Best Cell Carrier to Use in the US Temporary?

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waltman300
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Best Cell Carrier to Use in the US Temporary?

Post by waltman300 »

Im a US citizen but im abroad basically all year. I have an iphone and its unlocked and my sim card is the one i bought in another country and use that when im abroad... and even when im in the US. I basically go and add credit to it while im abroad and then use it... few amount of data... and unlimited call text anywhere in the country im at and and also to us/canada etc.


Now... i would like to use a US carrier when im in the US but i rarely am in the US for more than one month at a time. I dont need more than three gb of data really. Does anyone know what is the best plan for this? Basically i would like to use it while im in the US for a month... and when i leave the US and back abroad, i put back that country sim card and use it. Its also much cheaper the cell plan abroad compared to the US.


What would be the best plan for this while in the US? Is it lycamobile/ultramobile? Now what if you want something like two weeks or less? Is there pay as you go and how much is that?


But if i dont add credit to the number after a certain amount of time, do i lose the number? I would just use a brand new number.


Thanks.
Big Dog
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Re: Best Cell Carrier to Use in the US Temporary?

Post by Big Dog »

you really should narrow down the location in teh US where you mostly stay. In my neighborhood, Verizon has excellent reception, but AT&T does not; many dropped calls and the best reception is outside in the back yard. OTOH, when I visited my hometown, Verizon was terrible. My sis said T-Mobile works best there.

Now, you may not care, but to me, what's the point of having cell service if you have to walk around the property or outside looking for a stronger signal?
brad.clarkston
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Re: Best Cell Carrier to Use in the US Temporary?

Post by brad.clarkston »

It doesn't matter if it's a pre or post paid account it all depends on your area of the country and the city you are in. One size does not fit all in the US Telco market.

You need to talk to the local people in the city you will be in.
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Marseille07
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Re: Best Cell Carrier to Use in the US Temporary?

Post by Marseille07 »

Look up prepaid plans at AT&T, Verizon or Mint Mobile. You should be able to enter the zip code to get some pricing estimate.
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waltman300
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Re: Best Cell Carrier to Use in the US Temporary?

Post by waltman300 »

Im from NYC if that matters.
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sperry8
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Re: Best Cell Carrier to Use in the US Temporary?

Post by sperry8 »

waltman300 wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 6:55 pm Im from NYC if that matters.
AT&T Prepaid is $30 for 5GB for a month. https://www.att.com/prepaid/plans/
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waltman300
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Re: Best Cell Carrier to Use in the US Temporary?

Post by waltman300 »

sperry8 wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 7:00 pm
waltman300 wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 6:55 pm Im from NYC if that matters.
AT&T Prepaid is $30 for 5GB for a month. https://www.att.com/prepaid/plans/

Just to confirm. You just buy the sim... then pay that much for the month and thats it right? If you dont renew it for many months... its still fine such as you still going to have that number in the future? Or if you dont add any credit to it after a year... then you lose the number?


Also lycamobile/ultramobile is prepaid as well right? The price for that seem to be a bit cheaper than AT and T.
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sperry8
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Re: Best Cell Carrier to Use in the US Temporary?

Post by sperry8 »

waltman300 wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 7:02 pm
sperry8 wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 7:00 pm
waltman300 wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 6:55 pm Im from NYC if that matters.
AT&T Prepaid is $30 for 5GB for a month. https://www.att.com/prepaid/plans/

Just to confirm. You just buy the sim... then pay that much for the month and thats it right? If you dont renew it for many months... its still fine such as you still going to have that number in the future? Or if you dont add any credit to it after a year... then you lose the number?


Also lycamobile/ultramobile is prepaid as well right? The price for that seem to be a bit cheaper than AT and T.
You lose the # if you don't keep paying. In NYC, I'd stick with AT&T or Verizon or you're likely to have cell tower issues. It's not worth $5-$10 to have dropped calls.

If you want to keep your #, get a free Google Voice # and you can port that back and forth as you come/go.
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Topic Author
waltman300
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Re: Best Cell Carrier to Use in the US Temporary?

Post by waltman300 »

I know people that use lycamobile/ultramobile without much issues in nyc though. So wouldn't that probably be okay?


I actually do have a google voice number. I use it to call/text people when im in the US using wifi or when im abroad using either my wifi... or the carrier sim that i use abroad.


Would you suggest using the same google voice number to port or using another google voice number?
chedv
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Re: Best Cell Carrier to Use in the US Temporary?

Post by chedv »

Tracfone yearly plan. Includes 3gb data, 1200 minutes and 1200 texts for the entire year. $39.99/year

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tracfone-Prepa ... 890.l49286

Just need an unlocked phone to put the SIM card in.
inbox788
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Re: Best Cell Carrier to Use in the US Temporary?

Post by inbox788 »

I still don’t get the price to beat. I traveled to Europe a few years ago and got a card for use there, but was able to activate and use in US before the trip. After little use in Europe for a week, I was able to use it the rest of the 30 days in the US. It was a UK based plan, but good at all Europe and most of the rest of the world. I could have kept refilling it if I needed a world card. The only issue was it was a UK number, but I could use data for my US calls with Google voice or other apps.
enebyberg
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Re: Best Cell Carrier to Use in the US Temporary?

Post by enebyberg »

I've had an AT&T Prepaid plan for 5 years now. I keep the same number for use while in the States and put the SIM card in an extra older iPhone while overseas and set it to WiFi only calling. That lets me keep the phone number and make and receive US calls on that phone while overseas wherever I have WiFi connection.
toast0
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Re: Best Cell Carrier to Use in the US Temporary?

Post by toast0 »

waltman300 wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 7:02 pm Just to confirm. You just buy the sim... then pay that much for the month and thats it right? If you dont renew it for many months... its still fine such as you still going to have that number in the future? Or if you dont add any credit to it after a year... then you lose the number?
Most of the prepaid services will recycle your number and deactivate your sim pretty soon after you stop paying. You'll likely need a new sim the next time, because they don't seem to be able to be reactivated.
waltman300 wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 7:02 pm Also lycamobile/ultramobile is prepaid as well right? The price for that seem to be a bit cheaper than AT and T.
From what I'm seeing, both of those are prepaid MVNO using T-Mobile; I don't have personal experience in NYC to say if T-Mobile is good there or not.
shapeshifter
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Re: Best Cell Carrier to Use in the US Temporary?

Post by shapeshifter »

I personally would go Mint, 4GB plan for $15 per month, prepaid, no contract, and port your number from Google Voice each time you return from abroad. Provided NYC has acceptable level of service, this would be a no brainer.
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JoMoney
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Re: Best Cell Carrier to Use in the US Temporary?

Post by JoMoney »

There are lots of good MVNO carriers to do this with, when I was working/living overseas I did what you're suggesting whenever I was back in the U.S.

One important thing to be aware of, is many phones that work with non-U.S. carriers don't use the frequency bands as the U.S. carriers
Make sure the phone you're using will be compatible on multiple frequencies used by whatever carrier you'll be using in the U.S.
https://www.frequencycheck.com/

I frequently ran into a problem where the phone I was using only worked on one or two of the non-primary bands T-Mobile used, and found my coverage to be quite dreadful (almost worthless). After getting a phone that operated on the right frequencies for the network(s) I was using the situation was much better.
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