Keith wrote:
Hi,

We will be road travelling through the western US next month. I have a
tri-band mobile phone, but think that global roaming charges (from
Australian account) may too expensive for regular use. Are there fairly
cheap pre-paid phone or SIM card packages avaliable in the US, and if so
where are they available and what might be the approximate costs? What about
hiring a phone from the rental car company?

You can buy any phone that works on Verizon's network (even older
phones) and activate it for about $10. Then you can buy more time on-line.

You can buy a new Verizon InPulse phone at a store like Target or
Wal-Mart, but it's better to activate it on PagePlus than on Verizon's
own prepaid network. Be sure to buy a tri-mode, not an "All Digital"
handset. I.e., the Audiovox CDM 8615 is tri-mode and sells at Wal-Mart
for $60.

Verizon's CDMA/AMPS network has far better coverage than the U.S. GSM
networks, especially if you're traveling outside of urban areas (i.e.
National Parks, rural roads, etc).

See "http://stores.ebay.com/The-AHZ-Wireless-Store-Online" for PagePlus
activation(I have no affiliation with this seller).

You can probably sell the phone to a future U.S. bound traveler for
nearly what you paid for it.