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Ask Slashdot: A Cheap US Cellphone Plan With an Unlocked Phone?
metrix007 writes "I am a recent immigrant to the U.S. I am used to going to countries and paying a small amount, say, $30, for a simcard and using it with my unlocked phone. I can't seem to do that in the U.S., where the only options seem to be to buy a phone and buy minutes as I need them such as with Tracfone, or a contract where I pay an amount per month to pay off a phone and a certain amount of minutes. I have a Google Nexus One, which is better than any phone offered on the basic plans from all the cell providers. Is there any way I can use it as a cell phone in the U.S. for about $30-$50/month? It seems a shame to waste it and have to pay for a lesser phone."
Simple Mobile. Enough said.
I love how long this post has gone without replies (25 minutes, unless there's some sort of database lag I don't see). I guess that's a damning indictment of the US telecom industry and their pricing practices...
get the online/walmart $35 plan which has unlimited data or pay by the minute at 10 cents a minute if you don't use it much. You can also get unlimited text/data/voice on at&t or t-mobile through net10 for $45/month - check their website as the deal is online only. tell it you are using an at&t locked phone if you want at&t otherwise they send t-mobile by default
Get a web developer
www.straighttalkcom Unlimited voice, data and text on AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon network for $45 a month($51 after taxes and fees). You can buy and AT&T network SIM and use any GSM phone that supports the proper bands.
Welcome to Americorp, where corporations pay politicians big $$$ to pass laws that screw the people and make Corporations Billions of $$$$
What a consumer wants, thinks is fair and equitable is the last think Americorp needs. Please stop spreading these double ungood ideas and get in line. And if you continue to spread these ideas, Americorp will have your twitter, facebook and slashdot accounts suspended.
~$45 a month, no contract, unlimited talk, text, web (service slows after 250 mob per month)
Uses the T-Mobile network. Check service in your area obviously...
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phones
T-Mobile have a Value series of plans specifically for people who own their phone already that have a discount on the monthly rate. It's actually the plan I'm on right now. Also I'm 99% sure both T-Mobile and AT&T offer the ability to buy pay-as-you-go SIMs that include data.
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/plans/prepaidplans.html
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans
those are your only 2 US wide choices. there may be other options that are local to wherever you are in the US
It would depend on where you are in the US but you could check out Straight Talk.
You cant take your nexus to them but they and republic wireless are about the best bets fro cheap reliable phone service.
No sir I dont like it.
http://www.iwireless.com/plansview.asp
Pre-Paid, Unlimited everything: $57.83/month.
I have an apple 3gs with an iWireless Sim - I get 3g everywhere I go, no bandwidth caps, or slowing. Hard to beat for the cost.
Just buy a SIM from them like you do in most other countries and recharge as needed by the month
www.mysimplemobile.com
Just look for pre-paid from your favorite carrier. I liked T-Mobile (http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/) and was very happy with it until I moved to a place that didn't get good reception. I had to switch to AT&T Go Phone (http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/gophone.html) but their billing system sucks and I recommend avoiding them.
T-Mobile or AT&T would be happy to sell no commitment service on your existing GSM phone. There are also resellers of these networks doing the same thing at lower rates.
Check out T-Mobile pay as you go bring your own phone (sim only plans) or AT&T GoPhone pre-paid SIM cards.
Sorry I don't have any reseller names handy.
At Walmart you can get a Samsung Exhibit II 4G smart phone for about $175. They also have a $30 4G plan with 5G data (2G rates after that) and 100 minutes (10c/min after that).
Both are between $40-60..h20 is on att and red pocket is t-mobile.
They don't advertise it via the Web, but T Mobile appears to be the vendor of choice among people who want minimum commitment mobile phones. Devices start at $20, unlimited SMS is $15 month to month.
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans
We downgraded from smartphones to unlimited text + pay to talk, and haven't looked back. I already carry a 4G wifi and a laptop at all times, so the ~$100 a month for a fragile device (hardware and software) with 4 hours of battery life and probable spyware just seemed insane in hindsight.
