Subject: [102attendees] howto: purchase of SIM card(s) by visitors to USA ?

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2018 16:03:11 -0600

Hi,

Apologies for spam, but this seemed a more focused DL than [email-masked]...

We have some friends from the EU coming to visit soon and they're  
unsure about what/how to get SIM cards for during their visit

So i thought maybe I would ask hereabouts to see if any of y'all  
visitors to the US have any recommendations?

THANKS,

=JeffH

---

From: "Peter Yee" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2018 15:10:27 -0700

In all cases, I point folks to
http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/United_States as the first place
to look for information.  That site covers the world and will even be useful
for the upcoming Bangkok meeting.

		-Peter

-----Original Message-----
From: 102attendees [mailto:[email-masked]] On Behalf Of
[email-masked]
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2018 3:03 PM
To: [email-masked]
Cc: =JeffH
Subject: [102attendees] howto: purchase of SIM card(s) by visitors to USA ?

Hi,

THANKS,

=JeffH

_______________________________________________
102attendees mailing list
[email-masked]
https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/102attendees

---

From: Ted Lemon <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2018 18:22:46 -0400

Google Fi?

---

From: Carsten Bormann <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2018 00:25:08 +0200

On Aug 3, 2018, at 00:03, [email-masked] wrote:
> 
> So i thought maybe I would ask hereabouts to see if any of y'all visitors to the US have any recommendations?

Have your guests check whether they already are covered by any reasonable roaming arrangements that may apply.

(E.g., Easytravel for German’s Vodafone simply treats the US as just about another EU country, so the normal home tariff applies.)

Grüße, Carsten

---

From: "Peter Yee" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2018 15:36:37 -0700

Without trying to bog down the 102attendees list with a largely tangential message thread, let me just briefly say that many countries have cheaper rates using a native SIM than a Google Fi plan.  Thailand is one such place, but Canada was not (at least not conveniently).  Obviously, a native SIM has its own downsides.

                                -Peter

From: Ted Lemon [mailto:[email-masked]] 
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2018 3:23 PM
To: Peter Yee
Cc: [email-masked]; [email-masked]
Subject: Re: [102attendees] howto: purchase of SIM card(s) by visitors to USA ?

Google Fi?

                -Peter

-----Original Message-----

Hi,

THANKS,

=JeffH

---

From: Philip Prindeville <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2018 16:38:43 -0600

https://www.cricketwireless.com/cell-phones/bring-your-phone

> On Aug 2, 2018, at 4:03 PM, [email-masked] wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> We have some friends from the EU coming to visit soon and they're unsure about what/how to get SIM cards for during their visit
>

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 2 Aug 2018 20:28:42 -0400

>visitors to the US have any recommendations?

There are two carriers in the US that make sense for visitor SIMs,
at&t and T-Mobile.  At&t's coverage is much better, but T-Mobile is
adequate if you stay in cities and usually cheaper.  There are a lot
of MVNOs that resell T-Mo, and a handful that resell at&t.

Many airports have vending machines selling SIMs from MVNOs.  The
deals usually aren't great, but not horrible and it saves you the
hassle of looking later.

Once you leave the airport, you can buy SIMs at office supply stores
such as Staples, electronics stores such as Best Buy, and often at
drugstores which in the US sell 5% drugs and 95% other stuff.  There
are cell phone stores but they tend to sell one carrier and not to have
very good prices.

If you can find a Net10 or Tracfone kit, that's an MVNO for both T-Mo
and at&t, both SIMs in the kit, same company but different plans.
Net10 is better for short term vistors, flat price for 30 days.  You
can typically find SIMs direct from T-Mo, Gophone or Cricket which are
at&t, and sometimes others.

Note that the main frequencies in North America are 850 and 1900, not
the 900 and 1800 which are common in other parts of the world, so be
sure your phone will work here.  LTE frequencies are hit and miss but
a reasonably modern phone should handle enough of the ones used by US
carriers.

In the US mobile numbers are in the same number space as landlines, so
if the signup process asks where you are, tell them you're where you
plan to spend most of your time so they assign you a number that is a
local call from people who might call you.

R's,
John

PS: If you can see the serial number on the SIM, if it starts with
89014 it's at&t, if with 89012 it't T-mo, if with 89148 it's Verizon
which you should avoid since their pre-LTE network is CDMA which
doesn't work with phones they didn't sell.

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 2 Aug 2018 20:48:25 -0400

In article <[email-masked]> you write:
>-=-=-=-=-=-

Since it needs a phone with special Google microcode and it requires a
special SIM that you have to pre-order, it seems like about the worst
possible option for a short term visitor.

R's,
John

---

From: Ted Lemon <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2018 20:50:19 -0400

> possible option for a short term visitor.

Good point.

---

From: George Michaelson <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2018 11:18:13 +1000

I got a T-Mo sim. for convenience I paid over the odds at the ICE exchange
bureau in LAX, double the street cost of the 30 day tourist sim. This
should be around $USD30.

But, putting that to one side, I got ubiquitous, USA+Canada 4G roaming,
unlimited.  Used it for 3 weeks in Montreal, Quebec, and L.A.

I had a dual-sim unlocked handset, a Moto G4. "it just worked"

interestingly I got a metric french tonne of Georgia Road Authority traffic
update SMS, and some voicemails about a job. I think whoever had the PSTN
number last time left it subscribed to some services. So.. expect some
"noise" on the phone component but for data?

"it just works"

The wikia advice page is pretty good. I've relied on it for a lot of other
countries.

---

From: Ted Hardie <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2018 08:42:57 -0700

> possible option for a short term visitor.
The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL actually support eSIM, so transitioning to Fi
does not require getting a physical SIM at all.  Given the general odds of
Jeff's visitors having that specific phone, this probably does not make a
difference to his case, but worth mentioning.

Ted

---

From: John Bradley <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2018 09:26:11 -0400

Fi requires a US Google account and payment instrument.

I have several SIM and it is possible but quite complicated to circumvent
the registration system.
You could probably get it for them on your account you can have multiple
SIM on one account and they work in IPhones etc but not with all the
special dual carrier features.

T-Mobile has the lowest bar for IDV,  AT&T quite often wont even give a
prepaid account to non residents.
I would go with prepaid T-Mobile based on lowest hassle factor if they want
it in there name or anonymous.

John B.

On Thu, Aug 2, 2018 at 6:03 PM, <[email-masked]> wrote:

> We have some friends from the EU coming to visit soon and they're unsure
> about what/how to get SIM cards for during their visit
>