Mobile Phone Contract in the US
 

Hi,

Has anyone any experience of setting up a mobile phone in their name after transferring to the US ?
As I undertand it, it's pretty hard to do this without a credit history.
My other question is how easy has everyone found getting a Social Security Number on arrival in the US ? My wife and I are relocating in October on L1 visas.

Thanks in advance

Griff

Re: Mobile Phone Contract in the US
 

No we didn't have a problem obtaining a cell phone...you could try asking the company if they will accept a deposit if you have problems.

No getting a SSN was top of our to do list...got it during the first few days.

Re: Mobile Phone Contract in the US
 

There are some pretty good "pay as you go" phones (no contracts) out here now. I use TracFone as I hardly ever use mobiles and just got one to have for long trips incase of an emergency.

Amp'd have some pretty sweet deals too.

www.tracfone.com

get.ampd.com

My wife has the Virgin Pay As You Go but I don't like the cost of that deal.

Re: Mobile Phone Contract in the US
 

I've got a Cingular PAYG and it's not too bad a deal. I would try the previous suggestion of asking them to accept a deposit if you want a contract though.

Re: Mobile Phone Contract in the US
 

I've got T-Mobile PAYG, also a pretty good deal.

Re: Mobile Phone Contract in the US
 

Take you SS5 into your local Social security office with all paperwork
sit and wait for three hours ..
http://www.ssa.gov/online/ss-5.html

Re: Mobile Phone Contract in the US
 

As already mentioned there are good PAYG deals now but a deposit will usually work OK for you.

SSN is fine - do it as a priority - to beat the queues try going half and hour before they close - worked here in Dallas :)

Re: Mobile Phone Contract in the US
 

Is one of you going on L2? My husband is L1 and I am L2, and I had to wait until I'd got my work permit until I could apply for my SSN. Mine also took a couple of weeks more than my husbands to come through, but other than that it was a breeze.

Re: Mobile Phone Contract in the US
 

Thats a good point - if one of you wants is on L2 and wants to work I would get that paperwork started ASAP too - if not then you dont need a SSN but some stuff might need to be in the name of the L1 holder (does that make sense?) but you can still get a tax id number

Re: Mobile Phone Contract in the US
 

Its all changed now... L-2 do not need EAD ..

Re: Mobile Phone Contract in the US
 

Really? So you can get a SSN and work legally just on the visa? when did this happen do you know?

Re: Mobile Phone Contract in the US
 

Yes I do know ... One moment ..I will do the research for you

There you go
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showp...44&postcount=5

Re: Mobile Phone Contract in the US
 

Thank you kindly sir! Will mean we dont have to renew the EAD next year for the wife - doesnt make that clear on the officail immigration sites - but i dont suppose i expected it too!

Thanks again :)

Re: Mobile Phone Contract in the US
 

10 years ago, I put a deposit of $300 down to Verizon (Airtouch).

Funny, when I went back to the UK for a year in 1999, I realized I lost all my credit history when I didn't have a "home address". I had to put a 200 pound deposit with VodaFone - now too, pay as you go is the way to go.

Re: Mobile Phone Contract in the US
 

Assuming that at first youre not going to use your mobile 24/7 then PAYG is definately the way to go. If you want to compare a contract with PAYG make sure you take into account the many and varied hidden charges and taxes they slap on your bill. With PAYG you dont need to worry about this. If you ever go over you free minutes allocation on contract they can really sting you very badly.
OF course I would have recommended that you brought your UK phone unlocked with you assuming its tri band and then you can just stick a new sim card in. Some services like verizon which have pretty good deals and very good coverage only have crappy phones which dont use a sim card and are totally locked to the service which is crap. Phones here of course are way behind the UK and Europe.
By way of example I spend about $50/month on my PAYG. When I added pu all the taxes and charges it worked out more expensive to get a contract. This way I can change my mind too whenever I like. THey really like to get people on long 2 year contracts too which is nasty. They often do sneaky things like add in service you never want like holiday insurance etc. They give you one month free and then start adding charges to your bill. They did this to my father in law. If you go contract triple check all the small print!
Also dont forget that no matter what you are charged to both recieve and make calls, which is why the minute allocation tends to be much higher than in the UK. Also free minutes only apply to people on the same network. The free minutes anywhere anytime to anyone has not reached here yet. Beware of charges for long distance and all that crap too. This is why I went with PAYG to avoid all that nonsense.
If you want a contract without credit, generally you will have to put down a $500 or so deposit which they hold for 6 months or a year, which I object to on principle
T-mobile is great in metropolitan areas though not so good in the countryside though.