You can get good deals on Fido SIM cards bundled with some airtime off ebay canada. Most of the ebay dealers will ship these to the US. So you can get a card before heading off to CA.

Hi

I'm travelling to Toronto and Montreal (from Aus) in July/Aug. With the Fido SIM card, what number (from which region) do you get given with those cards you can buy on ebay? Can the number be changed? (toronto to montreal?)

I bought a FIDO card last week (Jan 08) and they charged $60 for the SIM which came with $25 credit. Also ran into the problem with the credit card fiasco. When I tried to refill in store it took me over 15 minutes to purchase a refill, and then another 10 to go through all of the options on the automated menu. IMPORTANT: There are a number of different codes you will need, the one to refill is different to access your voicemail - keep the paperwork!!

Hi, all. Does anyone know of a reasonably-priced SIM that can be purchased in the USA that supports international roaming? I'm planning a cruise in the fall. The ship has AT&T cellular-at-sea service (they charge international roaming rates), and the ports of call include Cozumel, Mexico and Grand Cayman, BWI. I am scared to death to turn on my BlackBerry while outside the US, for fear of the little gizmo quickly bankrupting me with data and roaming charges! I'd like to get a separate SIM to take along in my standby Motorola phone.

Thanks.

Bob April

You now can rental a SIM for IPhones from JCR (www.jcrcorp.com) with unlimited data with coverage from NTT DoCoMo. Worked for me in Tokyo and Okinawa.

Hi there,

Hope this is of use to someone - I think there should be a proper site for this sort of information - you would get enough hits to sell ads for sure!

Just back from a trip to NZ. My research beforehand showed that Vodafone.co.nz is the biggest operator over there, both for cell/mobile phones and mobile internet. Telstra is starting to compete but has much less coverage. Its pretty basic 3g with gprs/gsm off the beaten track. The bad news is that its convenient but expensive, even for an Aussie who is used to getting ripped off for telecoms! You can turn up at Auckland airport and buy a sim from a Vodafone stand in the terminal for $30 and then stick as much credit on it as you want. For $30 (this is all $NZD) you get $30 credit with calls around a dollar a minute plus you get 100MB of data to use as you please. You can get a sim for your 3g modem for the same money but putting credit on it is something crazy like 500mb for $40 - maybe that will last a while on an iphone but not for me and my 10" asus! On a contract you pay $40 for 1 gig/month! Thats 4 to 6 times worse value than in Oz. The credit will not run out for a year so to just remain contactable (with no charges for incoming calls unlike international roaming) you can get pretty good value out of one recharge I guess. Start making calls and it won't last though! People in NZ text a lot more so maybe consider that.

You can buy top-ups almost anywhere that has an eftpos machine.

Be warned that despite "97% coverage", many of the places you will want to go will have zero reception. If you must be contactable while doing some of the touristy stuff you will need a sat phone.

The good thing is that in the major towns and cities there are plenty of free hotspots but ADSL over there is expensive and slow so don't expect to youtube HD movie trailers at McDonalds! I googled free hotspots before travelling and while there and there were plenty. Public libraries are your safest bet.

For just keeping in touch via email maybe consider throwing a few bucks at an internet cafe every few days - NZ is not a place you should spend too much time buried in a computer anyway!

I really think T-mobile america is scamming me. So far I have spent $25= 130 minutes + 15 initial minutes. There is no way I have used my phone 145 minutes in two weeks. Not even close. Yet I am running out of minutes.

I will never recommend T-mobile to anyone (including my worst enemies). Go with cingular, I will, the next time I run out of minutes.

You can buy 1000 minutes which is good for a year off ebay for $70. To rollover the minutes at the end of a year, purchase a $10 and roll over for 90 days over and over again.

T-Mobile is the best deal in GSM phones in the US and is the only company that offers prepaid airtime good for a year.

I was travelling with a group and used AT&T $1 a day plan as it gave free AT&T calls between all of us. It was 15c a text message and 15c a minute calls (incoming and outgoing). The joy was the free calls between us. Never had any trouble with coverage (in NYC), couldn't top up over the phone with a non US credit card but plenty of places to buy top up cards.

Since I live in the US, I thought I'd just get T-Mobile service there, and roam in Europe (paying $1/minute for calls, but at least I am reachable!). T-Mobile is Deutsch Telecom (the German PTT); how could this go wrong? I tried this twice. It never worked.

I have a T-Mobile "Flexpay" plan, which is sort of halfway between prepaid and a mobile account. I got that because it offers unlimited data plans, and they wanted me to show an ID to get their ordinary account -- and what the hell is that about?! Their web site talks about international roaming, and even quotes you rates for it in various countries, but WHEN YOU GET THERE IT WILL NOT WORK!

