Hello America
I am coming from Australia and want to bring my mobile phone; i have been advised that it will work in USA as they told me (i think) that it is three bands and therefore OK in USA. So i thought i could get a prepaid service for it. Any thoughts on which is best, someone told me that the 7-eleven stores sold them , but they would also have to give me a new number to let my friends in Australia know it. I could then use it in USA to call hotels, etc.
Secondly i thought i could get a phone card to make calls from the hotels back to Australia. Any thoughts?
many thanks
arnie

Sorry - can't help you with the phone. But, if you don't mind the asking, where are you going to in the States?

The only two cellular networks that use GSM technology in the US are T-Mobile and Cingular/AT&T.

T-Mobile uses 1900MHz only and their prepaid plan is cheaper, but the coverage area is more limited, especially in rural areas. Cingular costs more, but if your phone has both 1900 and 850, then you may get better coverage.

While convenient stores sell prepaid recharage cards for those two services, they probably won't have the starter kit. You need to find a cellular store to get it, though they are like everywhere I look.

I am more familiar with the T-Mobile service. Their rate is here:

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/d...plancategory=4

There's one other problem. The starter kit costs quite a bit. I believe about $30 that you lose right away. And you may notice that the rate is actually pretty steep. US$10 for 30 minutes is very expensive compared to many prepaid SIMs in Europe and Asia - and that's why most people in the US uses postpaid.

Seriously, unless you need to make a lot of cellular calls, I wouldn't do it. Just use a phone card to make calls. And you can still use your phone with your Australian plan. While per minute rate is going to be pretty high, for a few short calls, it'd be better than getting a prepaid here and immediately loses like $30.

Hello Cvechko, we will go from Chicago to Yellowstone to Vegas to Los angeles.
And rkkwan
Thanks for that.. I will check in Australia to m ake sure we can use these networks with our phones.
I am used to France (where I go twice a year) and I take out my Australian sim card and put in my pre-paid French mobicarte (renewed every 6 months to keep it current; I therefore have a permanent phone number in France).. very sophisticated (especially for the French!). And any calls to this service (including from Australia) are free so it is very handy.
One of the things I must find out.. what is the cost to US cellular phones when you receive calls, especially international calls. If you have to pay to receive calls then there is little point in having one.
Therefore your point is correct, and perhaps I should just get a phone card. Where do you get them in USA and are any better than others?

There are some areas in US west (much of Yellowstone, Grand Canyon area) where there is very limited if any cell phone service. Some of answer to your question depends on how important it is for you to be reachable by people at home and how urgently. Email might serve a similar purpose - we have seen internet cafes in even some of the smallest towns in US plus it is readily available in most hotels, libraries, airpots, etc.

in the states we have sams club and costco (warehouse dry goods and bulk grocery) with very cheap phone cards. perhaps you have something similiar in australia. be sure you buy a card that says it allows international use on it. don't use it at a pay phone to avoid extra mins fee. add as many mins as the card will accept as you may not be able to refill it from here.
not sure but i think cells would charge to receive calls from aust.
in addition, although many adults won't use it - aol and yahoo offer instant messaging systems. you can talk in real time for free from any computer. i use it regularly to talk to friends in iraq and all over the states. any teen can assist you with easy sign up.

US cellular plans, prepaid or postpaid, all charge regular domestic airtime for receiving calls. Doesn't matter where the call is from.

G'Day Arnie-
We visited Australia last year and were in the reverse situation you describe here. We purchased an unlocked triband GSM phone from Cellularabroad <http://www.cellularabroad.com/> in the U.S. just before leaving for Australia. It came with a prepaid SIM card from Optus.

When we returned to our home in Florida, we had no further need for the Optus SIM card and purchased a prepaid U.S. SIM card from T-Mobile <http://www.t-mobile.com> because they too use GSM and, with our unlocked phone, we could just pop in the new SIM card with a brand new U.S. phone number and a certain number of prepaid minutes and no contract required.

rkkwan has described your options very well. As you will be charged for all incoming calls to a mobile phone, the pre-paid phone card is probably your best option to make calls back to Australia.

Hope you have a great trip!

thank you everone for your kind help; i will go away and study the options