US sim card for my UK mobile?

At the end of this month I will be going to the US for two months and I would like to have a mobile to use while I am there to call US friends and family. I won't need it to call the UK.

My UK mobile is unlocked and I would like to buy a US sim card to put in my UK phone. I found an old thread about this, but it seemed like they were wanting to use the sim to call the UK.

Has anyone visited the US recently and done this? I'm a bit clueless about this stuff. What do I need to look for when searching for a US sim card?

Thanks!

As long as the handset is unlocked and tri band then any sim should be fine.

Vicky

I did.  I bought one on ebay (US site)  AT+T, T-mobile and another I can not recall are all available.  Pretty cheap too.  You just need to call the company (You can't do it on-line) and set it up.

Hiya !

I'm not sure which city or areas of the US you intend to be at, but I'll assume one of the major cities or large towns. Coverage and service should be pretty good but as I'm sure you know, the further out you go and along highways in between places, there's usually no service at all. Last time I was in the US was feb 2005 in California around SF and the Bay area as well as about an hour inland, Stockton, Sacramento areas and found no service quite frequently when driving around.

I used the T Mobile pay as you go offerings which was a cinch, just paid up $100 on my credit card, they activated the SIM and I just popped it into my handset. As Vicky says, as long as your handset is tri- band and is unlocked it'll work so you can call up on the T mobile networks advertised domestic rates.

Depending on which city you are in, you'll get a SIM card programmed with the city code/dialling code of the city you're in, so that may be a factor if you plan on giving your US number to members of your family who maybe in other states etc.

Hope this helps
Cheers, DtM, West London & Slough UK!

Like DtM I went for the T-Mobile option when we were in the states a couple months back.  My family's in Cleveland, OH.  T-Mobile allows you to select where you want your area code to be (anywhere in the USA)...  We chose the main Cleveland area code, as it would be easiest for our friends and family.  The rates were quite reasonable too and we didn't really have any issues with coverage either.

I know there're several providers that offer US SIM Cards, but as far as I'm aware only T-Mobile and AT&T offer the $100 top up, save your number for a year option.  All others seem to want you to make monthly top ups (credit expires each month) to retain your number.  If you go back to the states once / year or more the T-Mobile or AT&T options would possibly be better for you, but if you only go back once every couple of years, it may just be worth buying a SIM and credit it each time you go.

Good luck!

As with bringing a U.S. GSM phone to the U.K., remember that "tri band" means different things in each market.  A tri-band U.K. model will be the 900 and 1800MHz British/European bands plus one of the North American GSM bands, most likely 1900MHz.   That means that on networks which use a combination of 850 and 1900 you won't get the full coverage available on a U.S. dual- or tri-band phone, and won't be able to access 850-only networks at all.

There's a rough guide to band usage by different companies here, although for those using both 850 and 1900 there can be considereable variation from place to place:

http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_us.shtml

Thanks everyone! I knew someone here would have the answer.