Travel Technology - Buy a pay-as-you-go for use in US?

I go to the states several times a year for 5-12 days at a time to visit family. It gets annoying not having a cell phone, because the roaming charges and other fees for using my Bell Mobility cellphone from from Bell Canada look like they'd add up pretty quickly.

I've considered buying a pay-as-you-go phone in the US and buy US-wide minutes, and use that while I'm in the states. I know these minutes expire after a period of time, so I'm not sure if I'd be better off just using my Bell Mobility phone and living with the fees.

I've got a Motorola E815 from Bell Mobility, can't see any place to put a SIM card in though apparently some E815s can use SIM cards. Not sure if a SIM card would let me use the same phone in the US.

Does anyone have any ideas how I could make my E815 work with pay-as-you-go in the states, or have any experience with buying a pay-as-you-go phone for occasional use in the states?

Any comments or suggestions would be welcome.

Bell (and your phone) are CDMA, so even though they may work in theory on Sprint or Verizon over here, you won't be able to add them to their network. With GSM you just pop a sim card in an unlocked phone and are good to go.

You have two options; buy a new phone with prepaid sim when in the US, all operators sell some form of prepaid.

Or, get an unlocked phone on Ebay and get a prepaid sim in store or from Ebay as well.

Prepaid in the US is pretty basic, you can find prepaid plans that include no monthly service fees, or others that charge a small fee (like $1 a day) and get you cheaper rates. Usually that service fee only applies on days you use it.

I noticed that the Bell mobility roaming rates are downright insane ($0.99/minute). They have a "special" plan where you get 100 minutes for "just" $40...

As an example: The ATT Wireless prepaid plan (GoPhone) is $0.25 per minute with no access fee, or $0.10 per minute for $1 per day which also includes free mobile to mobile. They have phones as cheap as $9.99 on their website:

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/go-phones/pyg-plans-phones.jsp?ContentId=900310

IMO the best deal on prepaid for regular use is T-Mobile.

You can usually get a phone in Target for ~$30, and a $100 card gets you 1000 minutes and a year's service (plus whatever is on the starter card that comes with the phone).

I have a company phone, buy my wife and kids all hove one of these - works out far, far cheaper than a regular plan if you only make/receice a few short calls/day.

Sounds like this would serve your needs at very moderate expense. Buying (or activating) a $25/130 minute card each time you visit would also work, but would probably end up costing more in the end.

I'll have to check on the expiry periods of the cards - I'm under the impression that cheaper cards expire much faster. It occurs to me that I'll also have to find out what carriers have good coverage in the areas I frequent, the cottage may not have good coverage (Northern Neck of Virginia).

My next trip in a couple of weeks I may just use my Bell Mobility phone sparingly and see how it works out on my next bill. It may not be worth the hassle of having a separate phone for the US.

Thanks for the input.

Be sure to check the deals on Fatwallet for T-Mobile prepaid. I'd just get the cheapest phone with whatever free airtime cards I could, then buy yourself more cards to get to $100 total, add it over the phone wit CS and get gold rewards status which extends your minutes for a year plus drops your rate to 10cents/minute.

Motorola V195 (http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=18&threadid=741337)

Discounted refills (http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/topic.php?catid=18&threadid=817193)

A T-mo sim card costs $5 (http://t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Detail.aspx?class=prepaid&device=53299206-c069-429a-82fa-000007a2ac12)

Another couple of questions I should ask. Dumb questions I suppose but I've never used a SIM card before.

If I buy a sim card online and plug it in, where does my phone number come from? Can I pick the area code?
Do I have to activate the front at a retail store before I start, or is it built into the SIM card, or what?
Will the carrier be unhappy with a Canadian address?
Should I use a US relative's address (and is that legit)?
Do I even need to provide an address for a pay-as-you-go?


Geez I ask a lot of questions!!

If there is a Wal-mart near where you stay in the US, they will stock the type of Tracfone (either GSM or CDMA) that's appropriate for the area for $12.88. You get a small number of minutes with activation (the amount depends on whether you activate over the phone or on the web). You could then see whether it works where you are located. If it doesn't do the job, you are only out $12.88.

Cards for 90 days of service and 60 minutes of airtime (or more minutes if you use bonuses that can be found on the web) are $20 each, so you can keep the phone alive for a year for $80 if you are a light talker.

I have taken my GSM Tracfone from coast to coast and have had a signal everywhere I've been except for some remote stretches in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Some of the other prepaid phone sellers have very limited coverage areas and are more appropriate for people in large urban areas and people who stay in one place where they happen to have service.

