Travel Technology - Cell phone purchase in LAX or LGA?

I'm looking to buy a no contract phone (or a new SIM card/number for an AT&T GO phone) in or very near LAX and LGA during stopovers. I'll be arriving into LAX on a Qantas flight and departing on an American Airlines flight to LGA then on to YUL, so I don't know if that limits me to particular terminals or concourses.

Anyone have any tips?

Thanks!

1st post - be kind, couldn't find anything related by searching. :confused:

http://www.ekit.com/ekit/home/

We are going to the states in Sept and I have ordered 2 of their SIM cards. As we are going to the US only I've bought the SIMple plan. There are global plans. You can buy them through Flight Centre. You can also buy them on Ebay.

Here are the terms for the type I bought:

With a Simple calling SIM card, It will cost you:
* 25c per minute to call a USA landline or mobile
* 39c per minute to call an Australian landline
* 25c per minute to accept a call (from anywhere)

The toll-free number for people to call you from Australia is:
1-800-261-038.
You will be charged the usual rate (25c) plus a surcharge (39c) to
receive this type of calls. That is to say 64c per minute. This will not
cost your relatives anything.

The SIM card comes with $10 credit.

I am traveling with a computer so will mainly use VOIP to call home. However I have a sister who cannot cope with that and she will pay the cost of calling me - 64c per minute.

Might be worth looking at their global cards.

You can get a Go Phone card off of ebay quite inexpensively, but if you want a card that continues to work in Canada when you are in Montréal, T-Mobile Prepaid (also cheap off of ebay) offers Canadian roaming.

I looked on the LAX website to see if there was something, it looked like there was a place just up the road. Mind you, if you stop in at a Target/Walmart/ even some super markets now you can pick up a GoPhone for <$50 probably.

If I were you, I would just get an unlocked world GSM phone (quad band) on ebay, and then just buy either a T-Mobile or AT&T Pay as you go SIM card starter kit.

The fact is, in the U.S., all of the phone plans are geared to locking you into a specific provider with the phone you buy. Good luck finding an unlocked phone in JFK or LAX.

The way around this is to get an unlocked GSM phone, on ebay and just buy into whatever plan you wish in whatever country you find yourself.

one mile south of LAX is a T-mobile store
Sepulveda Blvd & Grand Ave
309B N Sepulveda Blvd
El Segundo , CA 90245
310-524-1338

you can probably get a free shuttle to the Hacienda hotel accross the street
http://www.haciendahotel.com/welcome.htm

there are small shopping center across the street with places to eat ,
I think El Pollo Loco which is very good.....

or you can go south another mile to Roscrans and Sepulveda and there is Frys which is another electonics place and Best Buy in the Mall across the street.....

or another mile south to Manhatten Beach Blvd which has a Target.....

these are all on Sepulveda south of LAX

Rally