Best prepaid SIM card for temporary use in the US (T-Mobile, iPhone) - - City-Data Forum

altajoe · 06-08-2009, 11:49 AM

We will be hosting a student for one month. I have an UNLOCKED phone that I use when I travel and am looking for a prepaid SIM card that I can give her to be use for local/nationwide calls while she is here.

I have seen a few that have a low purchase price, but the "cost" of incoming and outgoing calls is ridiculous.

Any suggestions?

pcity · 06-09-2009, 07:00 PM

The answer is totally dependent on how many minutes they're going to use. Since you specifically said just one month, I would actually not go the prepaid SIM route.

I would get on Virgin Mobile's website, and buy one of the $9.99 phone + airtime packages. For 9.99, you get a phone and a $9.99 credit to your first airtime purchase, so the phone works out to be free.

Then you can add either a monthly plan (starts at $29.99 for 300 anytime and 1000 night/weekends) or a minute pack (starts at $20 for 200 minutes), and just cancel when the student leaves in one month.

That's way better than the best plan you can get with a prepaid SIM.

altajoe · 06-10-2009, 08:31 AM

Hmmm, that's a thought. I'll look into that. Thanks.

altajoe · 06-26-2009, 02:07 PM

Thanks PCITY, that's just what I did.

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sammbautista · 04-10-2012, 07:47 PM

Although this answer is a bit late and won't help the person who posted the question above I am hoping it will help other travelers who read this. I work for T-mobile USA and we do hundreds of prepaid activations at my location. If you are looking for a prepaid sim card that includes local calling and texting or even international calling and texting as well as data for your smartphone whether it be for an iPhone or blackberry or htc etc.,we have it. We have Prepaid sims that are good for 30 days or more , as well as daily plans if you are only staying in the states for a short while. All of our plans are affordable from $10 and up depending on your needs.
Here is the link to our prepaid plans Prepaid Cell Plans | No Contract Plans | Text, Talk or Web | T-Mobile (http://www.tmobile.com/shop/plans/prepaid-plans.aspx?WT.mc_n=PrePdPlnsOvrMain&WT.mc_t=Onsite Ad - broken link)
I hope this helps. And if any of you will be in the San Francisco downtown area my store is located on 50 Powell St. (right at the cable car turnaround)
Please ask for me my name is SAMANTHA B and i would be more than glad to help!!

Comparisim · 02-08-2013, 05:14 AM

I dont want to rub it in but in the UK SIm cards are free and all incoming calls are free too

glendajohns · 02-13-2013, 11:08 PM

The first thing you need to do is to make sure you have your phone unlocked so you can insert any SIM card to your mobile. This way, any SIM card you opt to have is attainable.

grimace8 · 02-14-2013, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sammbautista

[b]Although this answer is a bit late and won't help the person who posted the question above I am hoping it will help other travelers who read this. I work for T-mobile USA and we do hundreds of prepaid activations at my location. If you are looking for a prepaid sim card that includes local calling and texting or even international calling and texting as well as data for your smartphone whether it be for an iPhone or blackberry or htc etc.,we have it. We have Prepaid sims that are good for 30 days or more , as well as daily plans if you are only staying in the states for a short while. All of our plans are affordable from $10 and up depending on your needs.

Yeah but T-Mo's signal can be, depending on where you are, downright awful. I speak from experience. I kicked T-Mo to the curb several months ago

Mr. Lee · 02-15-2013, 06:44 AM

While this post wont help the OP, it might help others. I use TMobile prepaid and my wife has been using it for many years on her phone and we are both very happy with the service overall, I guess it depends on where one lives.

A tip for those who have bad service at their homes is to get a phone that has uma in it and use your home wifi router as a cell site. Also I have found the uma to work in foreign countries while on any wifi there that uses WEP security, so local calls to and from the US even while out of the US.