Travelling to the USA - ReadySim any good?

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#998222 3-Mar-2014 15:16

We might go for redpocket. It is AT&T. Less data but allows top ups.

http://goredpocket.com

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kiwitrc

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#998238 3-Mar-2014 15:44

Timely as I was just about to ask the same. Red Pocket looks ok.

JoshWright

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#998276 3-Mar-2014 16:51

If you were wanting an American SIM rather than an international one, you could try find out if the airports sell them?

polglase

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#998841 4-Mar-2014 14:30

I'm heading over in April as well - had a quick look at this and ended up with Ultra Mobile - http://ultra.me/

The Ultra G plan is US$59 and includes:

Unlimited data (4GB of 4G)
Unlimited US talk and global text
1000 minutes to NZ landlines
5.5c to NZ mobiles with a $5 credit towards this
Free for people in NZ to call me

It's T-Mobile, but its such a good plan and I don't think the network differences are enormous where I'm going (Vegas, LA)

I ordered a SIM from amazon, so its here now and I will activate online before I go...

kiwitrc

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#998849 4-Mar-2014 14:45

polglase: I'm heading over in April as well - had a quick look at this and ended up with Ultra Mobile - http://ultra.me/

The Ultra G plan is US$59 and includes:

Unlimited data (4GB of 4G)
Unlimited US talk and global text
1000 minutes to NZ landlines
5.5c to NZ mobiles with a $5 credit towards this
Free for people in NZ to call me

It's T-Mobile, but its such a good plan and I don't think the network differences are enormous where I'm going (Vegas, LA)

I ordered a SIM from amazon, so its here now and I will activate online before I go...

Do you know if they ping you $59 per month ie can you just get a months worth? It looks to be a bloody good plan.

EDIT: Looks like its monthly but no doubt you can you can cancel it before the renewal

polglase

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#998874 4-Mar-2014 15:24

The plan is to use it for the time I'm there and cancel before the renewal...

scottjpalmer

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#1074737 26-Jun-2014 05:16

Any updates here guys?

I think I will get friends currently in Canada then the USA to grab me a Fido LTE SIM and an AT&T GoPhone SIM.

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kiwitrc

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#1074739 26-Jun-2014 05:40

scottjpalmer: Any updates here guys?

I think I will get friends currently in Canada then the USA to grab me a Fido LTE SIM and an AT&T GoPhone SIM.

We spent a month using the ultra card above, New York, DC, New Orleans, Vegas and out around the Grand Canyon. The only time coverage got patchy was around the canyon, but it seemed a lot of people didnt have much up there eiither. Got the $49 per month. It doesnt auto renew unless you tell it to so no worries there either.

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#1074743 26-Jun-2014 06:25

kiwitrc

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#1074744 26-Jun-2014 06:28

Still have both SIM cards if you want them, just have to change the contact details and credit card (preferably) :)

scottjpalmer

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#1074745 26-Jun-2014 06:37

kiwitrc: Still have both SIM cards if you want them, just have to change the contact details and credit card (preferably) :)

How long do they stay active for?

Thanks will give it some thought.

kiwitrc

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#1074746 26-Jun-2014 06:40

Not sure but it is currently suspended waiting for me to recharge it. I assume a year but just a guess.

profrink

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#1074768 26-Jun-2014 08:26

ajobbins: They are an MVNO of T-Mobile, so I strongly advise you to avoid. Much of T-Mobile's network is based on the AWS bands, and even though they have a lot of WCDMA 1900mhz coverage now, it's nothing on AT&T.

I used T-Mobile directly late last year and found it to be adequate, but still lots of coverage issues especially indoors. I would strongly suggest you got with AT&T or an MVNO that uses the AT&T network.

StraightTalk are MVNO's with BOTH T-Mobile and AT&T. I'm not sure about these kiosks but ordering online you have the option of choosing a network.

Sidestep

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#1074774 26-Jun-2014 08:48

profrink:
ajobbins: They are an MVNO of T-Mobile, so I strongly advise you to avoid. Much of T-Mobile's network is based on the AWS bands, and even though they have a lot of WCDMA 1900mhz coverage now, it's nothing on AT&T.

I used T-Mobile directly late last year and found it to be adequate, but still lots of coverage issues especially indoors. I would strongly suggest you got with AT&T or an MVNO that uses the AT&T network.

StraightTalk are MVNO's with BOTH T-Mobile and AT&T. I'm not sure about these kiosks but ordering online you have the option of choosing a network.

I've also purchased a SraightTalk phone that was CDMA (no Sim) for an area where Verizon was the only option.
There's usually quite the choice.
As mentioned above there can be some pretty bad coverage in places you'd expect to be better.
I carry a couple cheap prepays from different networks as in some more out of the way places there's no choice.
In any major city I'd expect decent coverage from AT&T, TMobile etc

hairy1

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#1074797 26-Jun-2014 09:19

We used 6 red pockets while in the States and had a great experience. Activating from NZ was reasonably easy and they worked flawlessly. Data did stop a couple of times when there were 20,000 in the event we were in but that was noise floor.....

Scott if you want a Sim card let me know. I can drop it off on Monday morning if you like. As a side note I just gave one to a mate and he had trouble adding credit to the sim card. The credit card processing page was giving some random pop-up message and not continuing (on Safari)

Cheers, Matt.

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