Those are pretty much your only options on the GSM front. T-Mob has a 30 USD/month plan for 100 minutes and unlimited text/data, but all of their other plans are more expensive than straighttalk for smartphones (probably featurephones as well).
--- Ãther SPOON!
My new favorite plan is PlatinumTel. I just bought an Android handset for $60 and signed up for a plan that only requires a minimum of $10 every three months. Texts are 2 cents, voice is 5 cents, and data is 10 cents/MB. However, it's an Android phone, so anyplace that has wireless is free. (e.g., it's a great phone for the wife and kids)
My personal phone is currently an Android handset on a $25/month unlimited data + 300 minutes Virgin Mobile plan, but I'm pretty sure that plan's not available for new folks. I dropped the family's last TracPhone (too expensive) last year. I also used Net10 for a while, but Virgin beat that, and now it looks like PlatinumTel is the least expensive one out there.
BYOP (bring your own phone) T-mobile value plan. Here in Chicago the coverage seems better than AT&T (e.g. no holes at Lake Shore & Monroe and near UIC).
Gophone from AT&T has prepaid sims here is the amazon link http://www.amazon.com/Prepaid-Go-Phone-Minutes-Included/dp/B000YHCEQM
Just switched to Straight Talk myself. It's on AT&T's network without having to deal directly with AT&T. $45 unlimited everything. 1.5GB data cap, kind of.
T-mobile prepaid plans can cost as little as $10/year. Once you have bought $100 worth of minutes, the top-up period increases to 1 year with the smallest amount being $10. No, there is no data, but if you're on a budget you can always find free wi-fi somewhere.
Just walk into AT&T, ask for a sim card, and select a prepaid plan. Done it before, they will just hand you a SIM. You could then activate it over your phone later if you want.
I did a quick search on the AT&T site and came across this.
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/att/3g-sim-white.html#fbid=cJveSn40ZqE
You can buy the SIM, enter the IMEI of your phone and then choose what plan you want. Seems like you'd be able to do this in stores, too, but I have no idea.
There's also this support page (http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB113269&cv=820&_requestid=334233#fbid=Vd1k_ywKiST) for getting a SIM card for a phone you already own.
Your Google Nexus One is T-Mobile compatible for high speed data access, so check out the Monthly4G offering.
They offer unlimited talk, text, and web for $50/mo, and a plan with 100 minutes of talk, unlimited text and web for $30/mo with additional minutes for $0.10/min.
Also, if you are willing to spend a little money to get a more advanced phone later on, I'd recommend picking up either a Samsung Galaxy Nexus ($349) or the Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G ($300). Both options do not require a contract and are compatible with T-Mobile's HSPA+ network.
I use a provider called TruPhone. They are pre-paid and charge $0.15 per minute, and $0.15/MB for data in the USA. If you spend a lot of time talking on your phone or using data while you're out, this isn't the option for you. If you're within wifi 90% of your day, paired with google voice, it could be an option.
Go to the T-Mobile web-store and buy a SIM activation kit for $1. When you receive it, follow the activation instructions on the web and when it asks you to choose your plan, select "Monthly 4G $30"
* Unlimited internet*
* Unlimited Text
* 100 minutes talktime
It's basically a prepay deal where the available balance will drop by $30 a month, so you just need to top-up once a month, and make sure you have enough credit to cover any calls you make over the 100 minutes No ongoing contracts.
Deal is web-only.
*Unlimited internet means up to 5GB at HSPDA+ speeds.
I have no idea if Simple Mobile supports your Nexus, but they deal entirely and only with unlocked phones. I just checked and found the Nexus 1 is on their compatible phone list. They'll sell you a simcard for $10 and then $40 a month for unlimited talk, text and 2GB of data per month - no contract, cancel or keep it at your convenience. I took an old Blackberry to them, found out they couldn't guarantee compatibility, but I got everything working without a fight (costs $50 a month for Blackberries, $40 a month for all other phones).
There are a few smaller carriers that lease AT&T's GSM network.
