Cell/Mobile phones when you get to the USA?

[David And Katie 5]

Take a look at Straight Talk from Walmart.

$30/mo + tax (I hate that "plus tax" thing) gets you something like 400 minutes and unlm. texts.

Free phone if you don't mind having the basic one.

No contract aka PAYG.

Agree, cell phones are poor value for money in the US - paying for incoming text messages SUCKS. Backwards!

[little_g 35]

Take a look at Straight Talk from Walmart.

$30/mo + tax (I hate that "plus tax" thing) gets you something like 400 minutes and unlm. texts.

Free phone if you don't mind having the basic one.

No contract aka PAYG.

Agree, cell phones are poor value for money in the US - paying for incoming text messages SUCKS. Backwards!

Just remember and I may be wrong as it's been a few months since I looked into walmarts plan, but I am pretty sure it is domestic only. So no texts or calls to the UK from the mobile. If that is important then it is wise to investigate that one deeper.

And yes paying for incoming anything SUCKS. I remember when I first met my fiance and I learned in the UK that you don't pay for incoming calls or texts I was like "WHAT?!?!" I felt so cheated and robbed by the mobile companies here

[little_g 35]

From Straight Talk's "FAQ" page:

Can I make international calls from my Straight Talk phone?

At this moment Straight Talk solely offers nationwide services.

I got one word for that, "Boooo!"

[David And Katie 5]

Ah ok. I guess for me that's not a problem. I am leaving my Vonage service here with my Parentals and I will be able to call them for free from any Indiana land line or just use my minutes. Same for them, they will be able to call my cell.

Texting is nice with Verizon/Straight Talk though - you can text to and from an email address. I regularly text some American friends bu <their num>@vtext.com which goes to their phone, and they're able to reply to my email via text. I've told my family they can bug me that way if I'm not on skype etc.

[uklover 1]

Thanks for the replies! My fiance is sorta attached to his phone soooo since some of you have said it will work with AT&T or Sprint, I will look into changing from Verizon to AT&T.

And yes he thinks its ridiculous the cost of our phones and phone plans over here. lol Just another culture adjustment.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Ah ok. I guess for me that's not a problem. I am leaving my Vonage service here with my Parentals and I will be able to call them for free from any Indiana land line or just use my minutes. Same for them, they will be able to call my cell.

Texting is nice with Verizon/Straight Talk though - you can text to and from an email address. I regularly text some American friends bu <their num>@vtext.com which goes to their phone, and they're able to reply to my email via text. I've told my family they can bug me that way if I'm not on skype etc.

David--how will you call the UK free? Does Katie have Vonage landline too? You're similar to us but Nick brought his Vonage box with him. Now all the UK friends and family can call a UK number and get him here. And he set up simul-ring so it rings his mobile at the same time. If we're out, he still gets his calls. And he can use it to call all of their landlines free. It's worked out well.

[David And Katie 5]

David--how will you call the UK free? Does Katie have Vonage landline too? You're similar to us but Nick brought his Vonage box with him. Now all the UK friends and family can call a UK number and get him here. And he set up simul-ring so it rings his mobile at the same time. If we're out, he still gets his calls. And he can use it to call all of their landlines free. It's worked out well.

No she doesn't have Vonage but as long as its a landline it's a local call (I picked a local Indiana number for my add-on US number).

That's interesting though - taking the Vonage box. I figured I could leave it at home then that way I can just called an Indiana number for free (or with minutes from my cell). Otherwise if I took it with me the 'rents would have to spend money on their BT phonebill

Once the Mrs and me are set up in our own place I think we'll get Vonage if we can afford it then it will be free-er to call home and even have a UK number (not that I have many friends in the UK that like using phones).

[hamtaro 4]

I dunno, I feel it might be better being charged for texts. When I was in the UK my boss texted me 5-10 times a day, I was EXTREMELY irritated by it, and it seems if you are charged for it if it happened here you could make a good case for complaining to higher-ups about such excessive texting from the boss.