BTW, if you buy a Tracfone, don't use it in Canada. I have read tales of Tracfone disabling phones that were used in Canada or Mexico. While you are in the US, you can call many countries with a Tracfone, though. http://www.tracfoneild.com/?AID=ILDHPB

Right now you can get a free phone with the purchase of $9.99 in airtime. Also includes free shipping ^

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/phones/phoneDetail.do?skuId=VMK7LE

They have a variety of plans and rates. I don't use my phone much so I use the Minute To Minute 18 cents/minute anywhere/anytime rate

t-mobile prepaid charges 50 cents per minute on calls to Canada. But their normal rates look like it's something I'd be interested in, especially with the $100 pre-paid card. I would save a lot of money on something like that. I don't use my cell phone that much. (But I wouldn't dare use it for international roaming at their rates.) The $100 card would probably last me an entire year.

net10 might be a better pay-as-you go plan for you if you plan on calling home. All US calls are 10 cents a minute, international calls to 60 countries including canada land lines and cell phones are an extra 5 cents a minute. Texts are 5 cents. Looks like you can get a phone, 300 minutes and 60 days of service for $29.99. (I've never used them, so I have no idea which network they use or how good or bad their service is.)

There are others out there as well. You have to do some research to see what the pros and cons of each one are.

-David

Edit: Update - apparently they use the GSM network (at&t/cingular and t-mobile). They seem to get good marks for call quality, etc, but not so good marks for customer service.

about.com has a cell phone plan finder. I don't know if it's any good, but it seemed to ask the right questions. I don't think they include net10 in their results.

http://cellphones.about.com/library/bl_pt_q1.htm?q=SPT-BODY-RESTART&

I visit the Us 4 or 5 times a year too and had a Virgin Mobile for a few years but airtime expires if you don't top up by $20 every 90 days. I then moved to T-Mobile and picked up a Nokia Handset for $40 and topped up $100 so as others have mentioned it lasts a year and calls are 10c/min. Then pick up a sprint calling card to make calls back to the UK, Canada etc. This particular card lets me call UK Mobiles for 6c so for 16c total I am caling US Mobile to UK mobile! Much better than my UK Roaming rate of $2.30 or the T-Mobile rate of $1.50!

Now my question is do any PAYG US deals include data? UK T-Mob PAYG Sims can be used for data and max charge per day is £1 which is an excellent deal!

Now my question is do any PAYG US deals include data? UK T-Mob PAYG Sims can be used for data and max charge per day is £1 which is an excellent deal!

Nope. AFAIK none of them have data included (or even available as an option). None offer international roaming or even messaging bundles.

The rest of the world is lightyears ahead of where US prepaid plans are.

Right now you can get a free phone with the purchase of $9.99 in airtime. Also includes free shipping ^

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/phones/phoneDetail.do?skuId=VMK7LE

They have a variety of plans and rates. I don't use my phone much so I use the Minute To Minute 18 cents/minute anywhere/anytime rate
I second the recommendation of Virgin Mobile USA. If you use less than 100 minutes a month, the 18 cents a minute is the best deal in wireless.

If you use a lot less than 100 minutes a month, you can get service with VMUSA for as low as $5/month if you tie your account to a credit card or Paypal account. Plus, the $5 is not a separate fee, it's prepayment for voice and text. Also, the balance rolls over from month to month and won't expire as long as the account is active. It sounds like this could be perfect for OP's needs.

Be forewarned that the 18 cents a minute is moving to 20 cents/minute in May 2008 for new accounts. Current accounts or accounts opened before May will be grandfathered at the 18c rate. If you want the best deal for low usage, now's the time to activate

Would I have to provide a US address to get a PAYG phone in the US?

That's not a huge problem, just would be annoying if a relative had to deal with mail. It would be more convenient if I could just use email to set it up.

Would I have to provide a US address to get a PAYG phone in the US?

That's not a huge problem, just would be annoying if a relative had to deal with mail. It would be more convenient if I could just use email to set it up.

Sometimes, but it isn't a requirement to get it working, usually just a marketing thing. For most providers you can do it 100% anonymously.

I have both a T Mobile and a Virgin US prepaid cell phone.

Virgin has the advantage that you can use paypal to top up. So I have set the website to automatically top up every three months to keep my phone active. Plus you can set it to top up automatically when you get below a certain amount of credit.

T-Mobile, as has been said, if you top up over $100 will give you a years life on the sim card/phone. The only issue is that they wont accept non US based cards to top up over the phone. So you must go to store like walgreens or other place that sells t mobile top up vouchers.

In setting up both accounts i have just stuck in friends addresses. So if you need to just put in a friends address or your hotels etc.

T-Mobile, as has been said, if you top up over $100 will give you a years life on the sim card/phone.
Virgin Mobile has this too with their Service Preserver option. If you top up $90 or more in a 48-hour period, your account will stay active for a year.

What happens with a PAYG if the minutes expire?

Do you lose your phone number and get a new one next time you buy minutes, or is if more complicated than that?

What happens with a PAYG if the minutes expire?

Do you lose your phone number and get a new one next time you buy minutes, or is if more complicated than that?

The way Virgin works is that you need to buy (top-up) with a minimum amount of talk/text minutes every 90 days (either $15 (if setup w/ auto-pay such as a credit card) or $20 worth. That keeps you phone and phone number active.

If you use up all your $$ ( aka minutes) before the 90 day period is up:

You retain your phone number BUT you lose the ability to make or receive calls. If someone calls you they get a message that they can't leave you a voicemail. Once you add more $$$/minutes everrything returns back to normal.