The first time, they told me (while spending 1 euro per minute to call back to their "free" tech support number) I needed to add the zero-cost "International Roaming" feature to my account. But they could not add it on the spot; no, it would be added at the start of the next billing cycle -- after I returned from my travels. Idiots. Scratch one European trip with no T-mobile roaming.

The second time (right now), I carefully loaded lots of money into my FlexPay account, added a $5/mo cheaper international calls feature, then traveled. Upon arrivel, itdidnt work. It would check in with several local networks and each in turn would reject it. I spent more than a hundred euros on four calls back to T-Mobile tech support. The first told me it would never work outside Canada and Mexico. This was so obviously contradicted by their web site that I persisted. Two other tech support reps were convinced that it ought to work, but had me trying everything to make sure my phone and simcard weren't broken. The problem was obviously that the T-mobile US network was not authorizing the foreign network to let me roam, but they wouldn't or couldn't change their database (or even check the logs to see that my phone was trying to log in from various European carriers). They asked me to save my address book entries to the simcard (hundreds of entries, saved manually one at a time!!!) and do a "Full Reset" on the Blackberry, while refusing to do anything on their end. I backed up my contacts to my computer with Barry, and did the reset. Didn't help. Swapped my simcard into someone else's phone. Didn't help. My final call with them had a second tech support rep tell me it would only work in Canada and Mexico (but this was only in their internal policies, not on their public web pages). I gave up and got a local simcard, which nobody knows the number of.

T-Mobile Flexpay has a few quirks but it has been a cheap and reliable way to get 1000 anytime minutes for $40/mo, unlimited data for another $20/mo. They recently jacked up their SMS rates to force even casual users into a $5/mo SMS plan (400 SMS's, of which I only use about 25). They charge you $5/mo for declining to tie your phone to a bank account, inexplicably, but I was surprised they offered privacy at ANY price. They participate in the usual telco "extra monthly charges that are not a tax and not part of the advertised price" fraud that I'm amazed the FTC and state regulators haven't slapped every phone company for, sadly.

I really wish they hadn't screwed me on international roaming. Now I have to look for another cell company when I get back. Having a carrier that lies to you and fails in the crunch is not who I want to be sending money to every month.

We run a site call USA SIMs - www.USASIMs.com
On our Site besides the normal AT&T and T-Mobile SIM cards we also offer 2 SIM cards that are great for calling abrode from the USA
The Tuyo Mobile SIM (T-Mobile Network) – http://www.usasims.com/Tuyo_SIM.html
The Red Pocket Mobile SIM (AT&T Network) – http://www.usasims.com/Red_Pocket_SIM.html

The Red Pocket Mobile SIM is great for anyone from Canada since there are no international calling charges when calling back to Canada. Also Red Pocket Works off the AT&T Network. If anyone has any questions about SIM cards to use in the USA on vacation check out our site and email us any questions you might have.

I am sorry to say, but the cheapest plan is O2 Wireless and you don't have to unlock your phone if its an at&t phone, I'm using it in my iphone right now! Calling is just 00.14 cents a minute 00.05 cents to text (but you have to pay 00.10 cents for the first time you use your phone for texting that day), but it still comes out cheaper than t mobile and at&t, and they run off of at&t network! Also, you can buy the sim card from their site or ebay, and you get $7.00 in call credit, and the sim card costs $10 from them and about $5 from ebay

Try Mrsimcard www.mrsimacard.com
We just spent 2 months in the USA and had a sim with unlimited data and a lot of call time for the iphone for $85 per month

I just got back from china and China Unicom has great sim cards they sell everywhere. I was able to call the US for .11$ a minute! I had to dial a prefix of 17911 first was the only hassel....

The easiest way to get a SIM card in Hong Kong is to buy one at a SevenEleven. These are not your father's SevenEleven. And they are everywhere.

You can buy them in several denominations, starting with HK$20. Calls turn out to be about US$0.03/minute. Dirt cheap. And by dialing what's called an IDD number before calling back to the United States, you can get the *same* US$0.03/minute rate for overseas calls to the States. The rate varies for other countries but is always extremely low. I was calling home all the time to impress the family.

There's no need to buy a higher denomination card because you can always add money to the SIM card at SevenEleven or directly with the carrier.

Hi

I am from Australia and I am looking for a sim card which I can use in America. I tryed accessing the site which you mentioned but it doesn't work?? Can you give me a price and rates for a pre-paid sim for the US?

