Cell phones?

[Beck]

So I'm getting on a plane to the States on Monday night (yowzers! I swear that just last week, the trip was still two months away!) and I'm starting to think about the list of things I need to sort out pretty fast on arrival. One of them is a cell phone. I'm coming into Texas (I'll be studying in Austin) via a week or so of travel, so right now my plan is to get a very cheap prepaid card when I arrive and buy myself a bit of time to figure out what will actually work for me longer-term, in terms of usage, budget, coverage in the area, etc.

However, I'm using the process of researching the first two as a way of putting off packing .. and I'm kinda lost and confused. Can someone give me a rundown of US Cell Phones For Dummies Australians? What's this 'minutes' thing?

And a related question - I'm bringing my non-carrier-locked iPhone with me - how prevalent is public wireless in the States? Would I get away without data on my phone, just relying on wireless? (And yup ... I know this is likely to be geographically dependent. But maybe somebody can give specific advice.)

[GradHopeful31]

Honestly, PUBLIC wireless is not that prevalent in the US. You will be able to get it in certain places such as airports, libraries, etc. It is pretty prevalent on college campuses, though, so living in Austin might be helpful in that you might get it often enough. But, you can't rely on much because a lot of places that have wireless require you to have a password to get on the wireless. It really depends.

Minutes are the number of minutes you use when you are on the phone. Let's say I had a phone convo with a friend that was 32 minutes and 30 seconds long, that would be 32.5 minutes. However, most phone companies have free nights and weekends at this point, so no matter how long you talk on the phone it doesn't count towards your monthly "minutes". Also, a lot of phone companies have free minutes if you are talking to someone with the same provider (i.e. Verizon). These are all important things to consider when you are getting a phone plan. If you are going to be calling home a lot, though, you will want to look at the International Phone plans and see how they work their minutes/costs. I am sure some companies are much better in this regard than others. I went abroad for 4 months a year ago and Verizon had a plan that was pretty cheap for my mom to get when she called me but I don't remember details...Sorry!

Hope this helps at least a little!

[Beck]

Minutes are the number of minutes you use when you are on the phone. Let's say I had a phone convo with a friend that was 32 minutes and 30 seconds long, that would be 32.5 minutes. However, most phone companies have free nights and weekends at this point, so no matter how long you talk on the phone it doesn't count towards your monthly "minutes".

Dumb question time: is it just your outgoing calls that count towards your minutes? I had a weird conversation once with an American friend who was here and using a prepaid phone card, and she all but hung up on me because she was worried about running out the 'minutes'. Catch is, our call amounts are measured in $ and only charged to the person calling, and I'd called her, so it would've had no effect in Oz. Is that true there, too.

Hope this helps at least a little!

Totally does! Thank you! I'm so over asking totally obvious questions.

I spent my whole afternoon setting up a webcam and teaching my parents how to use Skype, so hopefully the international calls can be kept to a reasonable level!

Edited July 22, 2010 by Beck

[zilch]

coffee shops will also generally have free wifi however it will be an unsecured network.

generally both incoming and outgoing calls will count towards your minutes. There are a few providers that have free incoming calls (US Cellular is the only one I can think of off of the top of my head)

One additional thing to watch out for is that carriers in the US can be either CDMA or GSM so you have to make sure that the carrier supports your unlocked phone.

I would recommend looking at AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint-Nextel and Verizon to start.

[ezypeezy]

http://www.consumersearch.com/cell-phone-plans

Consumer Search is a good place to start looking. It analyses reviews written by other sites.

[prolixity]

You'll find many more WiFi hotspots in the USA than in Europe, but I have no clue how this relates to the prevalence in Australia.

Most college campuses are completely covered (I'm writing this in the middle of a park).

[VictorianTess]

Some companies also offer unlimited texting with your prepaid cell. This doesn't use any of your minutes.

Many McDonald's also have free wifi. I'm in a McDonald's right off campus (Texas A&M, about 1 1/2 hours from Austin). Half of the place is a regular McDonald's and the other half is a study area with plenty of plugs for laptops. I would imagine you'll find something similar near UT.

[timuralp]

coffee shops will also generally have free wifi however it will be an unsecured network.

That doesn't really matter.

Anywho, here's the map of some Austin hotspots: http://hotspotr.com/wifi/map/14-austin-tx Keep in mind this is not a full map and there's probably a bunch of open APs setup by random people. Also, Starbucks now has free wi-fi as well, which should help. Personally, I find that in a city, like Austin, I'd be able to find some sort of open wifi within a few blocks of where I am.

With the providers, I'd ask other people around you what their experience is with coverage. Some are pretty bad in a certain locations. The prepaid card idea is good. I bought one from T-Mobile before and it was pretty cheap and convenient.

Edited July 22, 2010 by timuralp

[red_crayons]

I'm a big tech nerd. Another caveat I didn't notice in this thread:

NETWORKS.

There are 2 kinds of cell networks in the states. Phones built for one don't work on the other. iPhones only work on ATT and T-Mobile.