Boost (They seem to cater to people with bad credit)
Cricket($55 unlimited everything but data is throttled after 2.5GB.)
Consumer Cellular(Great if you just make phone calls, data costs an arm and a leg)
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
Or an indictment of that damn sun, rising and setting, creating this silly "day" that we have to put up with, lots of people being "asleep" when this was posted.
One thing that is great about America is that there is either a Starbucks or McDonalds on every street corner. Download Skype for your mobile phone and use the free wifi at one of these (and other) fine establishments to place a call online. An additional benefit is that you'll get to see the real America where obesity and poverty exist in the same sentance.
It is much harder in the USA to just get a sim-card and go. T-mobile do offer it though. It was funny when the salesperson tried to sell me a phone tooand I pulled out my Galaxy S (which was unavailable there at that time) and said I was covered. It was better than any phone in the store so that upsell attempt was quickly over.
You might confuse them but they'll figure it out.
This is the way the US cell phone market is. Expect to pay about 3x more than any other place. The cheapest way is get a cell phone is to buy a cheap walmart cell phone (straight talk, virgin, verizon, etc.) and purchase minutes for it. Unlimited is typically between $45-50 a month. So, a cheap phone will be between $30-200, and $50.00 a month + taxes on top of that.
Welcome to capitalist America!
or it was 2 years ago when it was released. T-Mobile (if the coverage in your area is ok) regularly has pretty decent phones from the previous 6 month cycle for no cost up front. Right now it looks like:
http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Phones/cell-phone-detail.aspx?cell-phone=HTC-Amaze-4G-Black
is the up (a few weeks ago the Galaxy Nexus II was free) and it has 2x the memory and 2x the processors and a better screen etc. than your Nexus One (but that hits the $60 end of your price range with the small data plan.)
http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Packages/ValuePackages.aspx
500 min of cell phone time, no data $35 a month. $40 if you want 200mb of high speed data, and all the low speed data you can use.
Buy the sim for 14.99, then for 49.99 you get unlimited talk and text, they claim unlimited data but they warn and bitch if you use too much.
http://www.mysimplemobile.com/ I use simple mobile with my unlocked/jailbroken iPhone. It's $40 for unlimited voice/text/data. Best deal on the market. Only downside is that I don't get 3G data speeds because iPhone is intended for AT&T. But you can get full 3G if you use a phone that was intended for use with T-Mobile. Also, don't buy the SIM card through SimpleMobile -- get one on eBay for $1 (plus free shipping)
On my last couple trips to the US, I've picked up a $25 SIM for my unlocked iphone at an AT&T store. It's good for up to 3 months, with 250 minutes and unlimited SMS. No data, but wi-fi is everywhere. You can buy more time if you need to
-- "At Microsoft, quality is job 1.1" -- PC Magazine, Nov. 1994
If the GSM stores won't sell you a sim for $30, call the 1-800 number, it is quite common to get a sim for $20 + a small activation fee (20-30$) then pay a standard post pay month to month plan fee ($30-$50) for a decent amount of voice and text. Just tell them you have a non-smartphone cause then they get all data plan happy with you and want to charge you an additional $30-40/month for that.
Sorry, but is this really a Ask Slashdot-worthy story? Better placed to ask on any of a dozen different travel forums, or to raise it in mobile phone forums (of which I hear the kids these days have quite a few).
A quick LMGTFY link to help wrap up the conversation
I'm surprised to see that nobody has mentioned frequency bands yet. It sounds like your phone is a European model. The problem is that different parts of the world use different frequencies for mobile phone service, and now even different technologies, too.
From what I understand, pretty much all of Europe uses the GSM on the same frequency bands, so you can shuffle around SIM cards all day. But in the US, the frequencies are different from Europe. Even more of a problem is that GSM isn't dominant here. And now 3G and 4G are coming.
So sure, you could stick in a SIM card, but can your phone even talk on the right frequencies? If it is a "quad band" phone, you may be in luck.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm I think you'll find something you can use.
