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USA



AT&TEdit

ATT-logo.jpeg

Default data rateEdit

  • $0.01 per 5 KB

More information

Data feature packsEdit

Prices updated as at 18 April 2012 (AT&T announces new GoPhone data packages):

  • $5.00 / 50 MB (was 10 MB)
  • $15.00/ 200 MB (was 100 MB)
  • $25.00/ 1 GB (was 500 MB)

You can start by purchasing the 100mb package, and if you renew with the 10mb package within 30 days you can keep your leftover bandwidth.You cannot renew using this method more than three times. After the third time, you must order the 100 MB package to retain your leftover bandwidth. AT&T PayAsYouGO Dataplan does not work for Blackberry in the US. More information [note: I had GoPhone plan with the 15 usd/100mb option. Maybe that link is outdated]

DATA feature packs are for monthly based prepaid plans. AT&T stopped providing DATA feature packs for daily based prepaid plans according to their web. [note: I have used DATA feature with 10c/min plan and 2USD/day daily plan. It seems this is no longer available to daily plan users.]

When refilling your account, different denominations have different expirations:

  • $10 - $15: 30 days
  • $25 - $50: 90 days
  • $100: 365 days

If you only use your account sparingly, be aware that if you don't top up within 60 days after expiration, the entire account will be terminated automatically (and your SIM will be unusable)

AvailabilityEdit

  • AT&T SIMs can be purchased in their own shops. If you go to a mall kiosk, they will attempt to charge you for the SIM. Instead, go to a brick and mortar AT&T store (Store locator) where they will give you the SIM for free when you put $25 on the account. Do not tell them that you have an iPhone. Nokia Lumina 900 uses a micro sim if you have to give a model name.
  • An alternative are sites like ebay where you can buy the SIM cards even abroad. Topping up can be done on sites like pinzoo.com or callingmart.com
  • To keep the SIM active for 12 months, you are only required to top up with a single $100 topup card (you cannot from what's online, top up with multiples of anything less than $100.

SIM sizesEdit

  • Mini SIMs exist. Micro SIM availibility unknown.

TetheringEdit

Will work on a GoPhone SIM provided you have purchased the data plan.

iPhone specific informationEdit

  • The AT&T sales reps can be reluctant to sell you a pay as you go plan if you have an iPhone. Say that you come from another country (like Italy, Belgium, Canada) where iPhones are sold factory unlocked. That argument usually works. AT&T reps will sell you a SIM for an unlocked iPhone but will not guarantee that you can use it with a data plan -- don't be daunted though; they either don't know or won't tell you how to change the APN.
  • Once you have the SIM you need to set up your iPhone properly:
    • Create a custom APN on a Mac/PC computer using Apple's (free) iPhone Configuration Utility, as described here.
    • Or, if you have wifi access you can download a pre-prepared APN directly to your iPhone by visiting http://www.unlockit.co.nz in the phone's web browser. Choose: Custom APN > Carrier = US - AT & T > Create Profile, then install it.
  • More instructions for the AT&T GoPhone: http://theappleblog.com/2010/07/26/how-to-give-your-old-iphone-new-life-with-prepaid-data-and-minutes/

T-MobileEdit

Pay Per DayEdit

A pre-pay SIM, available in stores. Only pay for the days you use.

Data rateEdit
  • $2 / 24 hours (2G Speeds)
  • $3 / 24 hours (4G Speeds)
  • Unlimited data
  • Unlimited talk
  • Unlimited text

T-Mobile Pay By The Day plans

AvailabilityEdit

Can be purchased in store, no ID needed. SIM costs $10 (comes with ~$3 credit).

SpeedEdit

4G & 3G speeds require your phone to work on T-Mobile USA's frequency. If you have a European phone, you can probably only get 2G.

4G speeds are for the first 200MB per day.


Web DayPass (No longer available)Edit

For t-Mobile TO GO prepaid clients

T-Mobile Prepaid plans

Monthly4G (No Annual Contract)Edit

Data rateEdit

  • $70.00 / month
  • Unlimited data, voice, and text

More information

Unlimited data, voice, and text. Accounts can be terminated at any time at a T-Mobile store, by phone via My T-Mobile or online chat support with a T-Mobile consultant.

You should sign up for your My T-Mobile account whilst in the US because the password is sent via SMS which is not accessible when roaming outside of T-Mobile coverage.

AvailabilityEdit

  • T-Mobile stores.

Store locator

SIM sizesEdit

  • Mini SIMs exist. Micro SIM are supported by T-Mobile US.

TetheringEdit

  • Yes.

iPhoneEdit

  • T-Mobile does not sell and does not support iPhone (at least not in April 2011)


Virgin MobileEdit

Broadband2Go (No Annual Contract)

Data rateEdit

  • 100 MB - $10/month
  • Unlimited data - $50/month

You must buy one of the devices (MiFi or USB Stick). The MiFi costs $149.99, the USB stick is at $79.99

NOTE: Virgin Mobile reserves the right, without notice, to temporarily limit throughput speeds when monthly data usage on the $50 Broadband2Go Plan exceeds 2.5GB.

