<p>I'll be in the US in August and for the next 4 years I'll obviously need a phone.
I see that the US uses GSM. Can anyone just walk into Verizon/AT&T/T-Mobile and just get a SIM card for any phone?</p>
<p>And which of those companies offer the best rate?
Or should I take out a contract?</p>
<p>Thats really a good question because I am in the same position as you. From what I know until know any mobile device (which is not that old) will work just fine in the US (except. if the device is locked in your countries local provider, that means that will only work in a specific network).</p>
<p>Now regarding the pricing, I have the belief that prices between the major carriers is about the same. You should also take into account the coverage in the area you are going for your studies.</p>
<p>These are some things I have in my mind, if I learn anything else I will post it here.</p>
<p>A few things to keep in mind:</p>
<p>CDMA is the prevalent technology in the US and many of the big cellular providers don’t use SIM cards. T-Mobile and AT&T do. </p>
<p>American GSM phones operate on different frequency bands from GSM phones in Europe, Africa and Asia. Your old phone may not work in the US if it does not support those frequencies.</p>
<p>Coverage is not to be taken for granted and can vary dramatically between providers. Don’t trust coverage maps. I took a trip to Ithaca, NY where the Sprint map indicated coverage - I had enough reception to send text messages outdoors and no signal at all indoors. I recommend you ask students at your college about the most popular service providers on campus.</p>
<p>Most American students will have monthly contracts. However, it will be tricky to get one of these as an international student with no credit history. You might have to pay a security deposit of several hundred dollars (1-2 years of contract fees) to get a contract at all.</p>
<p>Thanks…</p>
<p>Do you reckon I just get pre-paid then? $60 a month is hella expensive …</p>
<p>How does Data work in the US? Here in South Africa, we pay lets say R100, which can be used for texts, calls and data. I heard data and calls are separate?</p>
<p>I also heard that if someone calls YOU, your airtime is also used up? how does that work? If someone wants to call, I must pay?</p>
<p>I’m using a prepaid phone and it isn’t cheap either. Airtime is used up when you receive or send calls 
Most of my friends are on a plan, which runs them about $40/month as a few of them signed up together for a family plan, which is slightly discounted.</p>
<p>Your cheapest option are probably prepaid monthly plans (not pay-per-minute). I have a Virgin Mobile plan for $25 that comes with 400 minutes and unlimited texts/web/data. </p>
<p>I have no idea what the oversea cell phone market looks like right now, but I would highly recommend that you get a phone that lets you send and receive emails. So much communication in college relies on emails. Before I got my smartphone, I was obsessively checking my emails on every computer that I walked past. Also wouldn’t want to miss my cell phone GPS.</p>
<p>You need about 300-500 dollars as a deposit for monthly contracts</p>
<p>You guys have it easy compared to the good old days when there were not many prepaid options available. Most international students did not have phones when they arrive for along time except they had lots of money to burn. </p>
<p>Lots of prepaid options are now available. Virgin is pretty good, cheap and very common amongst international students, and would recommend it. AT & T is decent but not good price-wise.</p>
<p>Personally, I think Pre-paid Virgin is the best phone plan because you dont get charged for a lot of crap you see on AT&t and T-mobile.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info so far… That $300-500 dollar deposit however sounds like a *****</p>
<p>@b@r!um </p>
<p>I’m really liking that $25 plan I’ll look into that…
And the overseas phone market, at least the one in South Africa is the same if not better than the US, we get phones a lot quicker because we fall under European region for some reason. Everyone has a smartphone here haha. Heck of a lot cheaper too, $25 can get you 130 minutes a month and a free smartphone. The US’s $60 is going to hurt me :(</p>
<p>^ You get it back within 3-6 months I think. But yeah not worth it relative to prepaid phone plans.</p>
<p>I see these pre-paid options forces me to buy a phone??
Can’t I use my own phone from my country??</p>
<p>Yeah well you could get one for $15-25, except you wanna go for something expensive</p>
<p>Dont know though if your phone would work in the US. Some phones do work in the US though thats for sure. Dont know the specifics on why one works and the others dont.</p>
<p>The $25 plan sounds good … But I don’t feel like paying $200 for a phone when I’ve got a better one. My phone is GSM and it should work if these places, Virgin, AT&T give out a SIM card… So my last questions are:</p>
<ol>
<li>Do they give a SIM card?</li>
<li>Do I have to get a phone from providers, even for pre-paid? Will using my own phone not be allowed?</li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks guys</p>
<p>You can’t use your own phone for the Virgin Mobile plan because they use CDMA phones - the phone itself is programmed to work with this specific provider, with no SIM cards to exchange. </p>
<p>T-Mobile and AT&T will give you SIM cards to put into your own phone. Of course that only works if your phone can work on the American GSM frequencies (different from the GSM frequencies used elsewhere in the world). You can research their plans and see if one of them appeals to you.</p>
<p>Actually, before you invest too much time into researching plans, go to the CC subforum or Facebook group of your college and ask, “Which cellular providers have good coverage in the area?” Cheap plans won’t do you any good if they don’t have reception.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help guys…
Looks like all I have to do is find a T-Mobile store and buy a SIM Card and than just activate it online 
Seems simple enough :)</p>
<p>@ boramk -That is a good idea,getting the T-mobile plan.T-mobile is the best network service provider in US.But may be you need to unlock your mobile to use it with T-mobile.GSM enabled mobile can use anywhere in the world by unlocking it(it it locked) from particular network lock.To unlock it you can get the service from any online vendor like [URL="<a href="http://www.unbblock.com/blackberry/rs18wp8/“]UnBBlock.com[/URL”>http://www.unbblock.com/blackberry/rs18wp8/"]UnBBlock.com[/URL</a>] .</p>