Sorry if this a bit OT.
I'm off to Florida on Hol soon and need advice on which P&G sim to pick up when I'm there to stick in my HD2 (O2 prices for data are extortionate).
Calls not needed really but some included data allowance is a must.
What radio is best for Florida please and who offers the best speeds.. O2 offer free wifi zones for me, if a USA provider offers that mores the better. Finally, Preferably at the most reasonable price. Advice on where I'm likely to find said sim would be great.
Not a problem if it needs activating, my mate is going a fortnight before me and can pick me one up.
Thanks again for looking in.
Hi
Did you have any joy with this?
If you did which sim did you go for?
I've just landed in the states, and would be good to have a local sim, your help will be really appreciated, thanks!
prepaid sim
Most prepaid sim's in the United States do not include data. The only option, which is expensive, for prepaid data in the states is AT&T. They do have a prepaid plan which is 20.00 for 100 MB of usage, available at any AT&T store.
Related
I'm in the US (from UK) at the moment and I need a prepaid sim card on a US carrier as I'm here for 5 months (to go in my hermes). I bought a cheap virgin mobile one just to use the sim but it turns out it doesn't have one. What carrier can I get an actual sim card from and what's the cheapest?
Not overly bothered by data charges or anything.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Stoo
stoo said:
I'm in the US (from UK) at the moment and I need a prepaid sim card on a US carrier as I'm here for 5 months (to go in my hermes). I bought a cheap virgin mobile one just to use the sim but it turns out it doesn't have one. What carrier can I get an actual sim card from and what's the cheapest?
Not overly bothered by data charges or anything.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Stoo
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go to a Wal-Mart or a K-Mart, last time I was in the US, they had a phone section there with these cheap-ass sim cards for a few bucks... it's $2 to the £1 anyway now, so use a british card to pay for it if need be
Most telcos will try to charge you $50.00 for a prepaid sim card. Check out your local 7-11 store and look for a sim/phone combo by Speakout (service by Cingular). They are the cheapest I have found...
I have not seen sim-only kits in retail stores, but you could always pick up a cheapy phone and use the sim in that.
That said; no US carrier offers data on their prepaid sims.
You are right about the Virgin phones; they use a non GSM network...
T-mobile is probably the cheapest at the moment. What you can do is pop into a T-mobile store and ask them for a prepaid sim, they can turn any of their own sims into prepaid, and if you add some call credit they'll usually give you the sim for free.
Thanks guys,
I'll have to check out some of these suggestions on saturday
stoo - buy T-Mobile, put $100 to account and you will have 1 year validity for outgoing and incoming phone-calls.
It is not true what ScottC says - T-Mobile will offer you free data - use wap.voicestream.com APN. With no proxy you will have good internet access - speed limited to their EDGE network (around 200 kbps).
If you have any other questions - PM me.
Cingular offers Pay as You Go, and has data at $.01 KB, Texts at $.05
There are SIMs available at Cingular stores, or eBay
and, yes, I use one in a higher end phone (8525)
update
$120 dollars in new york for t-mobile sim, 600 free usa minutes, free internet and $5 credit (7c/text, not sure of international call charges yet)
i'd be lost without internet on my phone so money well spent. (better than £5/megabyte, 40p/text, 50p/min call/receive international on uk roaming)
(in N.Y. at the moment)
Can you get Tmobile's contract type internet packages on Flexpay?
AT&T's go phones are a good idea.
stufried said:
Can you get Tmobile's contract type internet packages on Flexpay?
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i'd contacted t-mobile usa customer services beforehand and they said there was no way I could get data on prepaid.
it appeared the guy in the shop put it through as a contract with fake id and no billing data.
I am going to be headed over to Taiwan and China for the next couple of weeks so I called TMO to get an international plan to receive data. Well turns it out THERE IS NO SUCH PLAN and that each 1mb of data equals $15. Yeah I could put in a local SIM card but that won't give email and internet. And why should I, the N1 is touted as an international phone. This news was thoroughly disappointing because I will now have to rely on my crappy Blackberry for email (which is the reason I switched to Android in the first place). If there any international travelers here please let me know if there are any tricks that I should be aware of. Otherwise this is disappointing that a GSM phone can be used outside the US only if you willing to be bent over the table without any... you get the point.
i went to australia earlier this year and encountered the same problem.their international plans suck major ass.only thing i could do was pull sim card and run off wifi using any hotspots that i could find.
yea blame T-Mobile...I'm curious what other carrier in the US has a international roaming plan?
ram130 said:
yea blame T-Mobile...I'm curious what other carrier in the US has a international roaming plan?
