Las Vegas for 1 week - Where to buy mobile data?

mmanewbie

Hi folks,

I'm heading to Las Vegas for one week and will need to use a lot of mobile data for work purposes. I'm thinking a disposable sim with 5BG of data just to be safe.

What is the cheapest way get a sim card that has good data for the week?

I'm using an iPhone 6.

Thanks in advance

jaymcg91

5GB is an awful lot, to be trying to get on the cheap.

T-Mobile is definitely the best value for mobile data, $3 a day, but that's for 200MB of 4G. You won't find better value than that. Does your hotel not have WiFi? I usually stay with my best mate who has WiFi in his house, and 200MB covers me outside just fine .

mmanewbie

jaymcg91 wrote: »

5GB is an awful lot, to be trying to get on the cheap.

T-Mobile is definitely the best value for mobile data, $3 a day, but that's for 200MB of 4G. You won't find better value than that. Does your hotel not have WiFi? I usually stay with my best mate who has WiFi in his house, and 200MB covers me outside just fine .

Ah no problem. So that's 1GB across five days.

How exactly would I avail of T-Mobile? Do I buy a disposable sim card?

I presume there's no way of increasing that to 500mb per day?

jaymcg91

Yeah, go into a T-Mobile store or Best Buy and buy one. They'll activate it and give you a cell phone number.

Nope, it is what it is! .

Definitely won't find a better option though, PAYG is only slowly starting to become a "thing" in the USA.

billy few mates

Yeah PAYG seems to be an alien concept to them and for the locals here there really isn't a huge amount of choice and what's on offer is quite expensive compared to what you get at home. Even for contract customers you don't really see any unlimited data plans and a plan similar to the one I have at home with EMobile would be about twice the price.
You've got T Mobile, AT&T, Verizon and I think Walmart do one as well.
I use AT&T on PAYG for phone and don't bother with data, I chose the PAYG option where I pay 10c per minute but they also charge you if you receive a a call and once your thirty days are up you can no longer make or receive calls or texts until you top it up again. The other plan they offer is $30 per month on PAYG which gives you unlimited calls for €30 days.
Your best bet is to find somewhere with free internet before you go sending or receiving your data, and watch out because some of the hotels here still charge for Internet.

aaronm13

I always get one of the unlimited Sim cards off eBay before I go. They're about 60 euro but the unlimited data is great. Don't know what they'd be like for business but general browsing and sat nav is perfect. Most if not all strip hotels have WiFi included now in their resort fees so you should be covered there. I'm on mobile now so can't link but if you can't find what I'm talking about let me know and I'll dig out a link for you.

billy few mates

aaronm13 wrote: »

I always get one of the unlimited Sim cards off eBay before I go. They're about 60 euro but the unlimited data is great. Don't know what they'd be like for business but general browsing and sat nav is perfect. Most if not all strip hotels have WiFi included now in their resort fees so you should be covered there. I'm on mobile now so can't link but if you can't find what I'm talking about let me know and I'll dig out a link for you.

Thanks, I'd like a link please.

aaronm13

billy few mates wrote: »

Thanks, I'd like a link please.

Something like this one would do the job, I'll probably pick this one up myself when I go to Vegas and New York in September

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/USA-gsm-sim-card-activated-Unlimited-talk-intl-text-web-3gb-high-speed-30-days-/111403090567?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item19f0244287

Just check your phone bands and this on is only 3g for the first 3gb then 2g after. Type USA sim cards into ebay and browse through the options. Some of them are only for credit plans and you'll have to get a sim card seperately. Best buy also have kiosks in airports with sim card packs or you could order online and get posted to your hotel.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchpage.jsp?id=pcat17071&nrp=15&cp=1&sp=-bestsellingsort%20skuidsaas&seeAll=&_dyncharset=UTF-8&ks=960&sc=Global&list=y&usc=All%20Categories&type=page&iht=n&browsedCategory=pcmcat339400050006&st=pcmcat208100050004_categoryid%24pcmcat265100050014&qp=brand_facet%3DBrand~H2O%20Wireless%5Ebrand_facet%3DBrand~NET10%5Ebrand_facet%3DBrand~Simple%20Mobile%5Ebrand_facet%3DBrand~T-Mobile%20Prepaid%5Ebrand_facet%3DBrand~T-Mobile

The Backwards Man

If you could get a 3UK PAYG sim the USA is included in their plans, all you can eat data for £15

jaymcg91

The Backwards Man wrote: »

If you could get a 3UK PAYG sim the USA is included in their plans, all you can eat data for £15

I just looked on their website, that is unreal value!

Jet007

Hi guys
Sorry for butting in on your thread but I am going to the US next month and I was interested in this also. I assume this will not work with SIM locked phones ??

Stavro Mueller

No, you'll need to get your phone unlocked if you want to use it abroad.

Bayberry

If you want to keep your Irish number functional while you're there, you might want to consider picking up a Mobile hotspot, which will allow you to use WiFi on your phone to connect to the Hotspot which has a SIM and connects to the Mobile network. Not quite as handy for truely mobile use (the hotspot device needs a battery too), but it will work with locked devices (because you don't need to change the phones SIM), it will allow you to use your tablets, etc, and it can be shared, if there's more than one of you.

http://www.walmart.com/cp/Mobile-Broadband/1163447

You can get a hotspot device for as little as $35 (that's probably a Refurbed T-Mobile unit, most cost more than that), and 5GB of Data will cost you about $50, but I'm not sure if you'll be able walk into any Walmart store and pick one up.