US pre-paid mobile

[messy]

Just a quick Q about mobile phones.

I dont want to be using my usual mobile account on international roaming so wanted to know if anyone could tell me what telephone companies do a reasonably priced pre-paid sim card and what i should be expecting to pay. only need it 3 weeks.

Are most the phone companies pretty good with national coverage?

cheers

[Cisco419]

Cingular has pretty good pre-paid. I use Tmobile which is also pretty good. Their all pretty equal

[messy]

Cool thanks for that..

Are there specialty store which sell these prepaid packs or can they be found all over the place? i just want the sim card for my current phone

[Cisco419]

There's cell stores all over the place. If you just want a sim card I'd go Tmobile/Cingular since they use sim card, I would hit one of their stores and buy their cheapest phones that comes with a sim card.

[nyc2vegas]

i think you might even be able to get one at walgreens right on the strip

[eisa01]

You might try to use their online stores and have it shipped to your hotel? AT&T has some prepaid refurbs for $10.

I'll do that and have it delivered to a hostel in NYC where I'm staying.

[ashroid]

I've been using...

Cingular for the past 3 (or 4? I can't remember) years. I can't see myself without it in Las Vegas or in the US, for that matter.

Here's why:

I'm from Canada. My wireless provider charges me minimum 50 cents for SMS messages and then more for calls.

With Cingular, they have two pre-paid plans. One is to have an anytime plan of 25 cents per minute. The other is to get charged 10 cents per minute with a 1 dollar fee each day your phone is on and in a Cingular calling area (I wouldn't get charged in Canada if my Cingular phone is on).

If you plan on going to Las Vegas or anywhere in the US and you sign up with Cingular, you might want to consider getting 100.00 of airtime/texts because the value will last for a year. Anything less than that and the value will only last 3 months or less (30 days for a 15.00 card).

The other thing is that for every 100.00 spent on cards or going to the Cingular store, they add 5.00 dollars up to 20.00.

e.g. 100.00 will get 5.00 credit, the next 100.00 will get 10.00 credit, the next 100.00 will get 15.00 credit and then the next 100.00 will get 20.00 credit...then 20.00 credit and so on.

I personally have chosen the 10 cents / minute plan with a usage fee of 1.00 / day.

Everytime I give my number to a local (whether it be a host or otherwise), they get shocked about whether I'm a local or not. I tell them no, though I do them that I'm often enough in Las Vegas, it's more economical that way.

[eisa01]

You might try to use their online stores and have it shipped to your hotel? AT&T has some prepaid refurbs for $10.

I'll do that and have it delivered to a hostel in NYC where I'm staying.

Scratch that, they didn't accept my Norwegian credit card

Guess I'll set it up in a store.

Btw, it's no longer called Cingular, but AT&T

[messy]

Ok cheers for the advice and replies. As im not going to be in usa for more then about 3 weeks ill be lookin for the cheapest kinda option not worrying about expiry of credit.

Its just more so for contact back home so im not being charged something like AUD$5 per minute to make calls and 50C + for an sms

Im going to bring my mobile wireless broadband modem, ill have to look into getting a pre-paid(like 1 gig) sim card for that too if they do them (in us and eu)

[Lex]

Hey I have been looking into this and the best cheapest thing i have found is http://www.usasims.com/Red_Pocket_SIM.html

thats red pocket sim . anyone have any opinions?

[Staggered_UK]

This is something I was thinking about as well.

I don't really mind using my UK mobile and paying the roaming charges, but if I want to get in touch with club contacts and hosts, are they likely to be annoyed at having to send me text messages on an international number? I guess I could always throw a few extra $ their way to cover it.

Do you reckon it will be OK to do that? I can't really be bothered messing around with sorting out a new pre-pay phone when i'm only in town for 4 days..