Travelling in the USA

wheresmybeaver

Hey, I'm interested in people's experiences with using phones in the US, myself and a few lads are heading over for the summer, VISAs pending, and we're gonna need a way of staying in touch.

I was checking out www.tmobile.com and www.cingular.com but they're kinda vague on specifics, I've been told that you're charged for calls received and stuff like that. I was also wondering if, as a prepaid customer, you can get unlimited internet deals (or at least cheap internet deals) so I can use my phone to connect to the net. We're gonna be on Nantucket island. I've heard that you should avoid ATTwireless like the plague.

I presume my T610 will work over there with an american sim card, its unlocked and everything.

Any feedback is appreciated!

JTMan

Pre-paid is shockingly expensive in the states. I think Virgin Mobile USA ( http://www.virginmobileusa.com/ ) are about the only operator that really wants pre paid customers.

You will be charged for incoming calls and everyone in the states at the moment does seem to be saying that AT&T are crap.

Tom Dunne

Once piece of advice I would give is do your homework. I am in the US and I brought my crappy Ericsson R520 with me. Works fine for texting, never a problem with coverage (not stupid enough to use voice over here).

However, a friend wasn't aware of the whole tri-band thing and bought a Virgin mobile over here. Despite what the salesperson told her, she was not able to text home, Virgin mobile are on CDMA, not GSM. I had some crack trying to explain to the Virgin mobile helpdesk that my friend wanted to send text messages, not e-mails to European phones. Virgin kept insisting it was possible, if only European phones had e-mail addresses...

I'm currently using ATT wireless (though I am on the other side of the US) and I don't have any problems. It may be Nantucket Island specifically. I also from time to time switch to t-mobile (shows up as Voicestream) without problems. I am on O2 post pay.

The friend purchased a dinky little clam-shell Motorola on t-mobile. She is charged 10c to receive texts as well as sending them. Having said that, she has no complaints on the service. Coverage is very good too.

Linoge

Originally posted by Fungus
Pre-paid is shockingly expensive in the states. I think Virgin Mobile USA ( http://www.virginmobileusa.com/ ) are about the only operator that really wants pre paid customers.

You will be charged for incoming calls and everyone in the states at the moment does seem to be saying that AT&T are crap.

Virgin Mobile is alot friendlier towards prepaid alright, but I would not recommend them. Firstly, they aren't gsm, you can't just get a sim, you have to get the whole set (just like analogue was here). They also swore to me in the shop that I could text Ireland and guess what?! You can't! You have to type in your message and send it to 087xxxxxxx@vodafone.ie etc. and even that didn't work. Couldn't receive from home either.

AFAIK, cingular don't do prepaid. I had a T-mobile and I was fairly happy with it. Sim was $55 and credit is easy to get. You can text home no problem with it aswell.

You get charged as much for receiving a call as you do making one on all networks. T mobile allows you to receive text messages free though.

Btw, careful when your changing states. Its the equivolent of us going to England. Roaming charges apply and thats only if your able to roam.

Not sure about the whole internet thing. I think they have gprs but it may (probably) be only available to contract customers. They are a good bit behind in certain aspects of gsm technology.

Hope this was helpful:)

Linoge

LOL, just saw your post Tom. Its funny the way people have the same experiences. I wouldn't have minded so much but the customer service person was pretty much calling Irelands gsm network crap because thry don't have e-mail addresses. Not like the far superior "pay to recieve calls" American network where they still have retractable antennas.:mad:

wheresmybeaver

Yup I was checking out virgin mobile in the us, looks like crap to me, prepaid on anologue? crazy. att seems confusing. Cingular does do prepaid but they cant send texts to Ireland (but yes! you can text venezuela!) Tmobile seems to be looking good at the moment. All I want at this stage is to be able to send cheap txts to people on the island, and send texts back to Ireland, and not get charged for receiving. Wireless net is not an option without getting a contract, it would seem.

For such a modern country the US really buggered up when it came to implementing mobile phone systems! And being charged for receiving calls.. criminal..

Cheers for the help

kaimera

dont Vodafone pre-paid phones work in the states?

A friend of the mother went to the states and her fone was fine for txting/ringing etc.

I know o2 pre-paid dont because I rang about it.

carrotcake

i was on cingular prepaid last year, and found their rates were quite good. better than prepaid over here, apart from the whole paying to receive thing. texting ireland with them is possible - no problems with o2 and vodafone, but any texts i sent to meteor were never received. meteor to cingular worked tho. no charge to receive texts, and 5c per message sent (national and international) once you switch from the default $1 per day tariff. and i was never charged extra for concatenated text messages!

JTMan

Originally posted by Kaimera
.

I know o2 pre-paid dont because I rang about it.

O2 CC keep saying that ...
O2 Pre-paid has worked for a mate of mine for over a year in the states.

Meteor works with all the big US networks on pre and post paid.

I am told that Say It and other travel agents do deals on Sim cards for you to take to the states. Might be worth checking out ...

IDM

Another big disadvantage in the states is that they round up call time to the minute!

So don't bother trying to pull off the 4 second "I'm coming call" because it's pointless!

I agree that it's silly to have to pay to receive incoming calls but what you might not realise is that it doesn't cost anything to call a cell-phone in your region.

ie, if my parents call my mobile from the house phone, they aren't paying a penny. My mobile number is actually no different than my land-line number (no 085-086-087). You've just got to learn to screen your calls, I guess.

wheresmybeaver

Rounding up to the minute! Tragic...

I suppose what we'll do is get tmobile sims and never use it for calls, just for txts. That way, should be 10cents to send, free to receive, should be able to text home, and possibly able to send multi-part texts for the price of just one (which happens on some networks, I've heard)

Cheers for the help!

MagicBusDriver

T moblie is the best option. Sim cards are freely available. Cingular do not use sim cards on prepay. Vodafone contract charge normal rate to send text messages (13c). 13c to recieve as well. GPRS is also the same price. GPRS did not work for me on ATT.

See, http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=111495

carrotcake

Originally posted by MagicBusDriver
Cingular do not use sim cards on prepay.

yes they do! in california, at least. what part where you in?

StickyMcGinty

what about florida, i'll be in miami for about 7 days, i've a tri-band 7210, so hopefully coverage shouldn't be a prob.

is there different networks and charges for west coast US -> Ireland compared to east coast -> Ireland?