I've been using Page Plus Cellular for years. The rates are really low and the coverage is very good; they subcontract from Verizon. Page Plus works with pretty much any Verizon phone except Blackberry's. Google the phone and page plus just to make sure someone else is using the phone on Page Plus. I have a Droid X and my wife has a HTC Incredible; we got both these phones on craigslist.
I don't call much so I pay $25 (taxes included) for 400 minutes which lasts 120 days. Texts are 5 cents each which just gets deducted from my balance. Minutes rollover as long as your plan doesn't expire.
My wife has the $29.95 plan (taxes included) which gets her 1200 minutes/3000 texts/100 MB a month. They have other plans too. See http://www.pagepluscellular.com/
The great thing about Straight Talk is that is uses the AT&T network. Because most unlocked phones are built to use AT&T frequencies for 3G, you'll generally get faster data speeds than T-Mobile -- if your phone is built to use the AT&T frequencies. This would generally be an argument against using Simple Mobile.
It's $45 a month for unlimited everything.
I'm using both StraightTalk and T-Mobile sims on unlocked gsm phones. The StraightTalk coverage has been surprisingly good. The T-Mobile is good too, but more expensive. Based on my experiences with both I'd go with StraightTalk.
T-Mobile's coverage is extremely limited, AND their 3G network is incompatible with most phones sold by them. The only non-TMo phones that work are the HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus and AT&T LTE devices running hacked radio firmware.
Straight Talk provides MVNO service on both T-Mo or AT&T networks (you choose when you purchase the SIM).
$15 for initial SIM purchase, $45/month thereafter. Plan includes unlimited voice and texts (with no apparent "stealth limits") - the one disadvantage is that they claim "unlimited" data but it's really 2GB.
Personally I only use 500MB or so a month, so I'm going to them when my AT&T contract is up.
ST's BYOD plans are a fairly recent development, not many people are aware of them.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
get a jitterbug phone, as simple as it gets and it uses the verzion network.
A SIM car for an unlocked phone costs $15. Unlimited talk, text and web costs $45 per month.
I dumped AT&T and T-Mobile a few months ago and haven't looked back. This is cheaper and the same networks.
Avoid T-Mobile compatible phones for this service. Straight Talk is an MVNO and T-Mobile is a bunch of dicks. They won't let outside SMS messages thru. AT&T doesn't do that to MVNOs and SMS/MMS works fine.
I currently have a Google Samsung Galaxy Nexus and a HTC Glacier (MyTouch 4G) using this plan.
If you don't need unlimited, and it isn't a smartphone, ST has a $30 plan that might suit you. No commitment or contract, just get a new card at Walmart or refill online.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
This really is a topic for mobile phone specific forum. My favourite is HowardForums. Here is a link to the US pre-payed/MVNO forums: http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php/325-US-Prepaid-MVNO-Discussion
There are lots of people there who know what's up with pre-paid and low-cost options.
I second that. T-Mobile is the only major carrier in US to allow buying a phone elsewhere. It's coverage does not match that of Verizon but I was fine everywhere in NE save some wild mountain ranges.It also offers best bang for the buck compared to AT&T and Verizon.
I believe this is the correct link: http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans
You can get an Android phone for less that $100, plans start at $35 for 300 minutes, unlimited data/text. Data gets throttled after 2.5GB. They piggybank on Sprint's network. I've had it for nearly two years and can't really complain.
I now pay 40% less for the same service I had before on this phone, given that there is no iPhone Tax this way. You can get the SIM card at you local WallyWorld, or online.
I plan to switch my other phones over, after I see if this year's crop of new "smartphone deals" makes it worth sticking to the Old Way for a while.
If you want to use your existing phone, you probably don't have a lot of choice. I assume it's a GSM phone which means you're either going to use AT&T or T-Mobile. If you want to use data and want 3G speeds, then you need to know what frequency bands your phone supports. T-Mobile and AT&T use different frequencies for 3G, and I don't believe the Nexus One supported both. So it's either a T-Mobile compatible phone or an AT&T compatible phone. Either way, you can probably use it for either carrier, but you can only get 3G speeds on one of them. And if you want a data plan, you're probably looking at something closer to $100 per month.
