Sim card options

[InSutterWeTrust]

So I'm travelling to San Francisco tomorrow and will be there for 5 days, I usually go down to the states a couple times a year. I have in the past just bought a cheap pay as you go phone down there for $10 and bought a time card for $15-20 so people can get in contact with me. What are my options for just buying a sim card from an american cell phone provider? I currently have a Samsung S3 on the Telus network. Is it easy to do, or more of a pain?

[STeeLy]

Is the phone unlocked?

[Anduril]

Ideally you would unlock your phone if it isn't already and get a prepaid card or something from AT&T. The latter is easy. The unlocking can be a pain if you haven't done it before.

[hatty]

The best option I have seen is Roam Mobility. You can buy an unlocked phone from them for cheap too....but if you have one it helps. You get to keep your same number as long as you activate it at least once in a year, that way you don't always have to change your number when you go down, also, you can buy time for just the days your down there.

I think its on t-mobile's network and you get data as well at 3G speeds i believe. Its cheaper then putting any roaming package on. I am heading down to the states next week and I will be topping up my sim card prior to leaving.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by hatty

The best option I have seen is Roam Mobility. You can buy an unlocked phone from them for cheap too....but if you have one it helps. You get to keep your same number as long as you activate it at least once in a year, that way you don't always have to change your number when you go down, also, you can buy time for just the days your down there.

I think its on t-mobile's network and you get data as well at 3G speeds i believe. Its cheaper then putting any roaming package on. I am heading down to the states next week and I will be topping up my sim card prior to leaving.

TMobile has unlimited data, text and talk for $2 a day. No reason to use the plan you mentioned, except that TMobile requires you purchase pre-pay in $10 blocks, so it *might* work out cheaper in some situations.

edit: there is also an activation fee, I think maybe $10

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Rathji

TMobile has unlimited data, text and talk for $2 a day. No reason to use the plan you mentioned, except that TMobile requires you purchase pre-pay in $10 blocks, so it *might* work out cheaper in some situations.

edit: there is also an activation fee, I think maybe $10

Am I completely blind? I can't find a pre-paid talk/text/data plan on t-mobiles website, just talk/text only.

[ken0042]

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by hatty

The best option I have seen is Roam Mobility. You can buy an unlocked phone from them for cheap too....but if you have one it helps. You get to keep your same number as long as you activate it at least once in a year, that way you don't always have to change your number when you go down, also, you can buy time for just the days your down there.

I think its on t-mobile's network and you get data as well at 3G speeds i believe. Its cheaper then putting any roaming package on. I am heading down to the states next week and I will be topping up my sim card prior to leaving.

I amin NYC right now and bought the Roam card as mentioned. For me it has been awful. Signal covetage keeps dropping, and internet speeds are unusable. Even a google search takes almost 2 mins to complete.

So I went into ATT and go a pre pay, now I have awesome speed and coverage. It is $40 though, which is expensive but 5 times what Bell gives you fpr $50.

I won't be using Roam again. Total waste of money for my NYC trip. Maybe it works better in other cities, but here it sucked.

Question, does T-Mobile support the Canadian unlocked iPhone 5. If so I am just going to them, and saving some money. ATT 4G is just like home, but I don't need it that fast if I can save some dough.

[ken0042]

When I was looking at a T-Mobile store, they said my phone was alright as long as I got it unlocked.

My concern for you though- I was under the impression that Roam used T-Mobile's towers. So if the coverage was spotty with Roam, I'd expect the same thing with T-Mobile.

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by ken0042

When I was looking at a T-Mobile store, they said my phone was alright as long as I got it unlocked.

My concern for you though- I was under the impression that Roam used T-Mobile's towers. So if the coverage was spotty with Roam, I'd expect the same thing with T-Mobile.

Here is a question, is the architecture model the streight forward?

Does Roam proxy or redirect data? Ie: it goes to a t mobile tower then to a Roam server then back then to t mobile then to your phone?

I just ask because it seemed like some funny things were happening when I used their service.

Ie: the spin wheel moved very slow, I had full bars but couldn't make a call, or get google up, weird drop outs in service, set my APN to "roam"

I am going to call and ask. I don't want to put it on t mobile if it is not them.

[DownhillGoat]

I don't have first-hand experience with roam, but it seems to get substantially worse reviews for data speeds and coverage than t-mobile. I've used t-mobile in a few places, and I can't imagine that they have spotty coverage in NYC. I'll be a guniea pig and try t-mobile there at the end of the month and report back.