Best US mobile network for J1?

nuttlys

Hey, just wondering what you all think is the best mobile network and plan for staying in the states for J1.

Heading to SD this year, June-Sept, but last year was in Boston and felt like I was getting robbed every day. Went with T-Mobile on a pay as you go, can't remember the exact costs of everything but what really got me going was the fact that you got charged for recieving calls from US numbers and also once you ran out of credit, you couldnt recieve calls!! :mad:

I was nearly thinking this time to look at setting up a bill pay and buying out the contract near the end, might work out cheaper? I don't need a phone really, just the sim.

What you all think?

Xavi6

Yeah the US system is fucked imo. I was T-mobile and it was crazy how they charge you by the minute, not by the call. Not being able to receive calls with no credit is just plain ridiculous.

I looked into getting a bill but the minimum contract was a year and just wasn't worth it tbh.

cooperguy

WHAT!!!! Charged to receive calls and cut off completly when you run out of credit. And I thought we were getting raped by phone companies in Ireland!

Neamhshuntasach said before he lived over there for a while so hopfully the next time he logs on he'll be able to help us out. Phones should be much cheaper to buy over there though shouldnt they. I was thinking of investing in an N95 or similar it would probably be an idea to buy it when I was buying them sim card and get it a bit cheaper ya?

lawhec

The way mobile phones operate in North America is different to what we're used to in Europe. Over there mobile phone numbers are assigned a city code the same way as a landline number is e.g. if you buy the mobile phone in New York you get a New York assigned number. Since the person you're calling doesn't necessarily know if they're calling a landline or mobile, it is the receiver that covers the difference of the cost of the call.

Back home, the only time the receiver gets charged for the call is if they're roaming, as the caller may not know where the person they're calling is. The concept of the receiver being charged is alien here, the person making the connection is the one who pays.

Phones should be much cheaper to buy over there though shouldnt they. I was thinking of investing in an N95 or similar it would probably be an idea to buy it when I was buying them sim card and get it a bit cheaper ya?

Not necessarily, the different frequency bands used in the Americas compared to here is one. You'd need to get a quad band for certain 2G reception back home. Also there's more than GSM used in the USA, CDMA is also used by some operators and 3G phones designed for the American market will be very unlikely to be compatible with networks in Europe. The iPhone when it first came out was the only phone I know to have had a significant export to Europe for a while at least. In fact imports of European phones into North America are much more common.

The two main GSM carriers out there are AT&T and T-Mobile.

Neamhshuntasach

Yeah the set up is exactly as mentioned above by lawhec.

I was with Cingular who i now believe are under the AT&T carrier. While i had to pay for receiving calls i practically got most of my outgoing calls free on the plan i had. It was called something 90 or something to that effect. It sucked being on a contract and the fact the feck all Americans text. I was used to topping up when i needed to and sending a text rather than calling to ask stupid things.

Blut

Jeese, you people got ripped off. The last two summers I've spent in america Ive used a cingular pay as you go phone. You pay $1 a day and for that you get all your phone calls to/from other cingular mobiles completely free. Nearly everyone Irish I knew in both years was on cingular so I only really bought credit to pay the $1 a day fee and for receiving calls from Ireland. Just go to any Radioshack(or other big electronics shop) in the city youre in and ask about the cingular free calls deal and theyll sort you out.

Neamhshuntasach

Well mine was like 32.99 dollars a month and everyone who called me was from San Diego. I would call home on a call card which worked out at much better value. I used the phone everyday so if i was on a pay as you go it would have cost me 28-31 dollars at least depending on the month and then you add whatever i would top up with. I lived over there long term and my mates weren't Irish. So it was a mixture of T Mobile, Verizon, Cingular, etc. So the plan worked out better for me. I just wasn't used to paying bills like that.

But anyone going over on a J1 should avail of the pay as you go services. Works out better short term.

sharkDawg

Blut wrote: »

Jeese, you people got ripped off. The last two summers I've spent in america Ive used a cingular pay as you go phone. You pay $1 a day and for that you get all your phone calls to/from other cingular mobiles completely free. Nearly everyone Irish I knew in both years was on cingular so I only really bought credit to pay the $1 a day fee and for receiving calls from Ireland. Just go to any Radioshack(or other big electronics shop) in the city youre in and ask about the cingular free calls deal and theyll sort you out.

