Hi All, I want to take my iPhone away to Florida with me. Obviously I'm not going to use expensive data roaming so I am going to buy a USA sim card to put in my phone. Do people generally wait until they get out there to buy a SIM card or do you buy one online before you go? I want to use data but obviously not tons. Josh
Last year some people bought in advance others bought once there and a few continued to use their uk phones as normal. The UK option makes life expensive for everyone because anyone phoning it is making an international call too (I'm assuming you already realised this is an expensive option from the phrasing of your question) If you go to Walmart there's a variety of payg options available. I would personally recommend AT&T because they do a bundle option so you pay a set amount and it can cover x number of texts or data or whatever it is you buy the package for. The text bundle is really useful because you pay to send AND receive texts in the US. I recommend going on the various networks' websites and having a browse to see what is most suitable for you. (major networks are AT&T, T-mobile, Verizon and I believe Virgin do them as well.) There's also a network called Net10 that a lot of people bought phones with but I know some people found their system complicated and you have to use one of their phones. If you go on walmart, target or bestbuy's websites you can see how much it costs to buy the phone and simcard. In the US you tend to buy the sim card with the phone and it comes with credit already. You don't have to use that phone you can just put the sim in your own phone if you want. Make sure that the phone you want has been unlocked so that you can use another network's sim card in it.
Hi I spoke to t mobile the other day about what they advised to do and they said definatly don't use the phone as it is (obviously!) and they recommended buy a sim card over there for my blackberry as black beryy messanger is still free so i could message family in the UK Most people mentioned buying a phone from wallmart anyway and then buying a phone card to make calls home and just using the internet most of the time so i'm torn!
I wondered the same thing, but I've just decided to buy a cheap pre-paid phone from walmart when I get there for keeping in touch with friends in America, and using skype to call home. I'll still be taking my iphone with me though, and making sure I have heaps of credit on it for emergencies or until I manage to buy a new phone
One thing that they don't tell you is that you get charged to send AND receive a text - whether to another US number or an international number. Just so it doesn't take you by surprise like it did me
Buying one of the prepaid phones is very simple but it can cause you to spend an absolute fortune constantly topping it up with credit, or as net10 worked, minutes! It can be very costly due to the cost of sending AND receiving texts aswell an instant charge for calls etc. I could go through $30 a week on my phone, so i would advice getting one of the plans, especially if you plan to use your phone often...i ended up using mine more than i had intended to. This year for going to america i have purchased a Global SIM card which i will use in an unlocked phone. There are very good prices and you dont get charged to receive messages or calls. Oh yes you also get charged to receive calls on some networks. Which was annoying when someone from home phoned me. If you want to buy a Global SIM card then you can get one from simplecalling.com
Well... it aint 2001 anymore Nowadays quite a few go to MetroPCS and get an unlimited plan (no annual contract) for $40 per month, this means unlimited cell-to-cell, local & nationwide long distance calling + unlimited texting. you can also add unlimited international texting and unlimited international calling for like $10 extra. MetroPCS phones start at $19.99 and go up to $299 for 4g devices. Unfortunately an iphone won't work with metropcs.
This sounds like a good idea. I went to the website but couldn't quite see how the sim works.. I mean, do you buy it online and they send you a sim card in the post (internationally)? Or do they just put your phone onto their usa plan? Any insight into this would be helpful!
they do, but it's not always easy to get the right one on the phone if you don't know where he or she might be at. Everyone is texting
I guess if thats the way it is now, then you need a mob, but it's not like your gonna have lots of money to spend on things like this, unless your in f&b.
Hey, I'm on the program at the moment, and my iPhone and I get along very well over here. I went to the T-Mobile store by Wal-Mart (right across the parking lot) and bought a SIM from a company called Simple Mobile. It's really good. $40/month gets you unlimited txting (domestic & international) & unlimited calling US wide. $50/month gets you that and 100MB of data. $60/month gets the same, but with unlimited data. And then you can add $10/month for incredibly cheap international calling. For example, to call home to NZ, it costs me 2.5 cents per minute... It's really good. I'm currently on the $50 plan. And it's prepaid, so you don't have to worry about getting a bill every month. Here is the website http://www.mysimplemobile.com/ Have fun! I know I am!