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One of the reasons I have TMO is because of their fantastic international roaming coverage. That is why I was surprised to see that they have none for the Nexus.
As far as international roaming plans, every carrier does, just not for the Android. So yeah I'm putting that blame on TMO and Google.
I'm pretty sure every carrier has insane pricing for international roaming.
The benefit of gsm phones is that you pop a sim card for wherever you're going, not that you're carrier will support you in east bumblefuck.
All carriers are like that. That is why when the iphone first came out people were returning home with $3K phone bills. http://boingboing.net/2007/07/31/att-iphone-intl-roam.html
http://gizmodo.com/297999/idiots-keep-incurring-iphones-roaming-data-charges
The phone is an international phone but the plans aren't. Get a SIM with a data plan. When I go overseas that is what I do. Typically $100 will give you unlimited data and enough minutes and texts to last your whole trip. At the end of a trip overseas I usually have minutes left over.
Yeah, I don't see why you think you won't get internet over there from a local phone company, since they would be the one providing internet to you anyways with your T-Mobile card (They just charge T-Mobile a small amount, and T-Mobile jacks up the price to make money off you).
Just get a pre-paid sim card with internet access.
JCopernicus said:
bumblefuck.
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LoL gotta save this one to my "cursing without getting banned " stack
I'd recommend you to buy a new prepaid sim card with a data plan.
Here in India, we get a new sim card for Rs.20 (every street has ~5 shops) and 2GB data for Rs.90 and there are no stupid contracts (even if there were, we'd buy it on fake identities)... Thats the benefit of living in a developing nation
1 American Dollar = 45 Indian Rupees...
superg81 said:
i went to australia earlier this year and encountered the same problem.their international plans suck major ass.only thing i could do was pull sim card and run off wifi using any hotspots that i could find.
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faraz1992 said:
I'd recommend you to buy a new prepaid sim card with a data plan.
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+1 Same thing here if you were visiting Australia. You can buy a Telstra prepaid sim for $2 which when charged with some credit gives you exceptional coverage and good data speed. Works best on the 900mhz AT&T phone although will still work well on the 850mhz T-Mobile model.
Thanks everyone for your feedback, much appreciated.
logger said:
+1 Same thing here if you were visiting Australia. You can buy a Telstra prepaid sim for $2 which when charged with some credit gives you exceptional coverage and good data speed. Works best on the 900mhz AT&T phone although will still work well on the 850mhz T-Mobile model.
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T-Mobile = 900/AWS(which is 1700)/2100
AT&T = 850/1900/2100
Ah yes sorry. Had that rrrrrs about. Should have said "Works best on the 850mhz AT&T phone although will still work well on the 900mhz T-Mobile model."
The phone is a fine international phone. The carrier sucks. How is the phone to blame if TMO doesn't offer an international plan?
I travel from Romania to Netherlands and every time i'm in Netherlands i insert my prepaid Vodafone NL card and i activate the internet for 10 euros. 500mb - 1GB of data per month.
If i'm using more than that i buy again for another 10 euros. Is that simple. That's what you should do. A local prepaid sim with an internet service is ALWAYS going to be cheaper than an international plan from TMO.
too bad you guys in US have very bad telcos, here in malaysia we can roam data for less than USD10 unlimited data per day.
but of course not in all countries in the world.
faizalmzain said:
too bad you guys in US have very bad telcos, here in malaysia we can roam data for less than USD10 unlimited data per day.
but of course not in all countries in the world.
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$10 x 365 days = $3,650 per year. Geez you must have deep pockets. You can buy a car for that in Australia.
Do you perhaps mean $10 per month or $1 per day?
logger said:
$10 x 365 days = $3,650 per year. Geez you must have deep pockets. You can buy a car for that in Australia.
Do you perhaps mean $10 per month or $1 per day?
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He's talking about roaming... If you do that without a dataplan a couple of hundred megs would probably set you back several thousand $.
Yeah, ditto re: getting a prepaid SIM card on arrival. I haven't tried it in Asia, but in the UK, £5 will buy you 1GB of data to be used in 30 days, on Vodafone. I didn't even have to pay for the SIM card itself. Very pleased.
If you speak the language in China, just go to a China Mobile store, pick up a SIM card and put some yuan in it and you'll be good to go. I go to China every summer and have taken my G1 and my N1. You'll be stuck on edge but its enough to get you places. China Mobile stores are everywhere too, some have employees that speak english for just this purpose.
I pick up pre-paid SIM cards when I land at the airport in the airport store... Or if it's an area I'm familiar with, i.e. Australia, I just head to a local carrier's B&M once I'm in the city...
