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pay per go phone plan in US while travelling?

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  • Sep 6th, 2011 5:19 pm
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Deal Addict
Aug 10, 2005
1213 posts
107 upvotes
Vaughan, On

pay per go phone plan in US while travelling?

Hi,

I am gonna be on a tour to the U.S. next week and drive all way down to Florida, is there any pay per go plan to go with in the states for such a short period of time? Preferablly pay per go plan some sort...

I am currently on speakout Canada which doesn't allow U.S. roaming.
6 replies
Deal Addict
Jul 18, 2009
1364 posts
81 upvotes
If you have an unlocked phone, just pickup an AT&T prepaid SIM card.

If not, you can get TracFone and Net10 phones for as little as $30 w/ up to 300mins airtime included. Additional airtime is 10cents/min including nationwide long distance. Welcome to cellphone service in a competitive market.
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Mar 24, 2004
5275 posts
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Toronto
AT&T pp sim rocks. $2/day unlimited calling the entire US.
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Jan 6, 2002
6835 posts
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Toronto
Last year I bought a prepaid T-Mobile phone (Samsung t139) for $30 at the time, including 60 minutes of airtime. I bought it in-store at a T-Mobile US location. I use its SIM in my unlocked Bell Samsung Galaxy S when travelling in the US and keep the t139 as an emergency backup. Since I travel frequently enough, I topped up $100 of airtime which means:

* Top-up doesn't expire for 12 months
* 10c/min talk

Othewise you can top up at $15 which lasts 90 days and 30c/min. T-Mobile also has the "Web Day Pass" option which gives you unlimited data for 24 hours for $1.49 from your prepaid balance. On my Galaxy that's limited to T-Mobile's EDGE (2G) network but for most needs that's fine.

I'm hoping that once T-Mobile and AT&T finish merging, this same SIM will give me 3G access on AT&T's towers... But chances are AT&T would get rid of the nice rates and PAYG terms I have with T-Mobile now, so it would be a mixed blessing.
Si Tacuisses, Philosophus Mansisses
Deal Addict
Aug 10, 2005
1213 posts
107 upvotes
Vaughan, On
ETA: Yes, I have an unlocked cell phone that works with ANY sim cards and I will only be staying in Florida for maximum 5 days.
Deal Addict
Jul 22, 2008
3854 posts
374 upvotes
jian1 wrote: Hi,

I am gonna be on a tour to the U.S. next week and drive all way down to Florida, is there any pay per go plan to go with in the states for such a short period of time? Preferablly pay per go plan some sort...

I am currently on speakout Canada which doesn't allow U.S. roaming.

Don't know where you're based, but check out Roam Mobility. They offer International SIM cards for roaming calls/text msgs... It's a good option if you plan on touring outside of N.A., but it's a bit pricer. I believe the SIM card is $50, so if you have a GSM compatible phone, then you can save some costs.

http://www.roammobility.com/
http://www.roammobility.com/rates-and-c ... ed-states/

Free incoming text messages, calls, and calling fwding
Outgoing text messages cost $0.50 and outgoing calls to Canada cost $0.42 per minute
Member
Jul 4, 2005
214 posts
320 upvotes
Terrific_Deals2k8 wrote: Don't know where you're based, but check out Roam Mobility. They offer International SIM cards for roaming calls/text msgs... It's a good option if you plan on touring outside of N.A., but it's a bit pricer. I believe the SIM card is $50, so if you have a GSM compatible phone, then you can save some costs.

http://www.roammobility.com/
http://www.roammobility.com/rates-and-c ... ed-states/

Free incoming text messages, calls, and calling fwding
Outgoing text messages cost $0.50 and outgoing calls to Canada cost $0.42 per minute

I would not recommend using ROAM - I tried using them a number of times for the last year, both in Europe + the US, and ran into all sorts of issue such as poor quality, unable to complete calls, etc... I no longer use their SIM, and will be buying a AT&T prepaid sim next time Im in the US.

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