If you run out of $$/minutes and don't top-up for 90 days

Your account will be deactivated and you won't be able to make or receive calls on your phone. If you still don't Top-Up for 60 days after that, you'll lose your phone number and any money left in your account.

for more info http://web.virginmobileusa.com/help/plans/18talk/how-it-works

Thanks, bk3day.

This is proving a very interesting thread.

I followed your link and found that Virgin has an auto top-up plan that sets a lower price point if you set up an automatic charge every 90 days, $15 every 90 days instead of $20.

$60 per year to keep a US phone active with as many minutes as I'll ever use. Now that might make me do it.

http://web.virginmobileusa.com/help/account/pricing/pay-less-every-90

I believe that Virgin Mobile piggybacks on the Sprint/Nextel network, so it might be wise to see how the coverage is wherever you plan to go a lot.

I believe that Virgin Mobile piggybacks on the Sprint/Nextel network, so it might be wise to see how the coverage is wherever you plan to go a lot.

Thank you, that's very useful to know.

I followed your link and found that Virgin has an auto top-up plan that sets a lower price point if you set up an automatic charge every 90 days, $15 every 90 days instead of $20.

$60 per year to keep a US phone active with as many minutes as I'll ever use. Now that might make me do it.

http://web.virginmobileusa.com/help/account/pricing/pay-less-every-90

That's what I did last year when I spent several months in the US. I wasn't planning to use it a lot, so I bought their cheapest refurbished phone model and signed up for the $15/90 days plan and was quite happy with their service. (For what it's worth, I was in an area where T-Mobile wasn't an option)

What happens with a PAYG if the minutes expire?

Do you lose your phone number and get a new one next time you buy minutes, or is if more complicated than that?T-mobile numbers expire 90 days after the minutes expire:

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/default.aspx?plancategory=4

Keep your phone number

To keep your mobile number active, refill within 90 days after your minutes expire. After 90 days, your account will be canceled and you will lose your phone number. If you want to restart service, you will need to activate new service.

Incidentally, I decided to move forward and picked up an unlocked quad band GSM phone on ebay and ordered the $4.99 t-mobile pay as you go SIM.

If I'm reasonably happy with the call quality, I'll port my number to it and cancel my $39.99 monthly verizon wireless plan. $100 should last me a year or so. In the worst possible case, I'll end up with an unlocked GSM phone I can use if/when I travel overseas.

Thanks for posting this stuff and making me thing about it again. $100 annually + the one time cost of the unlocked phone is a lot better than $480 + text messages + taxes - the corporate discount annually. Even with the cost of the unlocked phone, the break even period is about 5 months.

-David

IMO the best deal on prepaid for regular use is T-Mobile.

You can usually get a phone in Target for ~$30, and a $100 card gets you 1000 minutes and a year's service (plus whatever is on the starter card that comes with the phone).

I have a company phone, buy my wife and kids all hove one of these - works out far, far cheaper than a regular plan if you only make/receice a few short calls/day.

Sounds like this would serve your needs at very moderate expense. Buying (or activating) a $25/130 minute card each time you visit would also work, but would probably end up costing more in the end.

i think so too. $100 and it's valid for 365 days so you'll always have that number. The per minute rate is .10c/min so you have 1000 min for 365 days. Just pick up a cheapy GSM phone on ebay and you're set.

Otherwise, can buy the package from T-Mobile's US website. Not sure if it's shipped to Canada but could ship it to your relatives in the states.

You can frequently get 100 minute refills for around $90 on eBay, and 3rd party vendors often have similar promotions, such as this one (http://www.google.com/search?q=HpyEaster) for $88.

I believe that Virgin Mobile piggybacks on the Sprint/Nextel network, so it might be wise to see how the coverage is wherever you plan to go a lot.Virgin Mobile USA uses only the PCS portion of Sprint's network. When you check a coverage map at Sprint, be sure to note that the coverage for VM does NOT include the Nextel IDEN network and any areas covered by roaming agreement. You can still get signals in most major cities and on most interstate highways in the US, but if you venture outside of those parts of the country, you could slip out of the coverage area.

Anybody happen to know about Virgin Mobile coverage on the Northern Neck of Virginia?

On VM's website, check the page on coverage. If you have a zip code for the northern neck of Virginia location, that will do the trick.

Incidentally, I decided to move forward and picked up an unlocked quad band GSM phone on ebay and ordered the $4.99 t-mobile pay as you go SIM.

-David

I ported my number over yesterday, and picked up a discounted $100 refill from callingmart.com (normal 5% discount, plus extra 3% discount from fatwallet post). Callingmart didn't send my PIN within 15 minutes, so they rebated another 5% back to my credit card based on their guarantee.

The call quality seems fine, however t-mo's coverage map on Maui isn't as extensive as Verizon's. We'll see how it goes. At least at my house, the call quality is excellent.

I also picked up a Jabra SP5050 portable BT speakerphone for the car from Costco, and that works great also. It would be nice if it had a hard off switch, because when I traveled with it last week, it would turn on by itself in my bag when something pressed against it. Other than that minor thing, it works great.

Thanks all.

-David