+1, I've done the same thing, although "Cingular" is now "AT&T", just in case you get worried you can't see Cingular anywhere!

pow wow

Cingular ftw. (now AT&T of course :rolleyes:)

Their pay-and-go plans were pretty fab when I lived there. Calls home were pretty expensive but they are with any cell provider. The sims are free from their stores once you buy some credit (it was either $10 or $20 from recollection).

layladylay

are calls to AT+T customers all over America free? even in different states... That would be amazing, I know in Canada your charged roaming once your calling outside your area code.

Also whats the story with using say a meteor/nokia phone in the states-can you just buy a SIM and stick it in or would you need to get an American handset?

nuttlys

layladylay wrote: »

are calls to AT+T customers all over America free? even in different states... That would be amazing, I know in Canada your charged roaming once your calling outside your area code.

Also whats the story with using say a meteor/nokia phone in the states-can you just buy a SIM and stick it in or would you need to get an American handset?

As long as its Tri-Band and unlocked there shouldn't be a problem I guess.

Blut wrote: »

Jeese, you people got ripped off. The last two summers I've spent in america Ive used a cingular pay as you go phone. You pay $1 a day and for that you get all your phone calls to/from other cingular mobiles completely free. Nearly everyone Irish I knew in both years was on cingular so I only really bought credit to pay the $1 a day fee and for receiving calls from Ireland. Just go to any Radioshack(or other big electronics shop) in the city youre in and ask about the cingular free calls deal and theyll sort you out.

Yeah just browsed AT&T, that $1 a day thing sounds the best, presume that "Unlimited Mobile to Mobile Minutes" is only AT&T to AT&T... would suit prefect for the group of us heading over. Link for the info is here if anyone is interested. (SanDiego ZipCode used)

Neamhshuntasach

Not all US mobile carriers use GSM so an Irish phone wouldn't work with every company. But i think AT&T and T mobile are using GSM now. When i was over there nearly all phones were CDMA.

Blut

The AT&T/cingular free calls are nationwide, my girlfriend was 2000 miles away on the other side of America to me last summer and we were able to have hour long phone calls for free, very handy.

spideog7

Sorry I don't get it. It says a $1 a day flat rate once you use your phone on that day, then calls are charged at 10cent a minute. Then texts are 15cent, MMS are 25cent. Hang on I think I do get it, it's not particularly cheap though.

Here' a neat trick for anyone though. In Ireland O2 allow you to send what they call a long text which is basically an MMS with no pictures just words, it can be an essay and costs 20cent (you have to have data coverage to send it though) but anyway, if you go to the US you can send these long texts for 20cent no roaming fees nothing extra, just use your O2 sim card and it'll automatically pick up whatever network is nearby You can send them to email addresses or phones so long as the phone can recieve MMS messages. Not a solution for the whole 3 months but ideal for transatlantic texts or emails if you can't get to a computer

pow wow

spideog7 wrote: »

Sorry I don't get it. It says a $1 a day flat rate once you use your phone on that day, then calls are charged at 10cent a minute. Then texts are 15cent, MMS are 25cent. Hang on I think I do get it, it's not particularly cheap though.

Here' a neat trick for anyone though. In Ireland O2 allow you to send what they call a long text which is basically an MMS with no pictures just words, it can be an essay and costs 20cent (you have to have data coverage to send it though) but anyway, if you go to the US you can send these long texts for 20cent no roaming fees nothing extra, just use your O2 sim card and it'll automatically pick up whatever network is nearby You can send them to email addresses or phones so long as the phone can recieve MMS messages. Not a solution for the whole 3 months but ideal for transatlantic texts or emails if you can't get to a computer

The $1 a day is only when you use the phone for an actual call, so if you're texting all day you don't pay the dollar access charge. On-network calls are free with that option, and off-network are 10c a minute. They also have a 25c a minute flat rate plan without the dollar charge so if you aren't much of a talker but made the odd short call that would work out cheaper.