ATT: half-assed coverage, but everywhere

T-Mobile: excellent coverage in most big cities, but leave downtown and you're stuck with no reception. AT ALL. Even in medium cities near the big city.

You might have trouble convincing a carrier to let you use all your phone's features on their network. In the US, ATT has a stranglehold on iPhones, and controls what you can do on them, and would prefer to you off the network if your phone is unlocked. T-Mobile... I'm not sure how readily they accept customers with unlocked iPhones? Try one of the many online iPhone forums - maybe Apple Insider? - to find out how to deal with this.

The iPhone is a very special case as far as carriers go in the US, so advice from someone with a similar experience will go a long way.

You'll be required to have a data plan on ATT, just by virtue of the fact that you own an iPhone. I doubt that you would be able set up prepaid calling at all with ATT. I'm not sure about T-Mobile. You'll probably pay in the $80-$130 range per month, and voice/data will be bundled. Texting will be an extra $20 on top of your voice/data, but optional (but not really, who can live without texting?!?). Some universities have arrangements with certain carriers to off discounts on monthly service, which can help.

Smartphone service is the US is subpar, restrictive, and expensive. Good luck...

[timuralp]

I doubt that you would be able set up prepaid calling at all with ATT. I'm not sure about T-Mobile. You'll probably pay in the $80-$130 range per month, and voice/data will be bundled. Texting will be an extra $20 on top of your voice/data, but optional (but not really, who can live without texting?!?). Some universities have arrangements with certain carriers to off discounts on monthly service, which can help.

Smartphone service is the US is subpar, restrictive, and expensive. Good luck...

But... when you setup pay as you go, you just buy a sim card and throw it in. I'm not sure how/why they would know/care you're using an iPhone vs any other phone.

[fuzzylogician]

But... when you setup pay as you go, you just buy a sim card and throw it in. I'm not sure how/why they would know/care you're using an iPhone vs any other phone.

My pay as you go ATT sim card didn't work when I tried to put in my own (unlocked) phone, then also didn't work when I put it back in the original crap phone I got it with. I had to go back to the store, where they "fixed" it but said I could only use the ATT phone, not one I got elsewhere. I still think it's a scam but since I only have the phone for emergencies anyway I decided I didn't care enough to find out who I need to yell at to get it fixed. Make sure the sim is transferable before you buy it.

[Bumblebee]

My pay as you go ATT sim card didn't work when I tried to put in my own (unlocked) phone, then also didn't work when I put it back in the original crap phone I got it with. I had to go back to the store, where they "fixed" it but said I could only use the ATT phone, not one I got elsewhere. I still think it's a scam but since I only have the phone for emergencies anyway I decided I didn't care enough to find out who I need to yell at to get it fixed. Make sure the sim is transferable before you buy it.

This issue with the sim card, does it happen when you get a contract too? My father has given me an unlocked HTC phone that I plan to take with me and use with a US carrier. I was thinking of ATT since I get a discount through the university and it's GSM (same as phones here in Europe).

[dant.gwyrdd]

This issue with the sim card, does it happen when you get a contract too? My father has given me an unlocked HTC phone that I plan to take with me and use with a US carrier. I was thinking of ATT since I get a discount through the university and it's GSM (same as phones here in Europe).

Don't pretty much all modern-day carriers use GSM? The main difference between the US and Europe in that regard is that they use different GSM frequencies--specifically, most providers in Europe work on GSM 900/1800 while in the US most of them use GSM 850/1900. The problem arises if your phone can only work on one set of frequencies, i.e., you can't use a dual-band European-market GSM 900/1800 phone in the States since it won't support the GSM frequencies used in the US and vice versa. However, a lot of phones nowdays are quad-band, meaning they support all four frequencies and can thus be used either in the US or in Europe--you just need to check that in your phone specifications.

My pay as you go ATT sim card didn't work when I tried to put in my own (unlocked) phone, then also didn't work when I put it back in the original crap phone I got it with. I had to go back to the store, where they "fixed" it but said I could only use the ATT phone, not one I got elsewhere. I still think it's a scam but since I only have the phone for emergencies anyway I decided I didn't care enough to find out who I need to yell at to get it fixed. Make sure the sim is transferable before you buy it.

Maybe it's not a scam, but simply a case of low-level support not really knowing how stuff works. I used a pre-paid ATT card in my locked ATT phone, unlocked ATT phone and unlocked non-ATT phone and it worked just fine in all of them.

Edited July 23, 2010 by dant.gwyrdd

[Bumblebee]

Don't pretty much all modern-day carriers use GSM? The main difference between the US and Europe in that regard is that they use different GSM frequencies--specifically, most providers in Europe work on GSM 900/1800 while in the US most of them use GSM 850/1900. The problem arises if your phone can only work on one set of frequencies, i.e., you can't use a dual-band European-market GSM 900/1800 phone in the States since it won't support the GSM frequencies used in the US and vice versa. However, a lot of phones nowdays are quad-band, meaning they support all four frequencies and can thus be used either in the US or in Europe--you just need to check that in your phone specifications.