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband/broadband2go.html

AvailabilityEdit

SIM sizesEdit

  • unknown

TetheringEdit

  • unknown.

SIMPLE MobileEdit

PlansEdit

Only DataEdit

  • $25/30 days: 750 MB at 4G speeds
  • $45/30 days: 2 GB at 4G speeds

Data with VoiceEdit

  • $40/30 days: Unlimited nationwide talk, text, 3G data
  • $60/30 days: Unlimited nationwide talk, text, 4G data

As of 20120202, Simple Mobile states that the data with voice plans have no restrictions in data usage, they will not throttle or cut off usage after a certain mount of data transferred.

More information

AvailabilityEdit

  • SIMPLE Mobile SIMs can be purchased for $13 in their own shops or online.

Store locator

Note: So far name and address are not required to buy a SIM card or top off cards.

SIM sizesEdit

Both Mini and Micro are available.

TetheringEdit

Not supported.

FrequencyEdit

Simple Mobile shared the same cell network as T-Mobile. All unlocked T-Mobile phones should work fine with Simple Mobile.

  • 850 MHz
  • 1900 MHz
  • 1700 MHz
  • 1900 MHz

Warning : Iphones (v4 included) will only operate at 2G but not 3G or 4G as they dnot not support the 1700Mhz or 1900MHz simple mobile network (which is actually the T-Mobile network), more information

Cellular DataEdit

More information --> go to 'Phone programming'

Retrieved from "http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/USA"
  • Showing 24 most recent

31 comments

 
121.44.242.107Anonymous User
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  • Mrgoetz

    I had a very good experience with AT&T. I first bought a GoPhone SIM via eBay for my 3GS unlocked iPhone last year, and followed the instructions above. Success! Top it up, purchase a data plan, change the APN, and off you go.

    Then I let the balance expire and didn't bother with the account until I was next in the USA, only to find that my account was deactivated because I had waited too long to refill it. So I went to an AT&T store. The old SIM for the deactivated account cannot be re-activated; you have to buy a new one for $15. They were fine to sell me one for my iPhone but would not verify that I could use it with a data plan (you can, but I guess they either don't know or won't say).

    Even though it costs a bit more, it was a better experience buying the SIM from the AT&T store, because they can activate it there -- it seems that it may be difficult to activate a GoPhone SIM with an iPhone -- when I tried with my first SIM I couldn't and I had to get my eBay seller to activate it for me. For the second SIM the sales rep had to use her own phone to activate it.

    Some people are saying that you shouldn't tell the rep you have an iPhone, but I had my iPhone right there and it wasn't a problem. I guess it depends on the rep, but I suspect that they'll sell you something if you insist, even though they'll probably downplay the possiblity that you can use a data plan on the iPhone.

    So if you're a reasonably frequent visitor to the USA and you don't want to pay roaming rates, buy an AT&T SIM and you'll get 3G speeds with a data package that you can choose based on how much you need. Then, just make sure you keep the account active -- topping up $10 every three months will keep it from being deactivated (although the $10 will expire after 30 days), or you can pay $100 which keeps the account active for 14 month and the $100 expires in a year.

    by Mrgoetz
    • Mrgoetz

      Ok I take it all back. Now that AT&T have changed some of their policies, suddenly this option doesn't look quite so viable for an iPhone user.

      As of April 2012 AT&T have increased the amount of data per data pack (good) but restricted data pack purchases to users on a monthly PAYG plan (bad). Previously you could buy data packs and use them on the 10¢/min plan which was great if you mainly use your phone for data and just need to make the occasional call. Now, you need to get onto one of the monthly plans ($25 or $50 per month) before you can buy data packs for your smartphone.

      Now, for each month it would now cost you $55 ($25 per month + $15 for the SIM + $15 for 200MB). Whether that ends up cheaper for you compared to your local country's roaming plans depends on how much data you use, I suppose. If you want to keep your account active but don't want to keep paying $25/month, then switch to the 10¢/min plan before the month is up.

      by Mrgoetz
  • 213.0.122.4

    AiTco6 http://www.G1BFQuKyaBbxNAhMRORrhW8axcYq6IH3.com

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 131.137.245.209

    Simple mobile does not support tethering according to the FAQs on their site.

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 99.140.199.172

    will pay as you got sim cards work on a boost mobile android?

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 109.224.136.158

    T-Mobile is a good option for short trips but can be quite challenging keep working. When your $1.50 data runs out its supposed to redirect you to the page to buy more. Sometimes you dont get redirected or data just doesn't work when it doesn't sometimes these tricks help:

    Go in and out of "airplane" mode. Sounds stupid I know but sometimes kicks data back to life

    Change APN. Usually I use: Name: Tmobile usa voicestream APN: wap.voicestream.com with all other fields left with their defaults. (Note I just wanted mobile data not SMS/MMS/...) Switching to this alternate APN (or from this back to voicestream) might help: Name: Tmobile usa epc APN: epc.tmobile.com with all other fields left with their defaults.

