{"id":7403,"date":"2010-07-23T13:06:42","date_gmt":"2010-07-23T20:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wapreview.com\/?p=7403"},"modified":"2020-10-06T16:37:38","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T23:37:38","slug":"us-mobile-data-and-voice-options-for-travelers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/7403\/","title":{"rendered":"US Mobile Data and Voice Options For Travelers"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is no longer updated!<\/strong> Please click here<\/a> to read the latest version at PrepaidPhoneNews.com.<\/p>\n

I get a lot of questions in comments on what options visitors to the US have for using a local SIM to avoid the exorbitant international roaming charges that almost all operators charge. So here’s a break down of the easiest and best value options for visitors. <\/strong>As it’s difficult for travelers to order online and  have a SIM shipped internationally, I’ve limited this post to offers that are widely available in US retail outlets.<\/p>\n

Postpaid or paid monthly plans are the norm for most in the US and tend to offer the greatest value for heavy users. Unfortunately, they are almost impossible for non-US residents to get as  a US bank account, credit card and employment is generally required to pass the mandatory credit check.<\/p>\n

That leaves prepaid which is slowly gaining traction in the US and in the process is becoming more competitive and affordable.<\/p>\n

In order to use your phone in in the US with a local SIM it most be unlocked and support the US frequency bands which are different from those used in most of the world.<\/p>\n

The two national US operators are T-Mobile and AT&T.<\/p>\n

\"T-Mobile<\/p>\n

T-Mobile uses the 1900 mHz band for GPRS\/Edge and the 1700 (downlink) and 2100 (uplink) bands for UTMS\/HPSA\/HPSA+. 2100hz is the standard 3g band in most of the world , however for a phone to work with T-Mobile 3G, both 1700 and 2100 are required. As far as I know, the only non-US market phone that supports 1700\/2100 is the unreleased Nokia N8. So your non-US phone will only get Edge speeds with T-Mobile US<\/strong>. This is unfortunate as T-Mobile has better prices and better prepaid coverage than AT&T.<\/p>\n

T-Mobile<\/strong>: Other than a small walled garden<\/a> of free sites, T-Mobile has no data options at all for their traditional pay as you go plans.<\/p>\n

To get real data you have to go with the Flex-Pay<\/em><\/a> hybrid option that lets you use any of T-Mobile’s “Even More Plus<\/em>” post-paid plans on a month to month basis. The cheapest plan is $29.99 for 500 “anytime” voice minutes, unlimited calls to other T-Mobile phones and unlimited nights (9:00 PM to 6:59 AM) and weekends (Midnight Friday to Midnight Sunday). More voice minutes are available at a higher monthly price. (all plans<\/a>) There is a $1.21\/month  911 fee on FlexPay accounts in all states and you may have to pay state sales tax which varies between 0 and 10.75% depending on state (sales tax rates<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Data can be added to any Even More Plus plan for  $10\/month for200 MB, $25\/month for unlimited or $30\/month for BlackBerry BIS.  T-Mobile does not cap their unlimited plans but will throttle service to Edge speeds in any month where you exceed 5GB.<\/p>\n

Unlimited SMS\/MMS is a $10\/month add-on.  Without the add-on incoming and outgoing SMS or MMS cost 20 cents each.<\/p>\n

The easiest way for travelers to get a Flex Pay SIM is at a T-Mobile company operated store. These are quite common in the T-Mobile service area (coverage map<\/a>) (store locator<\/a>). If you are staying in a city there will generally be a T-Mobile shop within a few blocks of your hotel.  Unlike in some countries SIMs are not generally available at airports or convenience stores. T-Mobile lists a $9.99 charge for a Flex-Pay SIM although I’ve heard that this is often waived. Update: Flex pay is being phased out and will not be available to new subscribers after Mar 12th, 2011.<\/strong><\/p>\n

T-Mobile’s data settings:
\nAPN – epc.tmobile.com  (no user id, password or proxy needed.)<\/p>\n

MMS settings:
\nAPN – wap.voicestream.com
\nMMSC URL http:\/\/216.155.174.84\/servlets\/mms
\nMMSC proxy: 216.155.165.050
\nMMSC port: 8080<\/p>\n

\"AT&T<\/p>\n

AT&T<\/strong> uses the 850 and 1900 mHZ bands for both GPRS\/Edge and 3G.  Most areas have both 850 and 1900 coverage but quite a few are 1900 only (map<\/a>). Unlike T-Mobile you will have service if your phone supports either band although a phone with both the 850 and 1900 bands will give you better coverage.<\/p>\n

