Mobile (cell) phones - to rent or buy?

This query is probably more for the non-Americans...

My family and are visiting the USA (from Australia) 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 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
...
This query is probably more for the non-Americans...

My family and are visiting the USA (from Australia) 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 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?

The airport would not be the best place to buy it. If you have a tri-band
phone it may work here in the US. You may want to check out some electronic
stores to see what your options are. There are mobile phone booths at every
shopping mall. Also check electronic stores such as Best Buy.


Thanks,

Dom

"Dominic Kelly" crawled to the
nearest keyboard and summoned the courage to write:

This query is probably more for the non-Americans...

My family and are visiting the USA (from Australia) 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 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?

GSM is not the dominant cell phone technology in the US, so your
tri-band phone will have some gaps in its coverage. Furthermore SIM
packs are not as commonly available as in many other countries.

Probably your best bet is to buy a Virgin Mobile phone. Virgin Mobile
is a reseller of the Sprint PCS network. Coverage is good in cities
and along major highways but spotty elsewhere.

Sorry, I don't know if prepaid phones are available at LAX but they
are widely available from the major discount chains (WalMart, Target,
KMart, and so on).



--
Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you mad. (Aldous Huxley)

On Sat, 06 Mar 2004 01:50:58 GMT, (Charles
Hawtrey) wrote:

GSM is not the dominant cell phone technology in the US, so your
tri-band phone will have some gaps in its coverage. Furthermore SIM
packs are not as commonly available as in many other countries.

Not only that, the only prepaid SIM card (that I know of) is provided
by T-Mobile and is rather pricey. I tried it once, but then went back
to international roaming, even though that is not very satisfactory
either.

Probably your best bet is to buy a Virgin Mobile phone. Virgin Mobile
is a reseller of the Sprint PCS network. Coverage is good in cities
and along major highways but spotty elsewhere.

Sorry, I don't know if prepaid phones are available at LAX but they
are widely available from the major discount chains (WalMart, Target,
KMart, and so on).

Do you have any idea how much one of these would cost? And the
approximate cost of calls? I remember that the 60 dollars worth of
calls I had on my T-Mobile SIM card got used up in less than a week,
although that would last me months at home in Italy. Partly it was the
cost of overseas calls, partly the fact that I had to pay for incoming
as well as outgoing calls.

--------
Barbara Vaughan

My email address is my first initial followed by my last name at libero dot it.

B crawled to the nearest keyboard and summoned
the courage to write:

Probably your best bet is to buy a Virgin Mobile phone. Virgin Mobile
is a reseller of the Sprint PCS network. Coverage is good in cities
and along major highways but spotty elsewhere.

Sorry, I don't know if prepaid phones are available at LAX but they
are widely available from the major discount chains (WalMart, Target,
KMart, and so on).

Do you have any idea how much one of these would cost? And the
approximate cost of calls? I remember that the 60 dollars worth of
calls I had on my T-Mobile SIM card got used up in less than a week,
although that would last me months at home in Italy. Partly it was the
cost of overseas calls, partly the fact that I had to pay for incoming
as well as outgoing calls.

Yes, we have a Virgin Mobile phone for the kids so are well aware of
the costs. The cheapest model presently available is $69 although
occasionally there are special deals. If you're really looking to cut
costs there are used ones availabale on Ebay for $20 or so. You don't
have to re-register to a local number since there are no roaming
charges on VM.

Domestic per minute charges are $0.25 for the first 10 minutes on any
day then $0.10/minute thereafter for calls on the same day (the day
starts at 0500 in the locale where the phone is registered).
International calls are $0.75/minute with no "bulk discount". As with
almost all US mobile phones you are charged for incoming calls -- only
recently are plans beginning to become available that allow free
incoming calls. Service is valid for 90 days from the date of your
most recent top-up.

I have a T-Mobile contract phone and really like it, but you are
correct that their prepaid service is not a good value.


--
Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you mad. (Aldous Huxley)

"B Vaughan" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 06 Mar 2004 01:50:58 GMT, (Charles

Do you have any idea how much one of these would cost? And the
approximate cost of calls? I remember that the 60 dollars worth of
calls I had on my T-Mobile SIM card got used up in less than a week,
although that would last me months at home in Italy. Partly it was the
cost of overseas calls, partly the fact that I had to pay for incoming
as well as outgoing calls.

CallPlus and Tracfone can be between 19 and 50 cents per minute depending on
the size of refill card you buy. Callplus is a better deal because it
includes free roaming and free long distance (including internationally for
many countries). Tracfone charges twice the regular rate for roaming off
their partner (usually AT&T).

"Charles Hawtrey" wrote in message
...

Probably your best bet is to buy a Virgin Mobile phone. Virgin Mobile
is a reseller of the Sprint PCS network. Coverage is good in cities
and along major highways but spotty elsewhere.

This is not a good idea if they are on vacation and apt to visit places off
the beaten path, i.e. national parks, etc. Virgin doesn't allow off-Sprint
roaming, even at extra cost. Sprint's network is adequate in metro areas,
but not eleswhere.

Sorry, I don't know if prepaid phones are available at LAX but they
are widely available from the major discount chains (WalMart, Target,
KMart, and so on).

This is true. TracFone is probably the least trouble to acquire as it's sold
in stores, though CallPlus is a better deal in terms of rates.

AT&T is heavily promoting their "GOPhone", a prepaid cellular, available
in many stores and possibly online. I believe they can be found at
attwireless.com.

Thanks everyone for your responses - they've been most helpful.

Dom
"Dominic Kelly" wrote in message
...
This query is probably more for the non-Americans...

My family and are visiting the USA (from Australia) 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 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
...
This query is probably more for the non-Americans...

My family and are visiting the USA (from Australia) 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 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?

First, forget about renting. And buying at the airport is a sure way to get
ripped off.

Second, if you are driving around the country then you will definitely want
to buy a phone that supports AMPS. GSM coverage in the U.S. is poor once you
get outside the city. I.e., in places like National Parks, you'll have no
coverage on GSM, you may have TDMA or CDMA coverage in some cases, but
you'll often have AMPS coverage from towers outside the park. In Alaska
there is no GSM coverage except for one small island.

Avoid T-Mobile, Virgin, and Cingular prepaid, none of these support AMPS on
prepaid.

Options
----------
TracFone. Sold in many department stores, drug stores, hardware stores,
office supply stores, convenience stores, and supermarkets. Usually a
TDMA/AMPS phone, though in a few areas supposedly they sell CDMA/AMPS
phones.
http://tracfone.com/.
This will be the easiest thing to do. Also sold on-line if you have a place
that it can be shipped to in the U.S..
20 cents to 50 cents per minute. Probably the lowest initial cost, their
phones usually sell for $70-80. Not too bad on airtime with the larger value
refills.

You can sign up for the OLD AT&T TDMA/AMPS prepaid plan (Free-to-Go). NOT
the GSM-only go-phone. Be certain NOT to sign up for the "go-phone" as
coverage is poor. See: "http://www.1800mobiles.com/3361.html" It isn't clear
if AT&T Wireless is still selling this in their stores, it's not on their
own web site. 22-85 cents/minute.

CallPlus is an option, but you have to order on-line, and it has to be
shipped to someone in the U.S.
"http://www.ecallplus.com/" though they will ship overseas. Starter kit is
$129. Airtime is between 19 cents and 39 cents per minute. No roaming
charges. The best deal for airtime, especially while roaming. You can use
any used TDMA/AMPs phone with this if you can find one (there are a lot of
these around), and buy just the service.

Verizon Wireless offers a prepay starter kit for $129. Airtime is 30 cents
per minute for calling from Verizon's area, 99 cents per minute roaming, 15
cents/minute in-network to other Verizon Wireless phones. Not cheap, but the
best coverage.

Also see: http://teletoss.bizhosting.com

Steve
http://socalcell.com