that this is also true for SMSs - my wife pays around 20c per SMS she receives even though incoming calls aren't charged on the tarrif she's on. But she's got a contract phone and not a PAYG phone...