Welcome to America! Our infrastructure sucks, but at least we pay a lot for it!
My girlfriend has Cricket service on some generic cheap phone. It gets service everywhere, even when nobody elses works. It costs ~$30 a month for just the one phone for unlimited talk/text. No contract, pay month to month. They have data plans too.
Straight Talk $14.00 for SIM card & $50 per month no contract, $200 for LG P925 with all the bells and whistles, AT&T signal, and 3GB data all I want. Not fast but get a great signal along with low radiation for cheap.
Definitely go with an MVNO http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_operator http://gigaom.com/mobile/why-are-mvnos-so-hot-right-now-thank-the-carriers/
In the US I can walk into a store, and buy a contract free phone for under $40 and use it immediately. When I visited Canada, such an option did not appear to exist. And unfortunately my US cell phone didn't seem to work at all in Vancouver. I suppose if I got a more expensive US carrier I could have at least did some roaming, but $25/mo for unlimited data is pretty hard to pass up, even if the data is a little slow.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
It sounds like you want non-contractual mobile service, but you didn't mention whether you wanted to make international calls or how often you planned to use the service. I'm basing my advice on the assumption that you'd like daily usage with occasional international calls.
Many US providers offer data-only plans for $20-40/mo and may also offer pre-paid data service. Because you have a smartphone running Android, you could potentially use SIP/VOIP using cellular data only or WiFi with a service like Google Voice or Callcentric. If you're running ICS (Androd 4.0), there's native SIP support, but earlier versions will require you to download an app (like Gizmo5) to tunnel cellular voice over data because of legacy service standards in the US, which isn't a problem if you have LTE.
However, if you're running a custom ROM like CyanogenMod 7.x, you have the much simpler native option of "Internet Calling Only", which will use either data or WiFi for all calls. Use that with a SIP/VOIP service and a cheap data plan, and you're set for free nationwide and cheap international calling.
If you only planned to make non-international calls and your phone is unlocked (or not carrier restricted), you can pick up a pre-paid sim card just about anywhere. BoostMobile, T-Mobile, Cricket (if it still exists), and places like convenience stores and Wal-Mart all sell them. Service per minute is more expensive this way, but if you don't plan on making calls frequently, it may be your cheapest option. Several of those services offer $50 Unlimited Voice/Data/Text plans.
I just moved to Wisconsin(!) after living in Asia for a while and Toronto before that. I had a European Samsung Galaxy Note, and the best plan I found here to use in the US was the Straight Talk SIM plans offered only online. The website can be found here: http://straighttalksim.com/
You won't see it advertised, and you won't get the best customer service, but you should never really have to deal with them in the first place. You order everything online, you get a SIM card in the mail in a few days, activate it online, and then you get unlimited voice, text, and a soft cap of about 100MB a day or ~2GB a month on America's best GSM network for $45. Everything is prepaid (you pay for 30 day intervals at a time, and you can have it auto-charge a card if you like) and there is no contract. If you go over the soft data caps, they might cancel your account, which concerned me at first, but I used it as my primary internet access with heavy use for a good two weeks and didn't run into any problems, so I imagine most people won't. There also isn't any throttling like T-Mobile after 200MB, and you get to use the full 3G capacity of ATT's network.
The price rivals what I was paying in Asia, so I thought it was a pretty good deal considering what contract plans cost here in the US. I recommend you look into it.
Good luck!
Actually, looking at the timestamps, it was some sort of timestamp/database issue...the story nominally posted at 9:26 EST, but no posts at all show up until 9:48, at which point there are quite a few. You're right that the West Coast folks were blissfully snoozing.