Brenton

hi i live in canada and a trucker i go in the states alot. im from the uk and bought 2 cell phones there had them unlocked they are pay as u go i am trying to find a phone company in canada who also work in the usa rather than buying one in each country can u help

In the UK the carphone warehouse will sell a PAYG phone for about £30 - This generaly depends on you buying an airtime voucher. Carphone warehouse is on just about every high street you can get an idea of costs by hitting their website.

Enjoy it over here

I arrived in the UK and purchased a pre-paid Orange SIM card from an Orange shop. It's worked great, and I know one can get Orange SIM cards (already used) from street-corner vendors, though I heard from someone that these sources were dicey. That said, you can get some good deals if you trust that the SIM card will work properly - and you can check it before you leave the vendor. Alternatively, just go into an Orange store.

I Got a Nomi Mobile SIM card from www.BritishSIMs.com before I left on my last trip to the UK. Was really cheap to call back to the US. Something like 6 cents per minute and NO call back service so it actually worked!!!

Hi,
for Germany I suggest http://www.saveonroaming.net/German_operators.html and Blau as operator.
They have a special offer to call abroad: 9 cents to the US and most western countries.
In Italy I use 3: with 15 Euros you can talk up to 50 hrs for 30 days http://www.saveonroaming.net/Italian_Operators.html

Sure, Mexico Telcel Amigo is a great deal from 15 USD you can get a SIM and 10 USD in calls, the avarage price per call is 40 cent dollar per minute. Is incredible, belive me. Don´t look it on internet, it it not necesary.
If you travel to Mexico City and you visit Zocalo, juat walk about 10 blocks to 'Eje Central' and 5 blocks south, and you find many many cell stores. Some of the sell the SIMs at very low cost

Thanks for the tips guys! I need to know something extra: do these services also provide mobile internet access on my Android Phone when I'm in Mexico?

Thanks a lot!

Jozef

Yes, I had Cosmote prepaid and it is excellent, especially compared to the restrictions/expiry of Canadian prepaid systems.

Let me know if I should let my cosmote sim card expire which I purchasedx in Athens on holiday. I will not be returning to Greece and will be in USA. Thanks.

I was just in Japan myself a couple weeks ago and was very surprised to learn that my tri-band GSM phone would not work there.
It turns out cell networks in Japan and S. Korea are in some kind of strange format which is different from everywhere else.
It is possible that there is some way around it, but I didn't find it. My phone was just sitting in my bag most of the time - all it would do is search for network - and fail.
I would rent a phone - definitely.
I suggest doinf so at the airport. That way you can return it there and use it the whole time.

"I've never seen a rental that's not a ripoff. Sims can be bought on every street in Japan from what I recall, but I didn't shop. I think you'll do fine. See the algorithms above for finding companies if you want to pre-check on the web."
In Japan maybe, but in Europe things are moving...
Check this for Germany:
www.rentmyphone.com

japan's network is largely CDMA, the only foreign phones that will work are newer 3g models. however it is almost impossible to get a sim card if you are not a resident. renting is a much better short term option.

Go here: http://www.lefrenchmobile.com/france_mobile_6_months.htm
The basic card is 20 euros and comes with 30 min TT... ,24 Euro/min for in country calls.

I'm trying to research the data plans available on the prepaid cards, and I'm seein per hour charges. Is there a good prepaid pay-by-the-megabyte plan available? One reference I found is for 45€ for 100MB at Bouygues. That is quite expensive! By comparison, Belgian Base gives you 500MB for 10€.
Does anyone know if there is anything like that in France?

Cheers,

J

You can get NRJ, Virgin or Debitel without a french address.

Just about every mobile company I have seen considers local calls to be local to the region your phone is physically in. Of course, people calling you pay LD to dial your remote number. For the A and B original cellular companies, there used to be what were called “roamer access numbers” which were local numbers in every city that gave you a dial tone for calling cell phones which were roaming in that city. Use of these has faded away.

But you should be fine with your TO cell phone in Montreal, as long as Fido has good coverage. Fido coverage is less than Rogers, even though they are now a subsidiary. There is a $5/month fee you can add to get the full Rogers coverage.

Telus, and Bell Mobility, are CDMA carriers. They do not use SIM cards. If you have a CDMA phone that supports additional NAMs, you can sometimes add a Telus NAM to the phone, but that's getting harder to do both because fewer phones support the extra NAMs and because even when they do, any vendor-locked phone has funny vendor tweaks in it which make it hard to take it to another carrier, even a non-competing carrier in another country.

For international roaming, GSM is where it's at, even though CDMA is superior technology. Get a cheap, unlocked GSM phone from eBay, from a prepaid vendor or check at your local youth hostel.