I got kinda scammed by Verizon because when I signed up for the iphone I just heard "$30 internet package" over and over and thought it would be the same as my UK internet package which was £25, I didn't realise here an "internet package" was on TOP of the base rate. So I signed up for a $70 total, and my husband did not advise me not to because he assumed I'd just know - he was supposed to be there to convey any extras to me that I didn't hear because I'm hard of hearing. Plus I'm super angry about the iphone itself because it has no sim card, the verizon account is hardwired into it. What if I wanted to buy a different phone? I guess that means the verizon iphone is a paperweight with no resale value then? I wasn't told about this and it never even occurred to me to ask - mobile phones have sim cards and I never knew any different. I'm annoyed because I might have wanted to use an android phone on the same account. I guess I won't be able to without 100% disabling the iphone? Just wanted the ability to switch sims easily. Feel like I've been saddled now with one type of phone and I wanted to play around with android. I feel details like "this phone is 100% locked to us and doesn't even have a sim" are details salepeople should give you when you are making decisions about which phones to get. Wish I'd gone with the android so I'd have a sim I could transfer to an iphone later.

Plus - PLUS! Because Verizon phones have no IMEI code it isn't covered by my international phone insurance I have from Natwest with my business account. Be warned! Existing insurance is useless with no IMEI! I phoned Natwest and that was the one detail that made it ineligible, they would have insured it otherwise despite it being on a US contract, because I still maintain a UK business address.

Edited July 5, 2011 by hamtaro

[David And Katie 5]

I hate to say it hamtaro (you never give us a name in your posts) but the onus is always on YOU, the buyer.

Caveat Emptor.

It's the same to a certain degree in the UK too but in the US its up to YOU to find out the information first - no-one is going to hold your hand. I'm not trying to be deliberately harsh with you but I knew US phones (a mobile phone and a cell phone are the same thing) are CDMA and don't have a sim card. Sim cards are limited to GSM networks (UK, Europe and most of the rest of the world aside from the US).

Katie has the Blackberry Tour which is designed as an "international" phone because at one point she was going to come here to live in the UK. As such it has a sim card and the ability to work on GSM networks, but while at home in the US it works on CDMA.

You weren't scammed by Verizon, you didn't read the "fine print" before signing the contract. A contract is a big deal and the basic plan from VZW starts at daft prices. The ONLY way you'd get anywhere near $30/mo is with a PAYG/"Pre Pay" plan. Don't forget, VZW employees are paid to sell phones - they don't really care if they sell you the best deal FOR THEM (there are exceptions to this rule obviously - my best man used to work for VZW and she (yes she) went out of her way to help people get the right deal).

I _am_ sorry to hear you're stuck with an iPhone - not because you're paying for it, but because the iPhone IMHO isn't a good deal Android all the way (says he stuck with a Blackberry). And I'll be stuck with a crappy "POS" from WalMart until I get a good job.

[David And Katie 5]

Fake edit:

There are carriers in the US that offer sim cards, before anyone jumps on me

[hamtaro 4]

I hate to say it hamtaro (you never give us a name in your posts) but the onus is always on YOU, the buyer.

Caveat Emptor.

Actually I'm a trader - a lot of trading law states the onus is on the seller to inform and you can make a case against them if they don't tell you defining details or make sure they understand terms of a contract. UK law's way worse on this too, don't inform customers of their rights and they have a 1 year right of return whereby the seller has to take back the item despite wear and tear or damage - not only this has to pay for the return and refund the buyer before the item is returned. This is EU distance selling law and tbh I think it's collosally unfair on small traders - advise buyer of their rights (7 day no quibble return even if buyer damages your stock, you have to pay for return) and you open up even more possibility of people trying it on. People steal items online using this law all the time (buy new item, swap internals with broken item and send back, trader can do nothing unless you take buyer to small claims court and many small traders don't have the time or money to deal with this.) This is one reason I make the decision to trade in USA, but there's still some pretty draconian laws to protect buyers here, just less ridiculously slanted for buyer fraud than EU. Caveat emptor is a pretty redundant thing in today's markets unless you are a buyer dealing with actual criminals who will disappear after selling to you.

