cell phone plans

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>Hey, I'm an Aussie exchange student, coming to Berkeley in Spring 2011. </p>

<p>I've got a few questions about cell phones over here:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Does anyone know if I can use a phone from overseas with US sims? </p></li>
<li><p>Are there any short term contracts (e.g. no longer than 6 months)? I've heard about the GoPhone deal with AT&T but I'm not really keen to spend that much. I did find a company called Tracphone that seems to have cheap deals - only there are tons of bad reviews. Does anyone have any experience with them, or know any other small companies with short or no contract plans?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>This is a sort of more general question, but as most cell phone websites keep asking me for my zip code, I thought asking people who live at Berkeley is prob the best way to go... Thanks in advance. </p>

<p>** just as an aside, phone plans cost so much here... in Aus I've got a plan for $250 & only pay $10 per month.. going to miss that, I think.</p>

2

<p>You can use a phone from overseas with US SIMs, but just be aware that they need to be quad-band, because the US likes to take pride in being different from the international community (and thus be real jerks). Instead of running on 900MHz/1800MHz like everyone else, we run on 850MHz/1900MHz, with 1900MHz being more dominant. When talking about 3G, it’s 2100MHz. Make sure your phone is quad-band or else you will have a bad experience.</p>

<p>In terms of SIM cards, if you want to go with a major company, T-Mobile and AT&T offer OK prepaid deals. However, you can also get a really nice deal at:
<a href=“http://www.h2owirelessnow.com%5B/url%5D”>http://www.h2owirelessnow.com</a> (unlimited talk/text for $40/mo, reseller of AT&T)
[OMG</a>! Simple Mobile<a href=“unlimited%20talk/text%20for%20$40/mo,%20reseller%20of%20T-Mobile”>/url</a></p>

<p>AT&T generally has better coverage than T-Mobile though.</p>

<p>However, the two other major carriers in the US are Verizon and Sprint, and they use CDMA. You’ll have the purchase a new phone (to the tune of ~$50), but you have a few more options:
StraightTalk (1000min/1000txt for $30/mo available at WalMart, reseller of Verizon)
Page Plus Cellular ([url=&lt;a href=“http://www.pagepluscellular.com%5DPrepaid”&gt;http://www.pagepluscellular.com]Prepaid</a> Cell Phone Cards | Prepaid National Cell Phones](<a href=“http://www.mysimplemobile.com%5DOMG”>http://www.mysimplemobile.com), 1200min/1200txt/50MB for $29.95/mo, reseller of Verizon)</p>

<p>In terms of coverage, it basically goes: Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, MetroPCS.</p>

<p>With the exception of direct service from AT&T and T-Mobile, all the services I mentioned are much cheaper than Tracfone. You should also look at the per-minute plans by each of the services.</p>

<p>No, there are not short-term contracts. It’s at least 1yr and usually 2yr. Other than that, go prepaid. As for zipcode, 94720.</p>

3

<p>swuhh: If you go to AT&T and pick up just a SIM card (don’t get a phone from them), you will have no contract. The sucky thing about AT&T is that they need you to give them a $500 deposit, because you have no social security number and thus no US credit history. They return you the deposit after a year.</p>

<p>T-mobile, on the other hand, requires you to give a deposit, but you get it back when you cancel your line. I don’t know if you’re locked into a contract though.</p>

<p>Personally, I use AT&T (I’m an international student so I really felt the pain of the forced $500 deposit). I heard about the T-mobile deposit situation through a couple of friends.</p>

<p>I’d advise you to come here, go to the different shops, and ask around. You don’t get this kind of information from their websites. Also, if you’re not getting a prepaid phone, try to find some fellow exchange students and form a “family” to get a family plan. Those are way cheaper than individual plans… I’m paying less than $30 for an AT&T family plan with unlimited messaging, when the normal individual plan would be $40 without any free texts.</p>

4

<p>Excelblue & meakame: Wow, thanks heaps for the help!</p>

5

<p>Haha, I love how you use the word ‘heaps’. Only Australians do that (and one of my favorite teachers in high school is Australian, that’s where I heard it from, so don’t take this the wrong way). imho it sounds way cooler than ‘hella’, which is what you get here :P</p>

6

<p>lol, that’s hilarious! I didn’t know only Australians said that xD
I love how ordinary things in one place can be seen so differently elsewhere. If only slang would make me effortlessly cool all the time.</p>