Then anyone who is half-way important... I send them an e-mail with my pre-paid SIM card's number. If it's important to text or call me, the caller can pay the Int'l charges.
Cheers,
Kermee
Hello,
I live in Germany and I'm going on holidays to the USA (California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona) for one month (august to september).
As I can't live without internet I thought of getting some kind of prepaid SIM-card over there with a data plan.
Now I don't have any clue which provider I should chose, where and how to get a prepaid SIM, which offer etc.
What would you recommend me?
I heard that the coverage isn't that good in the US and as I'm planning to go to some outlying places too, I'm aware that I won't have reception all the time. But that's okay.
I just need a SIM to do some calls and to write a few mails or check Facebook from time to time – I guess it'll be around 200mbyte and 1 hour calls for this month.
As I have a European phone (NexusOne) I need a GSM network of course.
Best regards and thanks for your help in advance,
lauslein
If u go to Indonesia, a lot of prepaid GSM & CDMA cards could be chosen here
Interested too, will be going to Arizona next summer.
Basically, I only need data and maybe a bit of texting.
seeing that u have a nexus one,,,which bands does it support? the tmobile or just europe? i suggest tmobile if u want 3g but they dont have data plans
at&t does but no 3g i'm sure
its 20$ on at&t for 100mb of data and 20$ for unlimited texting(sms) even to germany i think
Thanks for your reply!
Diamond_dawg said:
seeing that u have a nexus one,,,which bands does it support? the tmobile or just europe?
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Good question, I'll have to look this up. But I got it directly from Google (Device Seeding), so I guess it's some kind of an international version
20$ for 100MB sounds fair (even though I pay less for 1GB HSDPA at home) . The trip's going to be expensive anyway, so I'm willing to spend some money on that part, too
Hi,
I will be traveling to Greece (Paros, Naxos, Santorini) and Berlin next month.
I already have a SIM unlocked Motorola Milestone. I want to purchase a European SIM.
1) Can I expect to use the same SIM card and plan when both in Germany and Greece? Or am I better off just getting 2 different ones?
2) What are good companies and plans? I don't really need voice... but I expect to use a lot of data for Internet access and hoepfully tethering. I found out about
WIND Paygo in a different thread, but no details on what to expect price-wise.
Anybody (either local to these countries or a fellow traveler) have any experience with this?
Thanks
Caz666 said:
1) Can I expect to use the same SIM card and plan when both in Germany and Greece? Or am I better off just getting 2 different ones?
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You should get a separate SIM card for each of the countries... they are two different countries after all, and carriers will charge you higher roaming fees if you want to use their SIM card in a different country. The EU did regulate a maximum for roaming fees just recently, but you'll still be better off getting a new SIM card there.
2) What are good companies and plans? I don't really need voice... but I expect to use a lot of data for Internet access and hoepfully tethering. I found out about
WIND Paygo in a different thread, but no details on what to expect price-wise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For Germany, I'd go with a prepaid data flatrate plan, e.g. http://www.simyo.de/tarif/flat-internet.html (€15/mo up to 3GB @HSDPA/7.2 Mbit, after that GPRS), or e.g. http://www.klarmobil.de/tarife/datentarife/Internet_Flat_5000/index.html (€20/mo for up to 5GB HSDPA speed, after that GPRS). These are just two examples for pure data flats (since you said you didn't need voice).
I think you can get these types of discount carriers at gas stations and supermarkets. There are a lot to choose from; just make sure it's a prepaid data flat. The major carriers like T-Mobile, Vodafone, O2 (that have their own POS stores) are usually more expensive for prepaid as they focus more on 2y contracts.
No idea about Greece... maybe someone else can help you out there.
Hope this helps.
bobblack said:
You should get a separate SIM card for each of the countries... they are two different countries after all, and carriers will charge you higher roaming fees if you want to use their SIM card in a different country. The EU did regulate a maximum for roaming fees just recently, but you'll still be better off getting a new SIM card there.
For Germany, I'd go with a prepaid data flatrate plan, e.g. http://www.simyo.de/tarif/flat-internet.html (€15/mo up to 3GB @HSDPA/7.2 Mbit, after that GPRS), or e.g. http://www.klarmobil.de/tarife/datentarife/Internet_Flat_5000/index.html (€20/mo for up to 5GB HSDPA speed, after that GPRS). These are just two examples for pure data flats (since you said you didn't need voice).
I think you can get these types of discount carriers at gas stations and supermarkets. There are a lot to choose from; just make sure it's a prepaid data flat. The major carriers like T-Mobile, Vodafone, O2 (that have their own POS stores) are usually more expensive for prepaid as they focus more on 2y contracts.