I have been using various unlocked iPhones on T-Mobile US for the past four years. There are two drawbacks with that approach. You can't use 3G (only EDGE) data, which makes for somewhat slower and less reliable data service. The second is coverage - T-Mobile just isn't great. Cost is $50/month, plus about $400 for the phone itself (found on Craigslist, had to look one that had an older baseband firmware). One advantage is that I can pop in a European SIM card whenever I go to Europe. When the new iPhone comes out next month, I'll probably switch to Verizon with a regular plan. Total cost of ownership (over 2 years) is much higher and my data will be limited to 2GB/month or so, but at least I'll have reliable service. If it is dual GSM/CDMA (and I expect it to be), I should be able to use it in Europe without much trouble.
The best deal I can find in Canada is Koodo, and even they suck.
It's $20 a month for 50 minutes / 50 outgoing texts, and I owe them the balance on the phone price when I leave them.
I I lived in a different city, I could get Wind for unlimited text / talk / data for $29.
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
Recently started Ting ( http://www.ting.com/ , from venerable http://www.tucows.com/ ) is an interesting MVNO. Since it is backed by an "old" company, I expect them to stick around as long as it works out for them in the first place.
You pay what you use each month depending on what tier you fall in separately for voice, texts, and data. Each device you have registered is $6 a month, but you have to buy your device from them at pretty much full cost. But frankly, over time that comes out much cheaper (I have been doing this for many years - I tend not to break my phones, though).
Works great if you have variable usage patterns and are not a really heavy user. Their data is a bit expensive, but I have read that they are working it and point their fingers at Spring charging them too much to begin with. Use home/free other Wifi if you can, and it's all good. No iPhone, but Samsung S3.
Yes, I know it's Sprint, which many don't like. But so far (joined right when they started) it has worked great, and I have cut my monthly cell phone expenses (3 lines) to $60-$80, half of what I paid before. We are mid-level users, using home-wifi if we can.
Cellphone addicts are, of course, better served by an all-unlimited plan from the big firms. I just don't see the point of supporting their profit margins that much.
Do your own thing. And overdo it!
$35/mo - Ulimited Data, Unlimited Text, 300 minutes
What is this "day" thing you speak of? Maybe I'll ask my mom the next time she leaves me another tray of food at the top of the stairs...
Use VirginMobie. Easily root-able android phones, $35. Besides, if you're on Slashdot you're also likley a virgin....
$100 + sales tax gets you 1000 minutes good for a year. Any subsequent refills, even if smaller $ amounts are good for a year and extend current balance as well. Text msgs are 10c each way (used to be 5). So if you don't text a crazy amount and instead call people, its a pretty good deal. You would have to be a very heavy user of minutes ot justify a monthly plan and it sounds like you are not.
Their network is incompatible with most phones NOT sold by them...
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/usa.php -- A good list of prepaid providers both in the US (on that page) and in every country in the world.
As for your case in particular, you don't really say how you plan to use your phone, but since you have a smartphone and assuming you want to use it as such, the T-Mobile $30/month no contract plan (online or through Walmart, as others have mentioned) is probably your best option. However, if you're in an area with poor T-Mobile coverage, check the link above for other virtual providers that offer service on AT&T's network.
www.gaiageek.com
https://www.safelinkwireless.com/Safelink/
You can't get any cheaper then free, if you are eligible of course. Do NOT know if the phone is unlocked, but unlike Assurance Wireless http://www.assurancewireless.com/Public/Welcome.aspx the phone uses a sim card, so you can buy a better phone then the cheap one they give ya.
But hey, it's free, I use it. Why the hell should I pay any money monthly for the extra bullshit I don't use?
Be seeing you...
I use T Mobile Prepaid. I pay $15/month, 10cents a minute for talking which I barely use and my texts are free. No Data. It works for me. I just use wifi when I need data.
Tony
Unlimited Phone calls, texts, internet ...
If you absolutely have to keep using that nexus 1, then you may be stuck with t-mobile or (maybe) at&t. Make that "trying to use that nexus 1". I reluctantly gave up on GSM phones in the US when I couldn't get signal any more. At first, everything was fine. Good signal. Solid connections. Then t-mobile "optimized" something and I rarely got signal at home. My signal at work was sketchy. The signal was fine down the road a bit. A new phone had the same symptoms. I live and work in a typical sprawled out american city. T-mobile gave me a one time refund on my bill and then refused to budge because I still got service when I wasn't home.
