[Elect] Finally competition for Wireless Roaming in the US: Roammobility

[Faeton]

Any suggestions for a similar T-Mobile pay-as-you-go plan that offers 3G service in the USA, like for an unlocked iPhone? Going to Florida next month, and it would be great to have 3G data walking around Disney World

[koldad]

As mentioned earlier, the biggest drawback to T-mobile SIMS is the cost of calling back to Canada, which is primarily what we use our phone for, the 3 or 4 times a year we head to our condo in Arizona. For that reason we use Cricket's PayGO prepaid phone service. We bought a basic Cricket PAyGO Samsung phone in Walmart for $15 and also grabbed a few of their $10 top up cards.

When we are going to travel to the US, we go on to the Cricket website (http://www.mycricket.com/activate) and activate (or top up if it's been less than 2 months) the phone. You do need to put in a US address when you activate, but it can anything you want it to be (ie. you can make one up). But it needs to be a real Zip Code and it needs to be in an area Cricket can assign you a number. We use a Phoenix address. You will then get an email with your new phone number, and telling you to activate your phone. When we land in the US, I hit *228 on the phone to complete the activation. Then hit *779 and enter the pin from one of the $10 top up cards. Voila! Service that is $2/day unlimited talk and text to anywhere, INCLUDING Canada AND you only pay the $2/day on the days you actually use the phone. A $10 card usually lasts us at least a week.

There are a few downsides. First of all, we do get a new number everytime we reactivate the phone, because the number gets reassigned after 60 days of inactivity. We work around this by having a Google Voice number set up in Arizona. We just link our Google voice number to our newly assigned Cricket number and everyone can reach us through our Google number without needing to know our new Cricket number. The other downside is the phone. They don't really offer a PayGo Smartphone, so if you need data services this may not work for you. Unlimited web browsing is included but difficult to use on the cheaper phones.

This approach works well for us. And making all of those 1 hour phone calls back to Canada on Christmas day for $2, makes it all worthwhile.

Hey man this sounds ideal for my 7 day trip to Disneyland but I cant ind any information on this $2 a day, I even called them and they said there is only the two plans $25 and $35. how do you get the $2

[Pseudo Nim]

Any suggestions for a similar T-Mobile pay-as-you-go plan that offers 3G service in the USA, like for an unlocked iPhone? Going to Florida next month, and it would be great to have 3G data walking around Disney World

+1 on this question - T-Mob is 2G on the iPhone unless you have the CDMA iPhone, and RoamMobility doesn't say who they piggyback on but the fact that they talk about 4G means it must be T-Mob as well.

Is there anything similar to this for "regular" 3G?

[redflag999]

True, it is sometimes hard to find a tmobile store, but you can buy a $20 or $30 package including a tmobile phone in just about any target, walmart, or drugstore in the US, and once you have a balance of $100 on your prepaid account you get gold status, which gives you the 1 year expiry for as long as you maintain a balance. Gold status also gets you the ability to have that crappy phone unlocked after a month, so you have a spare phone if you happen to wreck your Rogers or Fido phone. Also, you can buy refills online at discounted rates from anywhere in the world if you are not in the US when your expiry date comes around.

Just noticed something on my "my Tmobile" site, sneaky bast**ds have taken the expiry date off the site, so you have to track it yourself...

That's not true. In the main 'My Account' page, under 'Your Account Status', it shows both your current balance and the expiry date.

I love the fact that I can add $10 every year (once you achieve gold status by having $100 in the account) anywhere in the world and when I am in the US, it is $0.10/minute calling from anywhere in the us to anywhere in the us.

[rianca]

Hey man this sounds ideal for my 7 day trip to Disneyland but I cant ind any information on this $2 a day, I even called them and they said there is only the two plans $25 and $35. how do you get the $2

I bought a $19 tmobile phone in Best Buy past weekend and when I return to Canada I activate the phone using the web, on the registration process you can choose the type of prepaid plan you want it shows the monthly, $1, $2, $3 and by the minute, you choose what ever you want. I also was able to register on the web and there is a link to change your plan anytime. by the way once I register I turn on my phone and received text messages from T mobile (it connects to Rogers) so I was able to retrive the password to access my account on there website

[fredsmith]

With all this chatter about T-Mobile expiry dates and such it occurs to me that one more thing I REALLY like about Tracfone (and take completely for granted) is that they show your balance in minutes and your expiry date right on the display of your phone, whether you are range or not.

I just don't see any reason whatsoever to go to T-Mobile or the other major providers, except perhaps if you need real data access.

Tracfone's handling of expiry dates by extending them, the fact that they charge the same 10 cents per minute to call anywhere in North America and to more than 60 other countries, that they provide Canadian and Mexican direct dial incoming numbers and that they have a neat plan that costs nothing to put in place that prevents your airtime from expiring by charging $6 to extend the expiry time for a month if you happen to forget to reload the phone makes them the only service I would consider.