No idea about Greece... maybe someone else can help you out there.
Hope this helps.
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This REALLY helps, at least for my week in Berlin. Thank you very much.
For Greece, I would advise you to choose COSMOTE Internet On The Go Prepaid. You may find more information on their website:
http://cosmote.gr/cosmoportal/page/...p/section/Internet_E-mailwithLaptop/loc/en_US
You are better off buying two seperate SIM-cards (one for each country), as cheaper data-roaming options typically are only available with contracts.
In regards to tethering, this shouldn't pose a problem - european providers typically don't police a "one-device-policy", especially not with internet-on-the-go-type products.
An alternative to COSMOTE is Vodafone KartoInternet, but their prepaid plans are a bit more expensive and COSMOTE is said to have better coverage in general: http://www.vodafone.gr/portal/client/cms/viewCmsPage.action?pageId=8638&request_locale=en
Both sell SIM-only starter packs which include their sell-value (EUR 20) as prepaid-balance for internet use.
PartyMango said:
For Greece, I would advise you to choose COSMOTE Internet On The Go Prepaid. You may find more information on their website:
http://cosmote.gr/cosmoportal/page/...p/section/Internet_E-mailwithLaptop/loc/en_US
You are better off buying two seperate SIM-cards (one for each country), as cheaper data-roaming options typically are only available with contracts.
In regards to tethering, this shouldn't pose a problem - european providers typically don't police a "one-device-policy", especially not with internet-on-the-go-type products.
An alternative to COSMOTE is Vodafone KartoInternet, but their prepaid plans are a bit more expensive and COSMOTE is said to have better coverage in general: http://www.vodafone.gr/portal/client/cms/viewCmsPage.action?pageId=8638&request_locale=en
Both sell SIM-only starter packs which include their sell-value (EUR 20) as prepaid-balance for internet use.
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Thanks for the tip. I looked both web sites and they are what I am looking for. The prices seem similar enough for my purposes...MUCH better than roaming
I do have a follow-up question:
Both companies have DAY PACKS for 1Euro per day that includes something like "unlimited data" but is throttled after a specific amount of data is consumed. Does anybody know the specific of the the Thottling? I don't mind a bit of a slowdown...but how crippling are we talking about? Are they booting me down to 2G speeds?
I couldn't find any details on either web site about the specifics.
Just an update after my trip. Germany was a problem as a lot of the prepaid carriers don't have English customer service. I bought 2 different SIM cards and could not get them activated. I didn't have much time to mess around, but I was really disappointed.
Greece was good. As suggested in this thread, I went to a Cosmote store and got great service. I got a data only sim and an additional regular sim. They activated them for me with my passport. My only problem is that the data only sim ran out of cash and it is not possible to refill them from most outlets....I used the cash on the other sim, but the price per GB is not the same.
The moral of the storey for me: go to a carrier store directly and get as much as you need right away. Being in remote locations can make it hard to refill prepaid cards.
Sent from my A500 using xda premium
I'm going to Australia soon so I'm wondering which telco is the best?
I'm looking for the cheapest internet, and prepaid only.
I know only 3 telcos; Vodafone, Virgin Mobile & Optus.
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romeo57 said:
I'm going to Australia soon so I'm wondering which telco is the best?
I'm looking for the cheapest internet, and prepaid only.
I know only 3 telcos; Vodafone, Virgin Mobile & Optus.
Sent from my GT-I9300
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I just recently came back from Australia. I got an amazing prepay deal with Vodafone.
Prepay Flexi Cap ($30 AUD)
500 mb data
$150 worth of credit to spend on ANYTHING (txt, calls (national and international)
$350 worth of voice calls to another Australian Vodafone phone.
Best deal I could find.
help
also I'm new
I need more help please?
can any body give more details & experiences
I usually use 1GB per month Internet traffic
Well it depends what youre looking for!
are you looking for pre-paid or post paid? and also depends on your needs and your budget. For the best service, Telstra is where to go, but is the most expensive which is not what youre looking! I'm on Optus and must say that for me, i find it the best plan, for price and coverage. amaysim is probably one of the cheapest you'll find, but im not too sure about the coverage on that. Red bull mobile also offers a 'pre paid' plan, which gives you virtually unlimited everything for $365 which last for a year. So a dollar a day. Red bull uses Vodafones network, but there is alot of complaints with coverage in Australia with Vodafone. I know for myself i had to change after bad service.
As I said, it depends on what youre looking for as there are alot of options.