Yes - that's right. T-mobile thought it was perfectly reasonable to bill me because I could go down the road a mile and make a call, check voice mail, etc.
Anyways, I now have a contract with verizon. I pay more. I can't swap a phones by moving a GSM sim card. I can't play with the cool new google phones. But I -can- actually make calls, receive calls, message, use that data plan, etc.
I'm going to buy a simplemobile sim card today just to test things out.
I am a lawyer, but not yours. Anything I tell you might be a total lie intended to benefit my clients at your expense.
Buy a VirginMobile LG or Samsung phone on eBay for $40-$75, sign up for VirginMobile's $35/mo 300 anytime minutes/"unlimited" data/text plan. Easy-Peasy.. I've had an LG Optimus on this plan since it was $25/mo, and still grandfathered at that rate. I use the phone primarily for the internet capability, to vpn/ssh/remote desktop to customers/my systems as needed when I'm on the go.. The phone has been rooted and CyanogenMod 7 rom installed, which gives me a wifi tether capability without adding any apps. Even using the tether fairly frequently, I've never hit the 2.5GB "cap" that the "unlimited" data carries..
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
If you do not have a smartphone you can get another plan through Straight Talk that is $30 a month for 1000 minutes, 1000 texts and 30mb of data. Here is a link to all the "plans" they have: https://www.straighttalk.com/secure/ServicePlans
the West Coast folks were blissfully snoozing.
Some still are, especially those in government. Oh, offtopic!
The (T-mobile) signal strength at my home is not great, so I use Google Voice (over wifi & dsl) at home.
I wish UMA was enabled on more mobile phones. That would allow roaming between wifi and GSM.
I am a subscriber (less than 1 month so far), and liking it so far. Unlimited talk and text and decent amount of internet (not really unlimited as they claim). No contracts.
Ting. It's has to be the only service reseller out there that has an official hacking forum. Plans are cheap, and if you don't use what you purchased they will pro-rate the unused tiers against the next month. That is to say if you had a smart phone with Ting and didn't use it at all one billing period all you would pay is $6.
Free tethering.
Add a phone into you voice/sms/data pool for $6/mo.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
There is a very useful table of prepaid plans over at Howard Forums. Since you have a GSM phone, you'll want one of the carriers that uses AT&T's or T-Mobile's network.
I'm pretty happy with T-Mobile's $30 monthly prepaid plan, since I rarely need many talk minutes and I'm willing to live with 2G data speeds until they refarm their 1900 MHz spectrum to support 3G later this year.
In addition to Simple Mobile, there is also Consumer Cellular. Best for plans where there is only a single, or two phones - not a family of 3 or more.
They (consumer cellular) allow you to base your monthly payment on actual usage of minutes and data independant of each other on a month by month basis if you need to. It can be used with a GSM smartphone.
Since you're on GSM (You'll have to see which bands yours supports... if you have a Pentaband, then you're golden for any of the following): Large carriers: AT&T GoPhone, T-Mobile Monthly MVNOs (lease towers from the two above): Simple Mobile, StraightTalk/Net10, H20 Wireless, Jolt Mobile, Pure Talk, Red Pocket Mobile
In the US, there are two major "flavors" of cellphone technology: GSM (also used in Europe) and CDMA (also used in some parts of Asia). There are four major carriers: Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile. There are also some (very good) regional carriers and a whole bunch of companies who re-sell from the big 4.
CDMA providers (in the US, Verizon and Sprint are the two big ones) don't have removable SIM cards, and they're not particularly friendly or helpful about unlocking existing phones. Verizon has, by far, the best coverage for the more rural parts of the US. So, if you're going to be out in the sticks, you might be stuck buying a shitty Verizon phone.
