I spend about half of my time in the US, half of my time in Europe, and just recently bought an unlocked Atrix 4G with the goal of buying a SIM card for use in the US, and one for use in Europe. The European situation is easy because the SIM card model is the norm there. But, being used to doing a lot of research online before I buy something, I am having a heck of a time finding any information, reviews or otherwise, about SIM cards I can buy in the US, and what my options are. Googling things like: “us sim card reviews” gets me nowhere. Does anyone here have any suggestions? Thanks a lot! Otherwise I’m just going to walk up to a Verizon kiosk or something and probably get a raw deal.
You cannot walk up to a Verizon store and get a sim card for the US. Verizon does not use sim cards in the US. You need to look into T-Mobile or AT&T.
As gazpacho says, only AT&T and T-Mobile support SIM cards, and this is because they are the two major GSM providers. I have the Atrix 4G and IIRC it only supports AT&T frequencies, so you may be limited there.
Are you looking more for a prepaid approach or do you want a monthly contract? I assume you need a data plan?
I could go either prepaid or monthly contract as long as I have the option to terminate it at any time. Ideally it would be something like 2$/day only for days I use the phone, without any other charges to worry about in case I am in Europe for an extended period. I don’t think I need a data plan, at least for now. The Atrix has wireless, which is good for me in terms of data.
I see online, things like ATT or T-Mobile cards for about $20, and it looks like the card is generic – you then call them to set up the specific plan. Is that right? There are also more generic SIM-card sellers like “Red Pocket” or “Pure Prepaid” and I have no clue whether they are any good.
I use an AT&T GoPhone pre-paid Sim card on the 10¢/minute plan on an old iPhone. The sim was free with $15 with of calls. The problem with this is that data is VERY expensive, so I stick to wifi and have turned cellular data off.
Google GoPhone for prices - there is a $2/day plan too.
You need to get this from a ‘real’ ATT store, not a reseller.
Would the OP be able to buy a card on ebay and have it sent to him? I see there are 460 offers on the US site, for AT&T cards, including a seller with almost 30,000 sales and 99% positive rating (I am not the seller). Even though they’d be incentivised to make a sale I’ve only had good advice or no advice from sellers on ebay.
Maybe a reseller doesn’t have the best deal, but it’d be a decent line of inquiry.
Well, I ended up getting the ATT card from usasims. I paid $20, and guess I decide on the specific plan after the card arrives. I have no idea whether I got ripped off, but $20 isn’t too much and I needed the card quickly. Thanks for your help.