Call/Data plan for Android in the US
 

Just seeing if anyone can give any information on the best sim option for a unlocked Android phone for use in the US.
Thanks :cool:

Prepaid? Post-paid? For how long?

Do you know which 3G bands your model supports?

T-Mobile, AT&T, Straightalk and H2O Wireless are the pre-paid options which I am aware of.

A specific recommendation may follow once people understand your requirements.

I've been using T-Mo pre-paid for ~ 8 years for my frequent trips to the U.S.; I now use the $2/day option for unlimited calls, texts and 2G data.

Looking at pre-paid for just over a month. (Jun 16- Jul 22), phone works across all bands of 3G as far as I am aware.
I have heard about the AT&T GoPhone(?) sims, just wondering if that would be a option.

* Where are you going?
* How will you be traveling?
* How many minutes will you need?
* How much data will you need?
* Will you be using the phone every hour/day/third day/week?

H20 is ok, took them 3 days to activate my service though :/
Straight Talk has been good to me, 15mins and I had an active phone. No data issues.
Not a fan of AT&T Go Phone plans so...

Not to far off the beaten track Most of the time in Orange Co, Ca, trips to San Fransisco,San Diego,Houston and New York

*Minutes probably could get away with 200 minutes, as for data 2GB+

Using the phone probably multiple times a day when I am away from the hotels and my lap top.

Note that Straightalk caps data at 2 GB; further it may be a hard cap.

Consider going without. The US is a terrible place to need a prepaid data plan. Cost is ~4-5 times has high as Europe. You're probably looking at $25/mo. min, and you'd be lucky to find that.

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Galaxy S: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.6; en-us; SGH-T959V Build/GINGERBREAD) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

Fortunately three band will suffice for use anywhere in the U.S.
Even pentabands don't work across all possible 3G network bands/frequencies.
For use with Tmobile, your phone must opearate im band IV (AWS) and for AT&T, on two bands PCS and CLR.
Do check to ascertain which of these bands your phone can operate in.

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Galaxy S: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.6; en-us; SGH-T959V Build/GINGERBREAD) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

removed due to inadvertant duplication.

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Galaxy S: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.6; en-us; SGH-T959V Build/GINGERBREAD) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

Also, you wil not have free incoming calls. Missed call routine that you might be used to will not work. Do evaluate your requirements.

If fast data is not critical, tmobile'e $2/day option for unlimited calls, texts and 2G data, is actually a good deal. Plus, the sim can be had cheaply on ebay or one of the several stores. AT&t is not bad either. It's $0.10/cents min to anywhere in the US. Yes, incoming calls are not free, but there is a reason for that - It does not cost folks a HEFTY surcharge to call a US mobile (Receiving Party Pays), just like it does in other countries that have free incoming calls (Calling Party Pays).

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Galaxy S: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.6; en-us; SGH-T959V Build/GINGERBREAD) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

Terminating call surcharge is not real basis for not offering free incoming calls. There are countries with supposedly hefty termination charges, who offer free incoming calls, you can call a mobile phone in those countries for far less than the typicall rate of aeound 10 cents a minute here. The marker here took a different approach. Here, we have unlimited nights and weekends or free in- network calls.

Thanks for the advice all. :cool: