Mobile Phones, Prepaid? Subscripson? What to choose and where to buy? ???

What about us European people when we move to Florida with our cellphones?

Where can we buy cheap prepaid cellphones? or is it better with cellphone subscripson with some company? If so, what company(s)? Probably a dumb question, but then again.


Marius

 

Hey Marius
When I worked out ther a couple of summers ago my phone from the uk did work but was obv very expensive so i got one from walmart for about $15 which did me fine. It wasnt anything fancy and I guess now that im going out for a year I will prob get something a bit nicer but they had all sorts at walmart so you shouldnt have a problem getting one there. As for networks I went with AT & T. They worked well for me and I got free calls to other ppl on the same network which was handy as most ppl I knew were on that network.
Hope that helps a bit

 

It sure does I have so much information on my Iphone, and I really need to bring it with me, but I can just buy a subscripson when I arrive right? My phone is open for all networks.

 

Oh yea im sure if u have a fancy i phone u can just get a new simcard or something, i wouldnt want to buy a new one if i had an i phone lol

 

hehehe, I just kinda felt like a bragging jerk when I'm brought up the iphone
but its not that I'm so fucking proud of it, cuz it actually sucks big time, sometimes!

 

I just got a pretty simple Nokia from T-Mobile on pay-as-you-go that cost me $20 with $3.50 of calls included. It pretty much just sends texts & makes calls but I don't really need internet on my phone as we have that in our apartments.

I'm pretty certain if you want a fancy one you could spend a bit more but that's down to your individual choice.

 

Hm.. The only thing I need a phone for is to call and text, I won't be minding the fancy stuff on the phone in the US, its just here in Norway I need it for my work and such. So I'll probably just buy a cheap simcard of some sort. Or one at the wal mart, thanks a lot

 

I've kept my old UK Orange phone and get it unlocked so I can get a simcard and use that.

 

I'm not sure what i'm doing about a phone yet for Florida. I'm doing email/ Facebook/ MSN video chat but for voice calls to UK, it really depends on the cost

 

I'm not thinking of calling home, that would cost me my whole paycheck.. I'm thinking of having a phone to call/text new friends in Orlando

 

I'm going with Virgin Mobile... No contracts, pay-as-you-go... and the shop is in Downtown Disney so I think it will be the easiest

 

America doesnt use sim cards, or if they do i didnt see them being sold anywhere. All the phones come all ready to go, as soon as u buy it, it activates. But I am like 90% positive they dont sell sim cards.

Sorry Marius! I could be talking out of my ass tho!

 

You can get them at the airport.

In terms of phoning home - Skype!!!! It's free!

 

me and my girlfriend phone each other all the time. she is over at disney already. we just buy international phone cards. they work out quite cheap. and you have landlines in your flat. so if you cant skype its not the end of the world if you miss your loved ones!

 

On the international calls front I'd reccomend skype but if you want to use an actual phone, using Virgin Mobile it still only costs 20c a min to call UK landlines and mobiles - likely there are cheaper methods, but even if you used your mobile it won't cost the earth.

Walgreens next to the Vista Way appartements also sells some phones and top up, this summer they were selling a Virgin Mobile phone with charger for $9.95 when bought with $20 top up. Virgin definitely do not use sim cards in the US. It was 20c a min for calls to other US phones (and UK) unless you bought a 'pack' of mins for $20 at 10c a min.

 

so if I take my phone over there can I get this cheap Virgin rate? I'm with Virgin atm (altho going over for ICP)
xx

 

Virgin don't use sim cards in the USA, so you wouldn't be able to use any existing phone which uses a sim card to get the US Virgin network by purchasing a sim card in the USA, their phones litteraly don't have a slot for it. If you were to use your existing virgin sim card over there you'd be charged a fortune for international rates. Your call made in Orlando to a US mobile for example would be routed via the UK (presuming you're British) and back over to the US.

 

ugh - they just don't make it easy do they?
i hate virgin - they are the only network they don't improve the coverage for on VIRGIN trains!!!!!
thanks AJ - that's a help! I think I'll just buy one out there then.
xx

 

I agree that Virgin are cheap, but you normally find the phones that they offer really slow and easy to break..

I would 100% recommend going on at&t..

They do the bundle deals like Virgin do in the UK..

Each month when I was there, I used to pay $9.99, and that would get me 1000 texts (remember though, that with every network, it costs to send and receive, so it takes a text if you receive) In the end though, I started getting the unlimited texts for I think it was $14.99 for the month..When I realised I sent and received alot more than 1000 texts a month..

In all honesty though, I had 4 phones when I was in america for the year, because I kept on finding a better deal..But if I went back, i'd definitly go on at&t again..The deal was that good, the good majority of the people on my program ended up switching to at&t..

It was costing me around $50-$60 a month on tracfone..Which I thought were the most expensive..And this was after buying the double your minutes card they offer..

 

Thanks for the tip... I'm going to check the at&t site now lol