I think some carriers in the US don't use GSM. Verizon, for example, uses a different one (CDMA or somthing like that). That's why the Nexus One, for example, cannot be used with Verizon. It needs to be adapted. At least, that's what I've been told.

[fuzzylogician]

This issue with the sim card, does it happen when you get a contract too? My father has given me an unlocked HTC phone that I plan to take with me and use with a US carrier. I was thinking of ATT since I get a discount through the university and it's GSM (same as phones here in Europe).

I've used my own phone with pay as you go sim cards in different European countries and it worked fine, but not with the American one. I think, as others have said, that though ATT uses GSM, the technology is somehow different. I never had a contract, though. I don't like using phones if I don't have to so I only keep one for emergencies. Anyway, the worst thing that could happen is you have to buy a new phone, but there are cheap ones out there (I think the cheapest I saw was $25, including 25 minutes) and with all the moving expenses that's not going to matter hugely. To save time bring the phone you want to be using with you when you buy the card and make sure the sim works right when you buy it. Save the time of having to return to the store.

[timuralp]

Don't pretty much all modern-day carriers use GSM?

No: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_mobile_phone_companies

With the sim card, I would then just look at T-Mobile, because I used their prepaid card with the G1 dev phone, a windows mobile phone, and an old nokia phone. All of those worked fine.

[zilch]

pay as you go is nice and can be much cheaper than a monthly plan if you don't use your phone that much. However if you want data, you're pretty much stuck with plan.

Regarding the GSM frequencies, the owner's manual should be able to tell you what your phone can handle.

Sprint, Verizon, US Cellular, and Virgin Mobile are CDMA so if you're using an unlocked iphone those carriers will not support it.

T-Mobile and AT&T are the 2 major providers that use GSM. There are a plethora of smaller carriers but you'll need to investigate coverage area.

sim cards can be locked (probably just some form of encrypted password), when I switched carriers and wanted to keep my phone number I had to get them to unlock the sim card.

[Beck]

Hmmm. I find all this really kinda strange. Band thing, no drama. But this only-works-with-two-carriers, only-works-on-contracts, no-prepaid-data thing is nuts.

I could understand - but still not like - the idea that a phone company could tell me I had to have a data plan if I had an iPhone that they were subsidising (it's true here, too), given that it's partly theirs until you finish paying it off. But I own mine outright! It's mine! I bought it, unlocked, from Apple! It's crazy to me that a phone company can tell me how to use it under those circumstances.

I'll be cut if I wind up with a choice between treating my iPhone like a super-expensive iPod and carting round a cheap phone, or spending a bomb on some OTT plan. Ugh.

Oh well - I guess I'll see how it all plays out next week.

Thanks to all for your help.

[anthropologygeek]

If you own the iphone outright you don't have to pay for data but then you could only use data over wifi

[intextrovert]

You don't have to have a data plan if you have an iPhone - I have a friend who doesn't. The contract thing, though, is true. Here's a really interesting article about the insane cell phone plan system we have here in the USA: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/business/15price.html

I have an iPhone as well. Basically, you need AT&T, which people complain about but I think works fine, and should expect to pay about $60 a month if you don't get data. You'll get free nights and weekends and free anytime calls to other AT&T users. Data plans are great, but if you can cope with only having internet at home and certain places on campus, then you'll be fine without. Good luck!

Hmmm. I find all this really kinda strange. Band thing, no drama. But this only-works-with-two-carriers, only-works-on-contracts, no-prepaid-data thing is nuts.

I could understand - but still not like - the idea that a phone company could tell me I had to have a data plan if I had an iPhone that they were subsidising (it's true here, too), given that it's partly theirs until you finish paying it off. But I own mine outright! It's mine! I bought it, unlocked, from Apple! It's crazy to me that a phone company can tell me how to use it under those circumstances.

I'll be cut if I wind up with a choice between treating my iPhone like a super-expensive iPod and carting round a cheap phone, or spending a bomb on some OTT plan. Ugh.

Oh well - I guess I'll see how it all plays out next week.

Thanks to all for your help.

Edited July 24, 2010 by intextrovert

[Bumblebee]

Ok! Thank you all for your advice. I'll bring my cell phone with me when I go to get the contract in order to check whether the sim card works. And thanks intextrovert for the article. It was nice seeing that I'm not the only person who thinks that the cell phone system in the US is insane . I thought it was just a matter of cultural difference with the way things are done in Europe, but apparently more Americans agree with this.

Edited July 26, 2010 by Bumblebee

[Beck]

Well, getting a phone number turned out to be pretty painless. Just walked on into the T-mobile shop near my hotel and walked out ten minutes later with a functioning mobile - sweet! The girls at the counter had me try the sim card out before activating it without me asking, too. Easy. I just went with a prepaid thing to start, with the idea being to switch once I've figured out how my phone usage corresponds to the billing system (mostly this 'inbound calls matter' thing).

I'm actually almost disappointed that it didn't take longer. Waiting around for the six hours between when I had to check out of the hotel and when I have to report back to the airport for my next flight is BORING.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Beck