Has anyone used a 3 sim in the States?

Mercenary

I was in the States last Autumn and for quickness I bought the cheapest option I could find, which was at a T-Mobile store. Silly me. I got a T-Mobile pre-paid sim for about $40 plus the activation fee for $10 for a miserable amount of texts, minutes and data equivalent to what we would pay far less than £15 for over here. It was a rip-off!

I also found that nearly everywhere provides free WiFi so it wasn't really needed at all.
A much cheaper option if you really need to make calls and texts is to either use an app like WeChat which sends texts and make calls free over WiFi or buy a cheap phone from Walmart with a TracFone or similar sim that can be replaced and topped up for further visits.

Jon_01

thetightone wrote: »

I've ordered a few online and they have always came the next full working day. So order now and should come on Wednesdays post......Even as a back up if you don't get to a shop tomorrow.

So, posts just arrived and no sim

Anyone know if the likes of p4u or cpw do them? My nearest 3 store is miles away and I'm not sure I can make there today...

Counter

Jon_01 wrote: »

So, posts just arrived and no sim

Anyone know if the likes of p4u or cpw do them? My nearest 3 store is miles away and I'm not sure I can make there today...

Obviously I don't know what shops you have nearby, but I know that Wilkinson sell SIM cards for all networks and they display them alongside the range of gift cards they sell. I don't know if other shops that sell gift cards do the same.

mrcamp

Tmobile USA payg sims can be had for next to nothing or free in most cases.You just need a USA address to get the free sim. If not, get one on ebay for about $3. Activation is free nd can be done over the phone before you even arrive in the USA. They will give you your phone number over the phone and also text it to your sim (It will roam in the UK btw). Then sign up for the $2/day plan unlimited talk, text and data. Even if you do not sign up for data, there is free WiFi all over the place.

prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/pay-by-the-day-cell-phone-plans

Mercenary wrote: »

I was in the States last Autumn and for quickness I bought the cheapest option I could find, which was at a T-Mobile store. Silly me. I got a T-Mobile pre-paid sim for about $40 plus the activation fee for $10 for a miserable amount of texts, minutes and data equivalent to what we would pay far less than £15 for over here. It was a rip-off!

I also found that nearly everywhere provides free WiFi so it wasn't really needed at all.
A much cheaper option if you really need to make calls and texts is to either use an app like WeChat which sends texts and make calls free over WiFi or buy a cheap phone from Walmart with a TracFone or similar sim that can be replaced and topped up for further visits.

Counter

mrcamp wrote: »

Tmobile USA payg sims can be had for next to nothing or free in most cases.You just need a USA address to get the free sim. If not, get one on ebay for about $3. Activation is free nd can be done over the phone before you even arrive in the USA. They will give you your phone number over the phone and also text it to your sim (It will roam in the UK btw). Then sign up for the $2/day plan unlimited talk, text and data. Even if you do not sign up for data, there is free WiFi all over the place.

prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/pay-by-the-day-cell-phone-plans

I'm glad somebody has posted this. I have done this in the past (although I paid $3 a day for speeds greater than 2G) but didn't want to say anything as I assumed this must have been discontinued (and T-mobile had implemented a radically changed pre-paid pricing structure) when I saw:

I was in the States last Autumn and for quickness I bought the cheapest option I could find, which was at a T-Mobile store. Silly me. I got a T-Mobile pre-paid sim for about $40 plus the activation fee for $10 for a miserable amount of texts, minutes and data equivalent to what we would pay far less than £15 for over here.

I was quite shocked to read these prices!

By the way, I didn't even need to give an address in the store I got my SIM from.

I am a 3 customer anyway so I will not need to do this in the future.

joolsleeds

I took a 3 payg sim with me to New York last week. Used it in an unlocked iPhone 5.

The calls and text were fine, and very cheap - I think texts were 7p each and calls 20ppm.

One thing was though that I couldn't use data, even though the handset said I had 3G.

Anyone know where I went wrong?

Also, the 4g menu appeared on the settings screen on the phone, but even though I switched it on, I never saw a 4g signal. Back in the uk, the 4g menu has disappeared again! (The phone is ex-Voda and has never been 4g)

mrcamp

My suspicion is that you did not turn on "Data roaming" under settings. It's off by default.

joolsleeds wrote: »

One thing was though that I couldn't use data, even though the handset said I had 3G.

Anyone know where I went wrong?

joolsleeds

That's a good point I forgot to mention. Yes, roaming was switched on, that's how I knew about the 4g setting I'd never seen before.

Thanks for the thought though.

JohnM5206

Hi, a quick update.
Had three weeks in May in US. Bill arrived today for 136 mins used when roaming, 11 texts and 456Mb data...total is £0.00.

Feel at Home is definitely good

mrcamp

Awesome! what a deal.

JohnM5206 wrote: »

Hi, a quick update.
Had three weeks in May in US. Bill arrived today for 136 mins used when roaming, 11 texts and 456Mb data...total is £0.00.

Feel at Home is definitely good