Traveling to USA? Get a Local Cell Plan

The Skinny

• USA Prepaid phone packages are a great way to mitigate the costs of high cell phone bills when traveling to USA
• Most hardware can be bought at retail stores in USA or online for store pickup
• Roam Mobility provides service for Canadians so you can have the hardware shipped to Canada
• Suggest signing up for Google Voice so you can call Canada locally as well

My preferred local service is T-Mobile

• $10 refill cards last 90 days
  • Once you spend $100 in any year, all refills last 365 days
• Daily plans charge you only on the days you use the phone

Update – Here is a link to an article I wrote on how to save even more by using this phone plan

• T-Mobile Prepaid Plans
• Roam Mobility Plan Details
• AT&T Wireless Prepaid Plans
• Boost Mobile Prepaid Plans
• Verizon Wireless Prepaid Plans

Overview

In previous articles, I have mentioned that there are a few ways to mitigate the high costs of communicating when travelling. In this article, I’ll go over your local prepaid service choices when traveling to the US.

Sign up for Google Voice

Prior to suggesting any prepaid phone plans, I strongly suggest that anyone traveling to the US set up a Google Voice account. A Google Voice account will give you a US phone number that you can forward to any US number. It will also give you an avenue to route all your calls to Canada at no charge.

Among the cost benefits, your Google Voice number can be your contact number for continuity. Assuming your trips to the US are infrequent, you may be changing your US cell phone number each time you go (I have lost many SIM cards in my life). Also, your contacts might try to call you back when you are physically no longer in the US. Using a Google Voice number will allow you to forward these calls wherever you like, be it to your email, your new US cell phone number or your Canadian cell phone (see my article).

Here is my article on setting up Google Voice from Canada.

Prepaid Plan Features

There are a plethora of plans available in the US, but with so much information out there, I am trying to identify the plans that I would likely suggest for people that I know who are traveling to the US, and not living there. The most important aspects that I value in my analysis are:

• Ongoing cost
• Initial cost
• Ease of buying hardware as a foreigner
  • If you need to order online and have it shipped to the US, that may not work
• Longest expiration of funds deposited into prepaid account
• National coverage
  • The solutions presented should work for traveling to any part of US

A Note on US Carriers

In my analysis, I compare plans that are offered by US carriers. These are plans that are designed for customers who live in the US. As a result, they don’t mail required hardware to Canadian addresses, however, you can pick up hardware at most retail outlets in the US. You can also use eBay or other online sources to buy the required hardware and have it shipped to you. (I used to bring US phones and SIMs to Canada to sell them to traveling Canadians).

Roam Mobility is a Canadian service geared towards traveling Canadians. It works the same way that US prepaid phone service works, but they are more sensitive to Canadian needs, including shipping to Canada. Their daily prices are higher than the US carriers, but they don’t have a minimum refill amount so in some instances they can be cheaper than US carriers.

My Suggestion

From my analysis, I think that the best solution for anyone traveling to the US would be T-Mobile prepaid. They have different plans that may serve different markets but some of their features make their products particularly attractive to travelers. For most travelers, I suggest the T-Mobile daily plans which will cost you $2/day or $3/day and differ only in the speed of internet.

T-Mobile Prepaid Plan Details

This is the solution that I use when I travel to the US, be it for a day trip for some cross-border shopping or for a week long trip to Boston.

The reasons I suggest T-Mobile over the other carriers is:

• Pay only on the days you use the phone
  • Some carriers, such as Boost, charge the daily rate every day that the phone is active
• 4G data available for prepaid phones
• $10 top up lasts 90 days
  • If you refill $100 in any year, future refills last 365 days
• SIM card technology means you can buy a SIM only and put it into an unlocked phone (if you have an appropriate one)
  • SIM cards can be bought for less than $7 online at T-Mobile.com
  • SIM cards can be bought for less than $20 at Bestbuy.com for in store pickup
• Prepaid packages (SIM cards and phones) are available at most retail outlets
  • Bestbuy.com has kits for less than $30 for in store pickup
  • Sears.com has kits for $50 for in store pickup
  • Most retail outlets, such as Target, Staples, Radio Shack and 7-Eleven stores sell prepaid packages for $20

Update – Here is a link to an article I wrote on how to save even more by using this phone plan

Unlocked Phones

If you are planning on using your own unlocked phone with T-Mobile’s service, you should be aware that the protocol for data uses AWS / 1700 technology. In Canada, Wind Mobile and Mobilicity use this protocol, while Rogers, Bell and Telus do not. In my experience an unlocked old Rogers Blackberry phone was unable to use T-Mobile’s data service, but was able to use the voice and text. My Samsung Galaxy S2 phone compatible with Mobilicity and Wind in Canada does work with all of T-Mobile’s services.

Phones that work with T-Mobile, Mobilicity and Wind should also work with Rogers, Bell & Telus. If you are investing in a new smartphone, you may want to buy one that is compatible with T-Mobile etc, even if you are using Rogers, Bell or Telus etc. service in Canada. This will give you a lot of flexibility, and may save you money.

