Need US cell phone / SIM card advice, please!

[Adam]

Hey guys

I haven't posted in a long, long time - but I've lurked. I'm coming to the US in September and will be travelling around the PNW and San Francisco.

I want to get a temporary MicroSIM card for my iPhone4 for the time I'm over there. Basically, I just want to make calls, send texts and be able to use the internet for navigation occasionally etc.

I'm just not sure of the jargon, whether you guys refer to data as 3G the same as here in Australia - but I'm assuming I can just buy a pre-paid SIM at a 7/11 or something? I hear that WiFi is fairly widespread (and some of it is free), but I'm going to be in around Portland mostly, with a roadtrip to Seattle thrown in and then down south for a about a week in SFO. All told, I'm only going to need it for three weeks.

Anyone able to recommend any particular pre-paid or top-up style SIM, or are there better ways to do this? I figure some of you guys may work in this field and may be able to steer me in the right direction. I'm not worried about cost, I just want it to do what I need: reasonable coverage and an allowance of data (1 or 2gb) with a carrier that I can use in WA, OR and CA.

Many thanks!

[Hugh R]

Not sure but SIM cards for phone here pretty much don't exist. I buy them in England/Europe for my iPhone but don't see much market for them here.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Not sure but SIM cards for phone here pretty much don't exist. I buy them in England/Europe for my iPhone but don't see much market for them here.

Yeah, the way that phones are locked to carriers here kind of kills the market.

I'd just grab a pre paid phone at 7-11, forward your iPhone number to it and use the iPhone when you have WIFI.

Or hit an ATT store, explain your situation, they might just sell you a pre-paid card and trim it for you. AFAIK iPhone is the only phone that uses the micro sim but a regular sim can be trimmed to fit.

You'd probably get a better answer from a non US source.

[stomachmonkey]

Just stumbled across this.

May be just what you need.

OMG! Simple Mobile

[BeyGon]

I was just in OZ a couple months ago and went to my carrier, told them where I was going and used MY phone all over the country, can you do that?

[porsche4life]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Just stumbled across this.

May be just what you need.

OMG! Simple Mobile

How to make your own iPad or iPhone 4 micro SIM | News | TechRadar UK

Those two links seem to be your cheapest solution....

[Radioactive]

How about getting an AT&T gophone and take out the SIM card and put it in your Iphone.

GoPhoneŽ - Prepaid Cell Phones & Devices - Wireless from AT&T

13.99 seems cheap enough for the phone & SIM, 50.00 unlimited voice, data, text

I am assuming you Iphone isn't locked to your carrier.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Radioactive

How about getting an AT&T gophone and take out the SIM card and put it in your Iphone.

GoPhoneŽ - Prepaid Cell Phones & Devices - Wireless from AT&T

13.99 seems cheap enough for the phone & SIM, 50.00 unlimited voice, data, text

I am assuming you Iphone isn't locked to your carrier.

You need to be careful in the activation sequence or it you'll bork the card.

But it is doable.

[Adam]

Thanks guys! I appreciate all the input.

I bought my iPhone4 here outright, direct from Apple with no contract, so no problems there. I could always tell my carrier that I'll be in the USA, but they charge like crazy for global roaming and I get tons of work calls on this cell - I'd rather not when the time zone is ~7hrs different, to be honest.

The Simple Mobile or GoPhone might be the way to go. I'll check it out, but it looks like I could just put it in my handset.