[jory29]

Re: T-mobile sim card on unlocked Optimus One in the USA. I have a few questions...

If I set up google voice on my phone, do I have to have wifi or 3g data on all of the time, in order to receive or make free calls to Canada when in the USA? Edited to add, I think that's only if I was using GrooveIP with googlevoice together? There would be no need for GrooveIP with a Tmobile sim then, I wouldn't think.

Is texting using google voice free, to Canada? Currently their 'unlimited text' on the $3 a day plan does NOT include texts to or from Canada, and I believe it is 10 cents for each text in and out to Canada IF on one of those daily $2 or $3 plans. Edited to add: Looks like it would be free, but there's a setting apparently one should go to in GV to elliminate a duplicate text being sent to regular USA sim phone number. Those, a person would be charged for.

I plan on signing on for the $3 a day plan, but wondering if I will only get 2G speeds since Optiumus One isn't a 4G phone, or will I get 3G? Last May the speeds were great on the $1.50 a day plan, it was terrific, all apps worked great. Not sure if they are using different speeds, servers, etc.

Thanks, if anyone can answer my questions

[Magoomba]

That's not true. In the main 'My Account' page, under 'Your Account Status', it shows both your current balance and the expiry date.

I love the fact that I can add $10 every year (once you achieve gold status by having $100 in the account) anywhere in the world and when I am in the US, it is $0.10/minute calling from anywhere in the us to anywhere in the us.

Can someone confirm this?
Are you saying that as long as there's $100 on the prepaid account, it only takes $10 per year to keep it active (so you don't lose your minutes)?
Thanks.

[RibsMaster]

Can someone confirm this?
Are you saying that as long as there's $100 on the prepaid account, it only takes $10 per year to keep it active (so you don't lose your minutes)?
Thanks.

when you put the first time 100$ for one year, after that year you can just add 10$ and it will extend it for another year. As soon as you reach gold status (by adding 100$) any amount you add is good for another year.

[rockyj9999]

Hey man this sounds ideal for my 7 day trip to Disneyland but I cant ind any information on this $2 a day, I even called them and they said there is only the two plans $25 and $35. how do you get the $2

Sorry for the slow response. Just got back from 2 weeks in the US.

Here is the link to the PAYGo plans. Scroll down to see the $1 and $2/day plans. (it looks like you may have to go half way through the activation process to get to this page). http://www.mycricket.com/paygo/activation/plans

I think Cricket PAYGo s a different business than Cricket Wireless (like Koodo vs TELUS). So if you call one they may not offer up info about the other.

You can get more info on the plans at Walmart where they sell the phones and the top up cards.

Hope this helps.

[jory29]

Another question - if using googlevoice account (on my Tmobile sim/unlocked phone), when in the USA, if I want to call home to Canada, would I dial my google voice number and then place the call??
I assume that the call is 'free' on the $2 or $3 a day plan, since it includes unlimited USA calling, right?

Thanks!

[Faeton]

Just got back from Florida, and ended up using a AT&T GoPhone's PAYG service. 500 megs of data for $25, and $2 a day for unlimited NA txt and USA calls. AT&T is really dumb as they block out iPhones and Blackberries from using data, so you'll have to goto unlockit.co.nz to change your APN so that AT&T doesn't block your data.

I used AT&T as they had 3G service, and T-Mobile doesn't

[MrMichyo]

I used Roam Mobility for my 8 days trip in the States.
I got $29.99 500MB data plan before I went to the States for my Nav apps and other apps for roadtrip.
My phone is unlocked Galaxy Note.
Roam Mobility claims that they support fast data service with almost everywhere coverage.

HOWEVER,
It is 'extremely slow' and the coverage was pathetic..
Searching Starbucks in the middle of San Francisco downtown took me more than a minute.... just better walk around or head up to search by eyes...
You will get connection only when you are near city and it is very slow even though you are in the city like San Francisco....
I traveled down through Oregon Coast and didn't get data connection for almost whole time.
very unreliable product..

Maybe I did something wrong........
One thing for sure is that I will not use it again and never recommend to anyone.

[Doc Terry]

$20 for a sim card?

I was in the Uk recently, and for GB10 -- about $16 -- they gave me air time, 500 mb data and a FREE sim card. They even installed it.
Here in Alberta, Telus -- who are not known for bargains -- sold me a sim card for my iPad for only $10

I like the idea of buying a sim card for my smart phone--but, c'mon, let's be reasonable about these prices. I agree with the person who suggested that it's better to buy directly from TMobile--they are selling their sim cards for just a penny right now!

[andriykoua]

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/usa-r...chase-1143847/