Comments on: Mobile phone confusion

By: AAron Buchanan

AAron Buchanan — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 05:33:55 +0000

When you get to the states, go to Target and buy a VirginMobileUSA K10 phone for $20 and a $20 topup card. It only takes a few hours to have the phone activated, and you are not tied to any long term plan that you can’t get out of painlessly. If necessary you can buy more block time (by credit card or by buying more topup cards). Usage costs are 25 cents/minute for the first 10 minutes of each day, then 10 cents/minute after that. Text messages are 5 cents each.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 03:31:20 +0000

It’s a good idea, but I really hate texting. And there’s no way Charles will ever text anyone. Still…

By: Garth Nix

Garth Nix — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 23:09:39 +0000

Just get a tri-band mobile phone here in Australia (most of them are these days) and it will work in the US. Then use it to text but not call (unless you have to) and it won’t be too expensive.

My Ericsson T-something or other I’ve had for 2 or 3 years, on the Vodafone network, works fine in the US, the UK, Europe etc.

If you use it for voice calls while global roaming however, it can get very expensive — about $2 a minute. Mind you this is still much, much cheaper than hotel rates.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 21:36:42 +0000

Jay and Chance – Many thanks. Seems like that’s the way to go then. I’ll see if I can source a couple before we go. I think someone mentioned T-Net mobile as covering the East and West coasts pretty well.

By: Jay Lake

Jay Lake — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 13:38:36 +0000

I would tend to say buy two cheap phones here. Your problem will be that most phones come with extended service plans — not sure what to recommend about that. Problem is a lot of overseas phones don’t work in the US (and vice versa) due to our patchwork regulatory environment.

By: chance

chance — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 13:15:23 +0000

The US doesn’t do the SIM card thing, so that’s not going to be a good way to get cheap rates in the US. You’ll probably need to acquire cheap pay as you go phones once you get here.