Hello, basically I'm moving to the US for six months (so I suppose I'm only an expat in the loosest sense of the word) on a university exchange thing, and was wondering about mobile phones. I'm on a contract here which doesn't run out until December, however I will need a phone in the US to call other people in the US without totally breaking the bank. So, would a pay as you go work best in the US?

Also, best case scenario, is it possible to get an iphone here in the UK, unlock it here, then use a US sim in it?

Thanks!

No reason why not. http://www.iphoneunlockuk.com/ works well. Not sure on the new 3G model and whether that'd work here (USA). however you're probably better buying here anyway i.e. it'd be cheaper.

on the Sim part - not sure - no experience with pay as you go here. sorry.

http://www.mycricket.com/ppc/contractplans/

http://www.metropcs.com/

Metropcs would be the way to go if they are in the area you are going too

No contracts on either of the above.

it used to be the case, if you don;t have an iphone already you may be SOL since the new iphone 3g has a different sales model that will lock you into a mandatory 2 year contract

you could obviously buy the old version used....

I personally would use gophone by ATT - nationwide network pay as you go

I have a couple of gophone sims in a couple of phopnes and while the service is not 100% as good as contract, its perfectly serviceable

Thanks guys, I had a look at those networks and I think will have to go with Gophone, simply because I'm in Champaign-Urbana, Il, and doesn't look like it has fantastic coverage. Thanks again!

I live just up the road from there so you have made the right choice Champaign-Urbana Good luck.

AT&T recently announced that the iPhone would be available without a contract. Doesn't look like a great deal to me, but judge for yourself: http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/...cgd=2008-07-02

Do keep in mind that in the US, you pay for airtime, not just for outgoing calls. Incoming calls count against your prepaid minutes.

Not sure if you know this, but is it possible to buy a SIM only from AT&T? I was under the impression that they bundled their SIM's with their own handsets only.

FWIW, T-Mobile now sells SIM's only, without a handset. I believe that the SIM is $10. I believe that they charge similar prices, although AT&T does have a larger network and includes rollover minutes with their PAYG plans.

Virgin Mobile is the cheapest I've found for pay as you phones and minutes. Phones available starting at $15.00 and the network is pretty good.

Basically any unlocked phone will work in the US, *IF* it is Tri-Band, Quad-Band or classed as a "World phone". 99% of the US, typically sign up to a provider with a contract, however it is possible to buy "Pay as you go" or "Go Phones" here in the US, which includes a SIM to a provider such as AT&T.

Personally I would buy a nice phone in the UK (The US mobile market is years behind the UK), and then buy a cheap $20 Pay as you Go phone here, and use its SIM in your nice phone.

I`ve been living in the states 9 years, and I still buy phones in the UK, and use them this way.

I have a virgin PAYG with $4 on it if you want that ...... (you have to put $20 every 90 days on it to keep the phone active) .... I only bought it to tide me over until the new iphone came out .. I also have a nokia E63 that will be going on ebay soon (complete with "Tom Tom" sat nav and USA/Canadian maps.) .. It's locked to O2 in the UK but works with my UK Virgin sim, I need to try and get it unlocked before selling it in the USA ...

Paul

Hmmm...go phones sound ok then. My wife has a perfectly serviceable Samsnug E770 for which we recently got a new battery and I have a Nokia 6320, both in good working order. They are both tri-band phones and on T-mobile right now, but when we last visited the area we will be in (at least initially) there was no T-Mobile signal whatsoever there.

Maybe I'll check out AT&T's coverage in that area.

{Edit} Seems you can get refurb phones for $4.99 - so just take the sim out and put in ours...I guess?{/Edit}

Does anyone know if international texts come off your airtime credit (I presume not), and how much a text to from the UK costs? I presume you pay to receive UK texts also?

At@t texts are 50c to recieve and send. if you take your cell to the UK on the International plan.

Then you should be able to use either of those tri-band phones, as long as you get them unlocked. Remember TMobile (UK) and TMobile (US) are two separate networks, and do not recongise subscribers from the other network. TMobile doesnt appear to be as big in the US as it is in the UK and they tend to lease their towers from other providers. That being said I`ve never had a problem finding TMobile service in the Baltimore area, however this will likely vary depending where you are. So Yeah as long as your able to get a Sim, just drop it in your unlocked UK Phone, or just buy a GoPhone here and use that if you dont mind using an outdated phone.