The Singapore Forum

We are traveling to the States, it's been a while since there, things have changed with renting mobile phones, does anyone know about getting SIM cards while there? This is relatively easy in Japan, one would think this is easier in the US. Roaming is not a financially-attractive option.

I took an old phone with me to the US in June/July and got a pre-paid SIM card for it at an AT&T store. It was something like US$25 for 30 days & the option to renew as needed. I only got voice & text, no data, but I'm sure for a bit more money I could have gotten data as well. I just didn't need it given I had access to wifi much of the time & could do email, etc. using that. I'm sure the other service providers like T-Mobile or Verizon offer similar options.

You can get one with data from AT&T for $50, with 30 days access. Sucky thing is, it will be on the 2G network, so if you're hoping to use it for in-car navigation, you should forget about it (rent a GPS unit instead). Also AT&T staff always try to tell me I can't buy just the SIM card (I can and have multiple times).

I've done it a few times and never had anyone try to tell me I couldn't just get a SIM card. Guy this summer was very helpful in telling me the options and never once tried to sell me anything more than the card. You must have run across over-zealous sales people trying to get you to buy a phone