GSM providers WILL sell you a SIM, just like you're looking for, but they don't talk about it, and they don't offer any sort of commission to their store employees for it, so they won't offer it unless you ask. You walk in and buy a pre-paid SIM card, just like in Europe. The data prices suck if you don't get a data package (AT&T charges $2/MEGAbyte without a plan (or $2048/GB), but you can get $2/day unlimited data or pay $25 for a 1GB block of data), but you can get "Unlimited daily" plans for a few dollars per day. AT&T has better coverage than T-Mobile, but both are usually adequate in bigger cities. Neither's quite as good as Verizon in rural areas, but I've had better luck with AT&T than with T-Mobile.
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I often go to the US on business and here is what you should do: get a tmobile pre-paid sim card and choose a plan. I get the $2 a day plan which gives me unlimited minutes, text, and 2G data speeds. $3 a day will get you 3G speed up to a data limit (then it falls back to 2G/EDGE).
http://www.ting.com/
You buy an unsubsidized phone at full cost (less $50) and then the plans are pretty cheap.
You won't find in the United States cell phone options such as those you can get in the European Union. The North American telecom market is a rip-off for the customer.
The data on that chart is pretty old. I looked at Tracfone, where I get minutes for less than 5 cents, and it doesn't mention anything about those plans that were all the rage last Christmas.
That pages says that the last update was 07/29/2012, and maybe some of the data is that new, but it doesn't work as a comparison chart if they can't keep most of it up to date.
the better options are Tmo, Simple Mobile or Straight Talk. You probably want ST with the AT&T SIM for the best coverage... that is what most iphone folks go for... a Tmo plan or Tmo MVNO will not support 3G data (yet) on most non-Tmo phones.
uh VM is a Sprint MVNO (owned by Sprint itself), which is CDMA, which means that the OP could not use his GSM phone, as he specified...
I've currently got a Samsung Galaxy S2 with a plan that only costs me $16.64 a month. Ting rocks - https://ting.com/plans
Hard to beat. 3000 minutes, 3000 txt, 100MB data - $29.95 and plenty of 5% off coupons to go with it.
Requires Verizon type phone.
why'd this get marked off topic???
http://www.phonearena.com/search/term/nexus%20one
If you have the international Nexus One you will need to get on ATT network not T-mobile for high speed data. T-mobile does 1700. ATT network doesn't just means ATT. Looks like Net10 uses ATT network and has unlimited data for $50. ATT has prepaid plans too, Maybe others.
If your phone does 1700 then T-mobile plan from Walmart is the way to go. That is the plan my wife has.
Go back to where you came from :) Kidding, welcome to the US where everyone is either an immigrant or the descendent of one.. Have you tried Boost Mobile?
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I have an unlocked Nokia C6-01, AT&T gave me a SIM card, it's $25/3 month for cell time. This SYMBIAN phone is all-frequency, I use Skype over WiFi for most calls, Bluetooth for whenever I want. It's also fully SAMBA compatible.
Virgin Mobile in the US is $20/mo for 400 minutes (+ 15c/text). or $35/mo for unlimited data. (it was $25/mo for data when I signed up, so that's what I'm still paying)
Available everywhere in the US. but it's SprintPCS based and didn't seem to work when I went to Vancouver.
Really I wish the mobile phone mafia in Canada would just let us poor foreigners pick up a disposable phone in a convenience store. I'm starting to realized that I'm spoiled on some of the conveniences I take for granted in the US.
But other than that I don't have too many complaints about Canada, of course I almost never visit in the winter.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Ha! and I complain that my phone bill went over 10 euro for the past 2 month.
Normally it's under 5e/mo and carrier doesn't even bother sending the bill until 10e is outstanding.
just trade in the GSM galaxy nexus for the CDMA one...
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I still use Boost. I have a HTC Evo Design, and it works everywhere. I pay $40 a month for full unlimited, including data, because of their shrinkage program (price drops $5 every 6 on-time prepayments, an incentive to keep your phone turned on sorta like a contract.), the price started at $55 a month. I buy prepaid cards at Walmart sometimes, other times I go online. I could call in too, or use auto-payment. I like it a lot, especially over my shitty Verizon contract I had before that.