Mobile (cell) phones - to rent or buy?

My family and I are visiting the USA for 11 weeks starting
26/3. We want to have a cell phone during our trip, which covers many
different parts of the country.

I've been researching this online, and there are clearly a few different
options for getting a phone when we arrive. I'm starting to think that for a
stay of 11 weeks it may well be better to buy rather than rent. Can anyone
tell me whether one can buy or rent a handset and/or SIM card in LA airport?
If
so, would these stores tend to charge more for the same thing than could be
obtained elsewhere in the city?

Thanks,

Dom

in article , Dominic Kelly at
wrote on 3/5/04 8:56 AM:

My family and I are visiting the USA for 11 weeks starting
26/3. We want to have a cell phone during our trip, which covers many
different parts of the country.

I've been researching this online, and there are clearly a few different
options for getting a phone when we arrive. I'm starting to think that for a
stay of 11 weeks it may well be better to buy rather than rent. Can anyone
tell me whether one can buy or rent a handset and/or SIM card in LA airport?
If
so, would these stores tend to charge more for the same thing than could be
obtained elsewhere in the city?

Thanks,

Dom



I strongly suspect you can do better 'in town' on just about anything than
at the airport, especially for something like a cell phone (don't call it a
mobile or they may not quite clue in on what you mean).

I also suspect you'll be better off buying prepaid cards/disposable phones
versus renting. One of the things that may go into the equation is how
much, and how far, you'll be moving around (it sounds like a fair bit),
whether your calls will be mostly local or o/s, etc.

Dominic - a few things you may not expect.
#1. US phone companies charge for receiving calls as well as originating
them.
#2. Your number will be location specific. So acquire a phone in Los
Angeles - and you will get an LA number. All calls outside your local area
are then long distance calls. All calls from outside the LA area to your
mobile will also be long distance.
#3. GSM networks there have very poor coverage. GSM phones are not the norm
in North America - and the frequency their GSM's use is 1900 - so a 900/1800
phone from the rest of the world is useless in North America. Tri-band
phones are OK.

Having said that we used our triband phone in Canada, (which uses USA phone
standards and practices) with a Fido sim, and found it a great convenience.
We linked our number to a callback service - I'd recommend you look at
callback. There are many providers, all based in the USA - we used
CallbackWorld - a Google will turn up dozens.


"Dominic Kelly" wrote in message
...
My family and I are visiting the USA for 11 weeks starting
26/3. We want to have a cell phone during our trip, which covers many
different parts of the country.

I've been researching this online, and there are clearly a few different
options for getting a phone when we arrive. I'm starting to think that for
a
stay of 11 weeks it may well be better to buy rather than rent. Can
anyone
tell me whether one can buy or rent a handset and/or SIM card in LA
airport?
If
so, would these stores tend to charge more for the same thing than could
be
obtained elsewhere in the city?

Thanks,

Dom

"Dominic Kelly" wrote in message
...
My family and I are visiting the USA for 11 weeks starting

Suggest asking in rec.travel.usa-canada


Daniel
--
Daniel Bowen, Melbourne, Australia
Email: dbowen at custard dot net dot au
http://www.danielbowen.com/

Thanks Daniel - I did that too, but I posted here also as I thought it might
be more use asking in a forum where there were more Aussies. There are some
on rec.travel.usa-canada but many more Brits, other EU types and Yanks, of
course.

Still, with the feedback from the two groups I now have some useful ideas.

Dom

Dom
"Daniel Bowen" wrote in message
. ..
"Dominic Kelly" wrote in message
...
My family and I are visiting the USA for 11 weeks starting

Suggest asking in rec.travel.usa-canada


Daniel
--
Daniel Bowen, Melbourne, Australia
Email: dbowen at custard dot net dot au
http://www.danielbowen.com/