    If you when its time to pay you get "Your homepage is temporarily unavailable. Please try later" then try going straight to this URL to pay $1.50 http://m.web2go.com/myaccount/hourpasssubscribe.do I went there accidentally after having already paid and it didn't take a 2nd $1.50

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 141.130.50.72

    Just visited the US with a Nexus S from Germany. AT&T 25$ data plan worked, but only with EDGE/GPRS. 3G worked only on a Samsung Galaxy S. The network coverage in major cities was gread, but in smaller cities (Page for example) we didn't had any data at all, and were only able to use our phones for emergency calls. Apparently AT&T operates a different network for their prepaid customers which is not necessarily available at all AT&T covered areas.

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 93.159.251.2

    I can confirm t-mobile pay-as-you-go web day pass only works every second day. The hotline is incompetent and tells straight lies. For RELIABLE, EVERY-DAY usage i cannot recommend t-mobile web day pass....

    by A Wikia contributor
  • NellieC

    I was in Las Vegas in March 2011 and walked straight into a T-Mobile store with my Samsung Galaxy Tab (bought unlocked). I was sold a SIM with 100MB of data for around $20 + $10 activation and they didn't care that I was only going to be there for a week. Tethering worked a treat and I became a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot for 4 of my colleagues!

    by NellieC
  • 71.229.204.81

    T-Mobile day pass will work only about 2 days out of 5. The rest of the time you get an error message while trying to pay that the transaction could not be completed. This info is all over the web. Called tech support and they gave me some bullshit story about it being an outage today. When I challenged them that this has been going on for at least 6 months the rep leveled with me that it was a known fault and they had no intention on fixing it since it drives customers to pay for the $30 for 10MB plan! Unfortunately I can't recommend ANY US carrier, they are all terrible! Any Europe carrier is better...

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 155.56.68.214

    Was in US for a week and bought a T-Mobile SIM card in a T-Mobile shop. They stated they could not sell me any data plan right away, only something with a contract or for 80$ a month, but online I could purchase anything and load it onto the SIM.

    Bad experience: - the available data plans for the SIM have been really bad, finally bought a 30MB data contract for 30$, much too expensive, but all other options would have been more expensive - a WebDay Pass was not available at all on the web page - better data plans focussing on pure data only available if you online first purchase a device, and then add a data plan - but I had my device and the SIM card already

    Good experience: - I used a trekstore mobile wifi, put the SIM card in, no special settings necessary and it worked after buying this 30MB data plan, which was enough for some chats and some emails... very limited browsing.

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 212.69.53.221

    HTC Desire doesn't work for 3G data in USA because the frequency is different. You'll be stuck on GPRS. HTC make budget phones that cut corners.

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 152.62.109.57

    I'll be in US for 2 weeks this December. I have an HTC desire and would need a solution for data 200MB - 400MB, what would you recommend ?

    Thanks!

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 24.242.215.201

    Virgin Mobile Broadband 2Go $10/100mb is only good for 10 days.

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 70.160.188.147

    I can confirm that the above AT&T data is accurate. If you get the right rep, its possible for them to give you a MicroSIM on a GoPhone plan. 80%+ will tell you they can't, but it is possible. Tell them you have a new foreign phone that takes MicroSIMs, and if they ask to see your phone, tell them you don't have it on you. Don't tell any rep you have an iPhone.

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 85.177.126.161

    Hi can anybody recommend the best solution for data? Im in the US for 3 weeks using my iphone. I don't see a O2 solution Thanks in advance

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 70.56.227.75

    What about net10?? It's worth checking into. Their call prices are the best, their data might be the same.

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 74.212.138.154

    Watch out with Tmobile. I've recently had my service shutoff after 4 days for 'fraud', as they say I knowingly purchased the package even though I'm in the country less than a month.

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 71.106.90.75

    Does O2 come in micro-SIM size or do you have to cut it?

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 68.98.124.80

    You can also use O2 SIMs (from Best Buy) in the iPhone and it will activate the iPhone 4. They do not offer data yet. You don't need to jailbreak or unlock to use this SIM.

    by A Wikia contributor
    • 76.69.67.163

      On the O2 sim card description says it must be an unlocked GSM phone. Did you test the O2 sim on a locked iPhone and it worked? Also as the above post asked do we have to cut the sim for it to fit a 4 or 4S?

      by A Wikia contributor
  • 70.57.37.62

    Virgin Mobile is a CDMA carrier, and is now a subsidiary of Sprint since December 2009. It does not use a SIM card in its phone.

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 151.196.185.218

    any experiences with Virgin Mobile?

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 218.186.10.253

    Some T-mobile reps can be hesitant to sell you a sim if you tell them you're only there for less than a month. I'm not sure why, but we had this issue just last month.

    by A Wikia contributor
  • 66.57.37.3

    Tethering depends almost entirely on the phone.

    by A Wikia contributor
    • 131.137.245.206

      Not sure about that, some carriers say that their plans don't support it (Simple Mobile for instance), not sure how they know that you're tethering.

      by A Wikia contributor
  • 69.114.178.239

    Tethering does not work!

    by A Wikia contributor

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