Re: Best mobile phone provider
Originally Posted by lansbury
(Post 12230890)
Thanks
I knew Verizon phones had a sim card but thought that was for use overseas with local sims. Live and learn. If the country you've visiting doesn't have LTE (GSM) or your phone doesn't have LTE then the SIM card will be used to fall back to the host countries 3G/2G GSM network if no CDMA networks are available. That being said, 90% of the time your phone when, being used for Vz in the US, will be using LTE and the SIM card. But it can and will utilise CDMA if LTE isn't available in the region. |
Re: Best mobile phone provider
Originally Posted by lansbury
(Post 12230851)
If you are bringing a phone from the UK the only 2 providers in the US who use sim cards are ATT and T-Mobile.
This was true in the CDMA era, but both Sprint and VZW have LTE networks which require sim cards. |
Re: Best mobile phone provider
Originally Posted by Olly_
(Post 12230859)
All the networks use SIM cards now - LTE is a GSM technology.
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Re: Best mobile phone provider
Originally Posted by markonline1
(Post 12230921)
As well as the quality of coverage, the other big difference you'll notice about cell phones out here is the price. They are expensive!
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Re: Best mobile phone provider
Originally Posted by petitefrancaise
(Post 12230985)
t-mobile phones bought here in the USA will make calls using wifi abroad. A non-t-mobile phone even with a t-mobile sim won't.
Some that spring to mind are the Google Pixel, Apple's iPhone, and the Moto G5 (there are others). |
Re: Best mobile phone provider
Originally Posted by TheKingOfHearts
(Post 12231608)
This used to be the case before proliferation of LTE, to a smaller extent it still is.
If the country you've visiting doesn't have LTE (GSM) GSM is GSM. LTE is LTE. But it can and will utilise CDMA if LTE isn't available in the region. |
Re: Best mobile phone provider
To answer the OP's question; I would initially go with ATT GoPhone's $45 plan for 6GB[1]. You can purchase refills through callingmart.com automatically for the price of $40.50 (no taxes), and add extra data (3GB) for $20 if required. Otherwise, you will be throttled to 128k/sec until renewal.
You don't tell us which model iPhone you have, but if you have a one of the last 3 generations, it will have the required bands for ATT (apart from band 30, but that's not widely deployed yet). Once you're settled, you can then make a decision as to which phone / cell plan suits your purpose best. [1] I don't recommend T-Mobile until I know which model iPhone you have, as without Band 12 (700mhz) support you will have a less than optimum experience. |
Re: Best mobile phone provider
Originally Posted by hungryhorace
(Post 12231729)
Do you mean mobile subscription fees are more expensive? If so, that's true, however if you mean the phones themselves, then that's not true (the phone hardware is significantly less expensive in the US).
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Re: Best mobile phone provider
Originally Posted by hungryhorace
(Post 12231729)
Do you mean mobile subscription fees are more expensive? If so, that's true, however if you mean the phones themselves, then that's not true (the phone hardware is significantly less expensive in the US).
Ten years ago I used to buy unlocked phones for use in the US from Carphone Warehouse because they were so much cheaper than the US. Also the phones in the UK had much better features. Funny how things change in such a short period of time. |
Re: Best mobile phone provider
Originally Posted by markonline1
(Post 12231738)
Wow! Someone got up on JR wrong side of bed LOL. I did mean the contract charges. I've yet to see anything that compares with 3's unlimited data, text calls, and international calls for 15 quid!
1. They're simply better. LTE has been rolled out here for years, and VoLTE / VoWiFi technologies were deployed in the US far before they were in the UK. 2. The quality of coverage given the land mass scale the US has is very impressive compared to the inability of UK providers to roll out coverage to a tiny island. 3. Three (and other UK cell providers) have recently increased their prices across the board. The plan you cite does not exist anymore. 4. Three has hardly any low band spectrum; massively important for successful network coverage. It's why they are still plagued with coverage issues. 5. I pay $50 to T-Mobile for completely unlimited; nothing is even remotely comparable to that in the UK. The UK has gone for lower prices and lower quality. It shows. |
Re: Best mobile phone provider
Originally Posted by mrken30
(Post 12231739)
I upgraded my plan today, to unlimited US and UK calls, unlimited data and unlimited text. Now I have to pay $23 a month, no multiple lines required. :( I do have to put up with using the T-Mobile infrastructure and no short code SMS.
Ten years ago I used to buy unlocked phones for use in the US from Carphone Warehouse because they were so much cheaper than the US. Also the phones in the UK had much better features. Funny how things change in such a short period of time. |
Re: Best mobile phone provider
Originally Posted by hungryhorace
(Post 12231744)
$23 all in? Which plan is this? T-Mobile does support short code SMS BTW, at least on post-paid.
Originally Posted by hungryhorace
(Post 12231744)
Like Starbucks brought good coffee to Americans, the same happened with Apple and the iPhone. Remember, those phones you refer to weren't British, they were Finnish (or Swedish).
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Re: Best mobile phone provider
Ah, fair enough.
Sony purchased Ericsson's mobile phone business remember. I had one of their T-610's; very nice little phones. It's ironic that Ericsson and Nokia (Networks) are now the single largest suppliers of backend cellular equipment to wireless providers. T-Mobile has rapidly built out their LTE network in the US with (primarily) Ericsson, for example. |
Re: Best mobile phone provider
Originally Posted by hungryhorace
(Post 12231741)
2. The quality of coverage given the land mass scale the US has is very impressive compared to the inability of UK providers to roll out coverage to a tiny island.
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Re: Best mobile phone provider
Originally Posted by markonline1
(Post 12231763)
Oh yeah, although I wince every time I see my bill, I realize if you want decent phone coverage in a county this size, you gotta pay for it.
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