Are there data plans for travelers in the USA?
- By
- Aparna Patel
- |
- 18 Jul, 2023
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T-Mobile now offers a 30$ prepaid international tourist plan with unlimited data, unlimited domestic texting and 1,000 domestic minutes of talk time, with a free SIM card. The main limitation — apart from no international calls — is that the plan expires in 21 days, so @Oak’s answer still holds for longer stays.
I was in the US in may 2013. I checked with several operators, and the best deal by far was from T-mobile. I could buy a pre-paid sim card with unlimited voice, text and data for 3 USD a day.
If for a longer time, 90 USD a month could be high, but they sold for arbitrary number of days, so if you stay for a week or so, it’s very convenient
I use a service from a company called Travelers Mobile.
They are Canadian and I am in Canada, but they ship anywhere in the world.
Basically they sell me, a US local prepaid no contract plan, delivered to my home in Canada, cheaper than if I buy it from a store in the US.
They currently sell US and UK plans. I have not used the UK plan yet, but I have used the US one several times. Works perfect.
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Well, turns out this is really easy – I just entered a store and asked for a monthly plan which includes unlimited data, and the clerk was happy to offer me a choice between a couple of available plans, without any requirement except a credit card (no need for zip code or credit check or American credit card / address). The store was T-Mobile, but I think other carriers offer similar deals as well.
Just be aware that the listed plan prices usually do not include sim cost or one-time activation fee. Still, travelling with an Internet-enabled smartphone is amazing, and definitely worth some money.
The sim card was activated almost immediately – I was able to data-surf while still in the store.
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AT&T has PayAsYouGo SIM cards, you can buy them in the real AT&T stores. You just come in and ask the clerk to sell you one. It costs $20 (as far as I remember). Then there’s a $20/200MB (not sure about exact numbers) data plan for this card which is pretty expensive if you really plan to use the internet extensively.
T-Mobile also has prepaid SIM cards that cost $3.00/day for voice/text/data. The data is 200MB at 4G speeds and then drops to unlimited at 3G speeds. The SIM costs $10.00. I do not believe there is an ID requirement (they might need your zip code into their system though), you can pay in cash, and they are available at T-Mobile stores. You can refill with a credit card via phone or by purchasing minutes cards in grocery stores and the like.
I haven’t seen SIMs for sale in the airports I frequent, but I also don’t look for them either.
Other major operators (Sprint, Verizon) are off limits if you have a GSM phone.
As a broad generalization for the US as a whole, coverage is equal for all carriers. A bigger concern would be getting coverage in less populated areas.
Was in the same situation a while ago, and found it impossible to find a prepaid sim for my phone in the states. Short answer is: it’s easier use open WiFi hotspots instead of purchasing a prepaid sim card.
The long answer is that you can get really cheap phones for less than $30 on supermarkets, corner stores and petrol stations, but they all have a sim card build in and you wont be able to take it out and use it in your sim. AT&T and T-Mobile do offer sim cards you can use in any phone, but you won’t get a sim with any prepaid plan and they are usually only sold in the “big” AT&T/T-Mobile stores, not in the small stands you might find in the mall. If you’re lucky enough to find one make sure it also works in your phone – from what i have heard the T-Mobile sim cards don’t work in unlocked phones.
The correct term is “SIM only Pay-as-you-go-plan” in the states, otherwise the store operator might not understand what you’re looking for.
So if you really, really need prepaid and data you should use your own and get charged a arm and a leg for roaming fees. Otherwise turn off your cellphone and log in to the free WiFi near each Starbucks or fast food chain to check your emails.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘
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