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febb is offline febb
2010-03-21 , 17:14
Posts: 151 | Thanked: 25 times | Joined on Sep 2006 @ Mexico City, Mexico
#1
Well, I finally went for it. I bought an N900 with Amazon.com and will be getting it as soon as I check in my hotel in California in a few days.

Now, I will be staying in the USA for about 3 weeks and because of that I would like to request some advise as the best way to get mobile data (i.e Internet) on my brand new N900 but without a contract, pretty much like in a prepaid plan.

During this 3 week visit, my main interest are the maps/gps combination on the N900, the occasional web browse and email check/reply. I won't be surfing for hours or downloading stuff. When that is needed I'd look for some WiFi spot.

Your advice is appreciated, thanks in advance.

febb
 
quipper8 is offline quipper8
2010-03-21 , 17:22
Posts: 1,096 | Thanked: 760 times | Joined on Dec 2008
#2
are you going to be traveling a lot by car?

Honestly, while you will not have 3g speeds, AT&T coverage in remote areas will be a little better than T-mobile, but if you are primarily going to be in a city, I would say get t-mobile
 
febb is offline febb
2010-03-21 , 20:20
Posts: 151 | Thanked: 25 times | Joined on Sep 2006 @ Mexico City, Mexico
#3
I will be in San Francisco Area a few days, then travel by car up to Lake Tahoe (where there is cell coverage, as far as I know) and then drive south to Yosemite Valley (where there is mostly nothing regarding cellular coverage) and then back to Silicon Valley for another week.

Where do you recommend me to go and purchase the T-Mobile or AT&T prepaid SIM cards (no contract) ? Do places like 7-eleven or alike sell those SIMS ?

Thanks in advance.



Originally Posted by quipper8 View Post
are you going to be traveling a lot by car?

Honestly, while you will not have 3g speeds, AT&T coverage in remote areas will be a little better than T-mobile, but if you are primarily going to be in a city, I would say get t-mobile
 
eikido is offline eikido
2010-03-21 , 20:33
Posts: 266 | Thanked: 83 times | Joined on Oct 2009
#4
When i was there (january) i had to buy a phone package for 20 dollars including a nokia 1661 with 3 dollars to call with. That was t-mobile.
I asked a T-mobile sales man at a mall and he said that just buying the sim card would be more expensive than buying the phone+sim card. I'm not sure if i believe him because it sounds crazy so ask again.
And i don't think T-mobile prepaid has got data available. I think AT&T has got prepaid with data but that was very expensive.

Maybe someone else can fill in?
 
n61adm is offline n61adm
2010-03-21 , 20:40
Posts: 53 | Thanked: 14 times | Joined on Mar 2010
#5
Originally Posted by eikido View Post
When i was there (january) i had to buy a phone package for 20 dollars including a nokia 1661 with 3 dollars to call with. That was t-mobile.
I asked a T-mobile sales man at a mall and he said that just buying the sim card would be more expensive than buying the phone+sim card. I'm not sure if i believe him because it sounds crazy so ask again.
And i don't think T-mobile prepaid has got data available. I think AT&T has got prepaid with data but that was very expensive.

Maybe someone else can fill in?
I got a nokia phone (forgot the model) from walmart for $15 with a $3 load. i was in sacramento, ca for that trip.
 
guy74 is offline guy74
2010-03-21 , 21:16
Posts: 12 | Thanked: 3 times | Joined on Mar 2010
#6
I got my AT&T sim from ebay for 2 dollars but you can also get them from this web site http://www.usasims.com/?gclid=CJyz55...FRUslAodQloBtg
 
planetf1 is offline planetf1
2010-03-22 , 00:37
Posts: 277 | Thanked: 46 times | Joined on Jan 2010
#7
I'm visiting US for a week next month. Best I could find was T-Mobile for 60 USD+tax no contract - http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/c...-Talk-Text-Web

I was surprised - in the Uk you can get a nocontract PAYG sim with 300-600 texts, and 120Mb data for 10 UKP (3) or 1Gb ish data for 15 UKP (tmob/o2).

The US seems SO expensive for data. I think the carriers are only now starting to realise. In the UK kids have data access no problem and are growing up in this data centric world.
 
Pigro is offline Pigro
2010-03-22 , 13:00
Posts: 433 | Thanked: 274 times | Joined on Jan 2010
#8
Originally Posted by planetf1 View Post
I'm visiting US for a week next month. Best I could find was T-Mobile for 60 USD+tax no contract - http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/c...-Talk-Text-Web

I was surprised - in the Uk you can get a nocontract PAYG sim with 300-600 texts, and 120Mb data for 10 UKP (3) or 1Gb ish data for 15 UKP (tmob/o2).

The US seems SO expensive for data. I think the carriers are only now starting to realise. In the UK kids have data access no problem and are growing up in this data centric world.
your link is for a monthly contract, which does not sound like what you want for a 1 week visit. Try this http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/...Activation-Kit - $6.99 for a prepaid SIM with 10 mins credit, ready to go in any unlocked GSM phone. Just top it up with more credit as required. I believe you can also add the sidekick plan for $1 per day to get limited "free" data access (designed for allowing you to check email only, but apparently fairly easy to circumvent if you use a proxy & don't take the piss with the amoutn of data you use)

Can anyone with the USA T-mob SIM only deal i linked to confirm that you can add sidekick to it when you purchase (or later)? I'm also planning a trip to US in April & I'm intending to go this route assuming it is possible.
 
planetf1 is offline planetf1
2010-03-22 , 13:51
Posts: 277 | Thanked: 46 times | Joined on Jan 2010
#9
Actually I think that plan (or one of the versions) is a no-contract, no credit-check, rolling monthly plan paid in advance.

But I wasn't aware of the sidekick option. That could be useful -- I decided the version above was too much for a week (if I was there a month, maybe),
 
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