O/T: Smartphone network choices for visitor to USA

It seems at least a couple of you guys are abreast of what's what in the USA at the moment for smartphone users, so I hope you can give us some advice.

On a previous trip we have opted for cheap GSM burners on AT&T. This time around we will be visiting the western third of the states for 3 months (Mar-Jun) and have iPhone 3GS phones which we intend to use.

A plan isn't normally all that clever for transients. We are low volume voice/text users and presently use v.little data (current allowance is 50MB/month and that has never been threatened). I understand that in terms of coverage AT&T are ahead of T-mobile (tnx miso). So the question is really who has a pay-as-you-go (i.e. pre-paid, no doubt) deal that we should look into, including network resellers?

Reply to
who where
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In urban areas, T-Mob and AT&T are close. [I was shocked how good T-Mob is in Philadelphia.] In some rural areas, T-mob is lacking if AT&T is the only provider. Other areas AT&T and T-Mob both roam on say Cellular One, so there is little difference. If you are going to the sticks in the west, you probably want Verizon. I've contemplated getting a verizon burner myself.

I know T-mob has burners in Fry's, but all you want is the simcard. You do know the iphone has this "no simcard issue." It is not the kind of phone you want to change simcards on and depend on it working. It is very touchy regarding the simcard insertion/removal. That didn't get fixed on the iphone 4. I haven't heard if the 4S hard the same problem.

I guess you've seen those phone kiosks in the states since you have been here before. They sell simcards to visitors. I don't know much beyond that. I had to buy a phone out of contract, had a lot of problems with Craigslist sellers not completing deals, and ended up getting a good deal at a local kiosk. The woman was a wiz with phone and simcards. She unlocked my phone and plopped in an "international" simcard just to show it was unlocked. I'm assuming you managed to unlock the 3G you are bringing.

I assume you also know about A-GPS issues.

Which remind me. I'm going to send the T-Mob CEO a letter bitching about no roaming on well established AT&T towers. They got their $3 billion from the failed "merger", so start the roaming.

Reply to
miso

PagePlus Cellular, which uses the Verizon network. Get your own cell phone off eBay or from the recyclers. $0.05/min with a 1000 minute pre-pay.

It reduced my $70/month Verizon bill to about $30/month.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

For me, Consumer Cellular is a better deal than anything I found in that chart. Then again, that chart is a royal mess.

Reply to
Char Jackson

Yep, and guess who's going to pay for the failed takeover:

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Take a look at AT&T "Go Phone" pre-paid, which I would think should be available easily. I think it's now $.10/minute (was $.25 when I used it), which may not be the lowest rate out there, but isn't bad for a limited period. Hopefully the sim card would work in the iPhone. I don't know if it supports data. Most pre-paid plans have a flat rate within the states, but overseas calls are going to cost more, so you should inquire for those in your research.

Reply to
default

Well yes, I read that and snickered. Quite a bit. Of course if T-Mob goes under, I won't be laughing.

To be fair, AT&T is going to set up LTE. T-Mob is just going to convert their towers to higher speed versions of HSDPA or whatever. It should top out at 42mbps with a tail wind. I assume that means about 15mbps in real life, and never between 4pm to 7pm.

Reply to
miso

I get 1500 minutes from T-mob for $35. No rollover though. They make out like bandits since I really exceed 600 minutes.

Reply to
miso

You could go t-mob at 2G and get data. There are hacks online how to use voice minutes as data.

In the dark ages, I used to do this over Verizon back in the day when you had to buy a freakin' data kit just to interface to your PC. They are still sold, though I don't know who would possibly need a data kit these days.

What a pile of crap. Buggy drivers. When I got a phone that was USB, I dumped the Susteen gear in the trash rather than ebay it, just so my rating wouldn't be ruined by selling such garbage.

Like I said before, I wouldn't be swapping iphone simcards. With Apple, everything is simple or hard. Some say simple or impossible. Basically the iphone doesn't like to be messed with. You really should leave it as a turnkey device.

Reply to
miso

I think Philly was Omnipoints (I think that was the name of the original company) pet city. A friend worked for them. They were based in NJ.

It doesn't need to be a rural area. In general tmobile has the least amount of infrastructure. I don't live in a rural area and tmobile only has poor native coverage in the built up areas. When they dropped the att roaming the few people I knew who used tmobile moved on.

I loved the fanciful att spin about "helpging rural people" to justify the buyout..

Reply to
George

Thanks for all the input to date. I will be following up on these (and other) leads shortly.

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who where

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