Hi guys, I am travelling to the States later this year and want to know your opinions on prepaid SIM cards.

Hi guys,

I am travelling to the States later this year and want to know your opinions on prepaid SIM cards. From what I gather my options are AT&T or T-Mobile, is that correct? Who is the best carrier to go with? I will be in major cities and have an Australian iPhone 5S (model A1530).

Thanks in advance!

Tom

Look into the 3mobile sim some were talking about on here earlier. Ime sure they cover the U.S. with the "feel at home" feature. This allows for around 20gig data p/month

Tom I have been using a pre-paid T-Mobile SIM for my US visits for about 3 years now and have no problems with coverage.  Instead of taking a GPS with my hire cars, I use it for Google Maps and still have more than enough data for mail and lookups.  Originally I was putting it into an iPhone 4 but now also an iPhone 5S, the most recent time was in May.

Simcorner.com is the go! Have used their T Mobile sims with great success! And it is all prepaid, so no plans! 

Globalgig.com.au have excellent plans, but a credit card is required and you have to remember to cancel the plan once you've finished! 

I've used both AT&T and T-Mobile for short US trips (anywhere from 5 to 10 days); much the same to me in major cities. My choice usually boils down to who has a shopfront near the hotel where I'm staying.  I've found more often than not there's a queue to be served, so can take 30mins or more from entry to exit to complete the purchase process, ie dont expect to just walk in, get a sim and walk out in 5 minutes!  If you want to avoid the hassle then maybe follow Trevor's advice.

I just returned from 3 weeks in the U.S. Got a T-mobile SIM on day 1. It worked fine, never an issue with coverage (plenty of 4G and LTE), it was $50 for unlimited calls/texts and 3GB of data. It was the closest to my hotel which is why I took it.

Who is your current aussie telco?

I used T-Mobile on my last trip to Hawaii and mainland USA without any issues, my partner used AT&T buying his sim in Hawaii on the way into the USA, again no problems. Also, there is way more free wifi in the USA than here in OZ.

Hi guys,

Thanks for the responses. I have heard that T-Mobile's LTE band isnt compatiable with the Aussie iPhone 5S, or is that incorrect?

@readosunnycoast I'm with Vodafone and will be away for 23 days.

Thanks.

simcorner for me too. Popped it in in my iphone5 at DFW and all good to go!!

I was in the States in June and bought a sim card from an AT&T company store.

It was on their Go Phone plan , just paid cash and got 1000 minutes of international  landline calls for $10

It took about five minutes to arrange everything and their coverage  in the USA was excellent.

I had 4G coverage and the speeds varied a fair bit but i would use them again

The total cost was $80 with loads of data, put Line app on your mobile for mobile to mobile calls, iits a Japanese app and its brilliant

AT&T  have  fantastic coverage , check the coverage where you are going and decide on the carrier that way

They have a go phone plan which i used and i just wandered into a AT&T  and paid cash with no rollover .

No hassle  , it took five minutes all up . It cost me about $80 for the month with unlimited landline calls within the USA and 4 gig of 4G data and 1000 minutes of calls back home

I travelled extensively in the States mid this year and was very pleased with AT&T  in terms of their coverage.

It took about 10 minutes to sign up and part of the deal was 1000 minutes of calls to Australia landlines for $10

4G was reasonable most of the time and i went through some remote areas on Amtrak and had very little  drop out.

I went to a company store  to sign up and just paid cash.I had an iphone 6 plus