When I got this with Verizon they told me I had a 7 day cancellation period, so they didn't really scam me (hence "kinda" scammed - you don't have to be patronising to me), but overall to me it seems like all US phones are a bad deal (you can replace that with my previous wording if you like). I don't like the inability to switch SIM and use any phone I like, though I suppose if all Androids from Verizon do the same I really didn't have a choice anyway - husband is on Verizon so we would have been saddled with either phone and unable to switch (I wanted both services eventually.) Resolution is what matters to me and the best Android had a blurry picture when I held it next to the iPhone. The next best Android had a good picture but lower resolution. Either would really have bugged me. I was looking at the Casio Android. It had 150 or so less horizontal dot resolution than Iphone. Samsung has better resolution but a blurry looking picture. What I wanted to do was get a phone for apps and games then possibly get the other phone later. What I'm probably having to do if I want Android games is to buy a cheap tablet and just use it on Wi Fi. Don't know if that's possible. As for the $70, again - no other option, you can't have substantial internet use and phone use here for $40 like you can in the UK. Still feel ripped off but I would have had to pay it either way. I wanted the unlimited internet use that Verizon are no longer offering as of July 7th. I've used a gig in a fortnight already.

The main thing that has annoyed me with iphone is I search for a Japanese app and am not allowed to buy it or even access on iTunes outside of Japan even with my Japanese bank account (they only accept credit cards). If I want a game in Japanese not Americanised english the option is not there. This has made me wonder if I should have got an Android phone only to be annoyed by resolution or quality of image. What I am wondering now is how I would go about using an Android device not as a phone because I only want these things for the Japanese games and apps that are on them.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

No she doesn't have Vonage but as long as its a landline it's a local call (I picked a local Indiana number for my add-on US number).

That's interesting though - taking the Vonage box. I figured I could leave it at home then that way I can just called an Indiana number for free (or with minutes from my cell). Otherwise if I took it with me the 'rents would have to spend money on their BT phonebill

Once the Mrs and me are set up in our own place I think we'll get Vonage if we can afford it then it will be free-er to call home and even have a UK number (not that I have many friends in the UK that like using phones).

I see. Nick's folks call a UK number but it was important that his kids, Mum, and siblings all had an easy way to get in touch with no international fees. And we use it to call them too. His daughter calls from her mobile almost every night. I forgot that most UK landlines charge for using the phone. BT is the most expensive isn't it? So did you get a UK number and a virtual number for Indiana for Katie's use? Not following that. Well something else for you to figure out before you leave. If you take the box, then you can drop the Indiana virtual number use the phone to call the UK. The parents probably don't mind spending a few pence to call their baby boy.

[little_g 35]

can someone give me some info on this vonage thing, do i buy it here in the UK or in the US?

Thanks in advance

Jock

and i use o2 international faves 3000 mins to call the US gets me a number to call Genee on and also gives Genee a number to call me, i am sure gonna miss that

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

can someone give me some info on this vonage thing, do i buy it here in the UK or in the US?

Thanks in advance

Jock

and i use o2 international faves 3000 mins to call the US gets me a number to call Genee on and also gives Genee a number to call me, i am sure gonna miss that

Jock?? I thought this was Genee. Are you sharing the account?

If you want a UK version http://www.vonage.co.uk/ My husband uses V Plan US (7.99) http://www.vonage.co.uk/call-plans/v-plan-US/ which is the minimum level if you want a UK number, take the box to the US, and have it simul-ring both the US house and a US mobile. If you don't care about ringing your mobile too, then the 5.99 plan works. http://www.vonage.co.uk/call-plans/v-plan-UK/

For a US phone with international calling http://www.vonage.com/world-calling-plans/?lid=sub_nav_business

We actually have both, plus an additional virtual number. And I don't know why we have all these Vonage accounts. Seems like we should just have a virtual UK number on our US phone for $4.99 more. I guess the ring to the mobile would be all calls and not just from his family on his dedicated UK line. I think we're just stubborn and each want our phones like we had them. LOL. Whatever.....

[little_g 35]

yeah we share the account pretty much like everything else, thanks for the info on vonage

thanks

Jock