US Trip: prepaid SIMs inquiry

[elbert]

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My wife will be on a 10 day trip to NYC. I was wondering what the best options for reducing roaming costs are. She has an openline iPhone 4 and an unlocked MiFi and her local telco is SMART.

I know for a fact that when roaming, you pay for even just the ringing of an incoming call, and that both local and international SMS will be very costly too (correct me if I'm wrong). So I suggested just keeping it in Airplane Mode during the waking hours of the Philippines, but keeping the Wi-Fi on and just trying her uck finding free wifi hotspots.

My plan for her is to look into prepaid cards, either for her iPhone or for her MiFi. I did some research vis this site: http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/usa.html. While very helpful, it doesn't answer many questions.

My question is, are there prepaid micro SIMs for iPhone 4 available in the US? If so, which carrier do you think is most economical for a balance of local calls and texts, as well as some international calls and texts?

I told her to bring the MiFi just in case its easy to find a 3G data-only prepaid SIM, and she can use that to email, surf, Skype and even FaceTime with me. Now, are there prepaid data-only SIMs similar to what Globe Tattoo and Smart Bro offer?

I know, so many questions I'm hoping someone who's recently gone to the US and done the prepaid thing can help me out.

TIA

[chetiboy]

looks like there are at&t ones u can use
http://www.amazon.com/AT-Go-Phone-Pr.../dp/B003X7INLK
don't know where u can buy in NYC but if it's on amazon... maybe there too?

[ishg]

If she's bringing the MiFi, go with T-Mobile. You won't get 3G if you use AT&T since they use the 850Mhz band. T-Mo has prepaid SIMs and she can just get the web day pass to be able to use data.

[elbert]

Actually, this is looking better than AT&T: http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/prepaid-plans.aspx

I'll tell her to just go with that in her iPhone. I realize I shouldn't make her try the MiFi since she wouldn't know how to set it up anyway.

[ishg]

Actually, this is looking better than AT&T: http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/prepaid-plans.aspx

I'll tell her to just go with that in her iPhone. I realize I shouldn't make her try the MiFi since she wouldn't know how to set it up anyway.

She won't get 3G with TMo on an iPhone though. TMo needs both 1700 and 2100 Mhz bands to operate on 3G, but the iPhone only does 850 (AT&T) and 2100 (Europe and Asia). If she really needs to use 3G on the iPhone then AT&T is the only option.

[elbert]

ooh, thanks for the most valuable info.

[gestapo]

24 hours data for T-Mo is only 1.49USD, I think that would be much cheaper. When I was there, I got myself a T-Mo sim for 23.19 USD (for a 13.34 USD load), then I could reload online via credit card.

Note however on roaming (at the least for Globe) - no cost until call is answered, no cost to receive SMS. What I hate about T-Mo is that whenever incoming or outgoing service, you will be charged. 0.10 to send SMS, 0.05 to receive.

[Mykolant]

what's the best carrier if I just want a prepaid SIM for calling/SMS, absolutely no data?

[jaijin]

what's the best carrier if I just want a prepaid SIM for calling/SMS, absolutely no data?

TMobile. I used to be on cingular for a long time, but during my last trip, I used TMobile..

calls and texts both cost 10 and 5 cents if i remember correctly, and international texts cost 10 cents. didn't really try calling internationally.

[gestapo]

international sms is 35 cents on tmo.