Except for a special iPad plan, AT&T’s prepaid pricing is pretty bad, especially for data.  The operator recently discontinued their hybrid plans and now offers only pay as you go with a basic rate of 25 cents\/minute for calls and 20 cents each for SMS\/MMS.  The voice rate can be reduced 10 cents\/minute and free to other AT&T phones with a $1\/day fee (charged only on days when you make or answer a call).  Unlimited voice is available at  $3\/day (only charged on days used) and there is a $60\/month unlimited voice and data plan.  Details of all prepaid voice plans are here<\/a>. SMS\/MMS bundles are available at 200 texts for $4.99, 1000 for $9.99 and unlimited for $19.99.  AT&T charges a whopping $20 for  a SIM. There is a 0.20 to $1.50 monthly 911 fee charged in some states<\/a> in addition to applicable state sales taxes.<\/p>\n

Ad hoc data is automatically enabled on AT&T prepaid at $0.01\/KB. The only data packages<\/a> available on AT&T are 1 MB for $4.99 and 100 MB for $19.99.  Text and data bundles expire after 30 days but unused texts or data rolls over if another bundle is purchased before the expiration date.<\/p>\n

AT&T offers iPad <\/strong>owners a free micro-SIM with data only pricing of 14.95\/month for 250 MB or $25\/month for 2 GB.  The SIM must be activated in an iPad.   There’s reportedly a hack<\/a> to activate the iPad SIM with a PC browser with a modified user agent to impersonate an iPad.  Once activated it’s possible to use the micro-SIM with an adapter in other devices. The iPad SIMs are data only, there is no option to use voice or text.<\/p>\n

As with T-Mobile the easiest way to get a SIM and pay for service is at an AT&T corporate store (store locator<\/a>).  AT&T’s prepaid coverage (map<\/a>) is inferior to T-Mobile’s but iPad band users get the the benefit’s of the operator’s much larger post-paid coverage area (map<\/a>).<\/p>\n

AT&T data settings:
\nAPN – WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM (no user id, passwpord or proxy needed.)<\/p>\n

MMS settings:
\nAPN – wap.cingular
\nUser name – WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM
\nPassword – CINGULAR1
\nMMSC URL – http:\/\/mmsc.cingular.com<\/p>\n

Here’s a table summarizing both operator’s plans:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Plan<\/strong><\/td>\nMonthly Base Price<\/strong> (sales tax of 0-10.75% of total cost additional)<\/td>\nSIM Cost<\/strong><\/td>\nVoice<\/strong><\/td>\nText<\/strong><\/td>\nData<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
T-Mobile Flex Pay “Even More Plus<\/td>\n$29.99 + $1.21 911 fee<\/td>\n$9.99<\/td>\n500 Min included (overage – $0.45\/minute)<\/td>\n$0.20 each
\nUnlimited – $10\/month,<\/td>\n		200 MB – $10\/month Unlimited – $25, BlackBerrys – $30)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
AT&T Go Phone<\/td>\n0 + $0 – $1.50 911 fee<\/td>\n$20<\/td>\n$0.25\/min
\n10\/min with a $1\/day fee (charged only on days used).
\nUnlimited voice is $3\/day (only charged on days used)<\/td>\n		$0.20 each
\n200 – $4.99
\n1000 – $9.99
\nunlimited – $19.99<\/td>\n		ad-hoc – $0.01\/KB
\n1 MB – $4.99
\n100 MB – $19.99<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
AT&T GoPhone Unlimited<\/td>\n$60+ $0 – $1.50 911 fee<\/td>\n$20<\/td>\nunlimited<\/td>\nunlimited<\/td>\nad-hoc – $0.01\/KB
\n1 MB – $4.99
\n100 MB – $19.99<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
AT&T iPad Plan<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\nvoice not available<\/td>\ntext not available<\/td>\n250 MB – 14.95
\n2 GB – $25<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Related Posts:
\nThe Best US Prepaid Data Deals<\/a>
\nThe Best U.S. Prepaid Voice and Text Deals<\/a><\/p>\n

This post is no longer updated an comments are closed!<\/strong> Please click here<\/a> to read and comment on the latest version at PrepaidPhoneNews.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is no longer updated! Please click here to read the latest version at PrepaidPhoneNews.com. I get a lot of questions in comments on what options visitors to the US have for using a local SIM to avoid the exorbitant international roaming charges that almost all operators charge. So here’s a break down of the easiest and best value options for visitors. As it’s difficult for travelers to order online and  have a SIM shipped internationally, I’ve limited this … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[85,1001],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7403"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7403"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22604,"href":"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7403\/revisions\/22604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}