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I am currently planning a 3 month trip to the USA (Pittsburgh, PA). As I have never been in the US and only rarely abroad and I was never alone abroad before I really want to make sure that I have internet access when I arrive. I have heard that many coffee shops have internet, but I don't want to rely on that. I would like to make sure that I have mobile internet.

To avoid unwanted high costs I want a prepaid solution just like simyo.de in Germany.

If I could use that simcard to make phone calls that would be nice, but internet is more important to me.

I have seen How to access the internet during a road trip in the USA?. However, as I am going to Pittsburgh I think I will have service.

I have seen AT/T, but one the one hand I'm not sure if they ship their simcard to Germany and I saw

Data (att.com/dataplans): If usage exceeds your monthly data allowance, you will automatically be charged overage for additional data provided.

When I use simyo, I get about 500MB of highspeed internet and afterwards free internet which is incredible slow, but I don't costs I don't want. Is there something similar in the US?

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Martin Thoma
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3 Answers3

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Your best bet is to visit an AT&T Shop or a T-Mobile Shop upon arrival. These are the two providers that actually sell SIM cards, as far as I know. The US cell phone providers focus on selling cell phones with a SIM-card-in-software that they tie to the phone. It is less common for AT&T to sell a SIM card, but you might have luck there. T-Mobile shops sell SIM cards regularly.

Note that getting a SIM card is a bit easier than in Germany, as you don't actually need ID when buying a pre-paid SIM card - just bring some cash to the shop, tell them what pay-as-you-go plan you want, and 10 minutes later things work. I only tried T-Mobile for that in the past. Available plans are hidden somewhat on the web page: http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans

Having some experience with both the US Cell Phone "system" and the German one, please be prepared to pay more for Internet on the cell phone than you would in Germany.

Note that some airports have "tech gadget" vending machines. If you tranfer in Philadelphia or Newark, you should find one. As it is not legally required to provide your ID for registering a phone/SIM card, you might have luck finding a SIM card (or a cheap phone with internet) there.

DCTLib
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If you have a friend in the US, you can order a SIM card on the internet and have it shipped to their house.

Alternatively, you could try ordering one from Amazon, such as this one, and see if they'll ship internationally. I recommend using Ptel (Platinum Telecom), which runs on the T-Mobile network and has the cheapest rates for internet data that I've found.

Tiberia
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Another poster here introduced me to Simporium, which offers information about and purchase of prepaid SIM cards for many countries, including the USA. They have two USA prepaid SIMs available, one on AT&T for $50-$60, one on UltraMobile (with worse coverage) from just $19. They will ship to Germany for $7, but it takes two weeks:

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AakashM
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