The Best Plans

I have compiled my favorite 7 offerings.  These plans are offered by the big 4 carriers (Verizon, T-Mobile, ATT and Sprint) and should be available nationwide. I find the smaller carriers (Tracfone, Net10 …) don’t really have the best offerings for travelers.

One thing to bear in mind is that for short trips, your minimum refill might dictate how much you have to spend. If you are going for only 3 days, and the minimum refill is $10, you might as well go with a $3/day plan.

Plans for Significant Usage

For most travelers who want a significant amount of usage, here are the best plans:

• T-Mobile Prepaid Plans
• Roam Mobility Plan Details
• AT&T Wireless Prepaid Plans
• Boost Mobile Prepaid Plans
• Verizon Wireless

Roam Mobility can be a good service for you if you are going for a short period of time due to T-Mobile’s $10 minimum refill and hardware limitation. If you are going for more than 2 days, Roam Mobility’s daily charges end up being more than $10 so there is no cost benefit over T-Mobile. Roam Mobility is great if you don’t have the ability or desire to order a T-Mobile SIM form eBay or buy one in a retail store when you get to the US or you don’t have hardware that is compatible with T-Mobile.

It appears that Boost Mobile might have a more lucrative $2 plan than T-Mobile. I am a fan of the Boost service, however, it is important to note 2 things:

• Boost’s $2 / day rate is charged EVERY DAY whether you use the phone or not (i.e. even when you come back to Canada)
  • You have to call Boost to have them stop charging the daily rate
  • T-Mobile, on the other hand, charges you only on the days you USE your phone
• You must use Boost Mobile hardware
  • Boost smart phones and super phones will require a significant investment of over $100

I actually really like the T-Mobile $100 / year plan for people who are frequent travelers to the USA. This allows you to pay upfront and then not really think about it for a year. The refill lasts a year, so you don’t need to worry about using it up each trip. You can benefit from saving up your minutes to when you actually need them. This is probably the best plan for people who use their phone as a voice phone as heavy data usage can end up being costly on this plan.

Plans for Group Travelers

For people who are traveling in a group, and will really only communicate with each other, these are the plans I suggest:

The Verizon phone plan works best if everyone in your group gets a Verizon phone. You can call each other (along with other Verizon phones) for free. Something to note with is the $15 minimum refill. If you are going for 5 days or less, you are still better off with the T-Mobile plan ($2/day) that will allow you to refill only $10 at a time.

Plans for Emergency Usage

For people who are interested in having a phone for very limited usage (but to be used over many different days), these are the plan I suggest:

With the T-Mobile plan, there are no daily charges, but there are use charges. Since the daily $2 plan is so cheap, it only takes 6 minutes of voice or 20 texts (or some combination) in a given day to make it a better choice than the $0.33/ min plan. Also, remember that if you are buying this for a 1-time trip, the $10 refill may expire before you can use it up. There may be no sense in reducing your cell phone usage to save funds that are likely to expire.

With the Tracfone, I have found that the prepaid packages are usually easily found for $10 and under at the low end. These usually come with 20 minutes of starter time or the like. These work great as a throwaway phone if you just want to buy a cheap package and keep it with you for when you MAY need it.

Buying Hardware

There are many places to buy the hardware you require.

In some cases, you will need to have the hardware, be it a SIM card or a physical phone shipped to you. Roam Mobility ships to Canadian addresses while most of the US carriers do not ship to Canadian addresses.

I have had experience with T-Mobile actually not wanting to ship a SIM card from their online store to my US mailing address even though the billing address and shipping addresses match and are in the US. You should be aware that due to various US regulations (they want to spy on you), online phone service sales appear to have many reporting requirements and try to get a lot of information from you before they send you your hardware. You may be better off buying in the secondary market (ie eBay).

Recap

Summary of suggested plans:

• Most cell phone users
  • Want to use the cell phone as much as they do at home
  • Will have significant amounts of voice, texting and data
    • T-Mobile $2 / day or $3 / day plan (depend on the need for 4G data)

• Group Vacationer
  • Want to use phone primarily to communicate with other travelers in the group
  • Everyone in the group will get the same plan
    • Verizon $1 / day plan

• Cross-Border shopper
  • Travels often enough to US
  • Does not want to have to worry about making a payment each trip
    • T-Mobile $100 / year plan

• Emergency cell phone (one time trip)
  • Wants a phone for very limited use
  • Least out of pocket cost for 1 single trip
    • Tracfone cheapest phone (use starter airtime)

• Emergency cell phone (one time trip)
  • Wants a phone for limited use
  • Will keep the same phone for multiple trips
    • T-Mobile $0.33/min plan

• T-Mobile Prepaid Plans
• Roam Mobility Plan Details
• AT&T Wireless Prepaid Plans
• Boost Mobile Prepaid Plans
• Verizon Wireless