SIM card for US visits

Anyone got any recommendations for a SIM card/pre paid company to use for short term US visits?  My UKC husband visits me in the US about every 6-8 weeks for a week or 2 at a time - and will until I move back to the UK.  It's silly to keep a contract with AT&T here and I was thinking of just getting a prepaid SIM card for him to use while here.

thanks

I picked up a cheap pay-as-you-go phone from At&T and just added credit as I needed it. That might work!

We use T- Mobile.  I think only them and Att use sim cards.  They used to have a plan where once you got to $100 in PAYG the number didn't expire for a year.  I think it was $.10 for text/ min, no data.  Now they have some one off bundles you can get which might be better deals depending on how much you need.  

We went into a regular t mobile store to get the Sim only and it cost maybe $10 or so.  They also sell the mini ones for Iphones but I just cut a normal one down to size.

Just remember to account for incoming and outgoing costs as you get charged for both there unlike the UK where incoming is free

I second the T-Mobile recommendation. That's what I use since I just wanted to text and call (I don't have a smart phone). Works a treat! I think I got mine at Best Buy.

This is kind of an out-there recommendation and does require buying a new phone but what about republicwireless.com? It's a company that offers unlimited everything for $19/month because they use wifi connections whenever possible. It works through the cell phone signals when you don't have wifi. It also will work outside the US on the wifi signal so it could be a good way to keep in touch when he's in the UK, as it's a more portable solution than Skype. And you could keep the phone when you move over to keep in touch with US friends and family.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I will look into them now

I use either AT&T or T-Mobile, whichever has the cheapest sim available on Amazon.com. I order the sims in advance, have them delivered to where I"ll be staying and activate on arrival. Some phone shops charge $10 for the sim, whereas online they usually cost $2-3.

We stick to texting while in the US as pay as you go rates are usually quite expensive for calls.

Hi all, Hoping to recycle this old thread..

I am an expat living in London and for various random reasons I need a US number.  In London, I have an unlocked smartphone and I have a Three UK pay-monthly SIM in it.

I was hoping to find a decent US company that will sell me a SIM card, and thus a US phone number. I will retain the US SIM with me in London (where I am 99% of the year).  I'll pop it in my unlocked smartphone every month or 2 to see if I have any texts or voicemail. In London I will do this.

The suggestions earlier on this thread aren't the best for my situation. T-Mobile is a flat out no, because as far as I can see from their web site, their PAYG plans are only pay us $$$ a month for XX data XX min XX texts.  I strictly want a plan that's like "top-up" with $10 or $20 and then burn that "credit" up with $1.50/min or text, or something like that.

AT&T do that plan, but I have to pay $5 for the SIM, then initially top up with like $25, then the rates arent that cheap: $1.50 a min, 50c a text, and $15/MB.

http://www.att.com/shopcms/media/att/2013/shop/wireless/documents/ppu-rates.pdf

I'm content paying AT&T but I thought I'd just ask, in case someone on here is already doing this with a decent company that has better rates.

In my research, I found GO-SIM
http://www.gosim.com/

With their plans, they are marketed for Americans who want a sim for when they travel to Europe or Internationally or Just Data, blah blah.
But that doesn't mean it isn't ideal for me - Europe SIM means that when I put it in my smartphone, it will work in Europe (probably piggybacks off of Orange's network, or Three's or someone).

The questions I have though are:

• will it give me a USA number
  
• $10 of credit is awesome, and 25c a min calling is way cheaper than AT&T.  But how often do I need to use the SIM to keep the phone number active?
• and a stupid question but will it work when I come back to the US? (asking bc the marketing looks like it is solely for travel)

I know these are questions to ask GO-SIM, but I'm throwing it out there in case anyone has dealt with them, or works in telecom, or just so people simply understand what I'm looking for and can offer a great suggestion.

There are tons of potential companies out there. Another one that looked promising was PureTalk. http://www.puretalkusa.com/cell-plans.php
But even at $5 a month, that's $60 a year. And with $20 of credit on AT&T at a single 1 min call a month, AT&T is the better choice.

Thanks anyone out there that can help at all, or even nudge me in the right direction!

I think Vonage have provided expat Americans with US numbers in the past so it's cheap for their families to call them. Not sure if they do a mobile service or not. Also, my sister lived in Eastern Africa for a couple of years and she had some U.S. Number we could call to reach her through a company called Pingo I think.

Since I posted to this thread in March 2013 I've been using a pay as you go sim from H2o Wireless (which is part of AT&T) on my trips to the US, am very happy with the price and service, and recommend it to everyone I know that visits the US.

Here's a link: https://www.h2owirelessnow.com/mainControl.php?page=planMin where you can take a look around and see if this might be what you are looking for.

Yes it gives you a US number.
Yes, you have to top up a minimum of $10 every 90 days to keep the number active but you don't need to use the phone. I top up either when I'm in the US and using the phone, or from the UK using Skype to their 1-800 number (but you do need to use a c/card with a US address). $40 isn't a lot to keep the same number, and I do use a lot of that credit when I visit.
No, it doesn't work overseas so is purely for US.
No, you don't have to pay $9.99 for the sim on the H2o website which doesn't include airtime credit. I have ordered sims for friends and paid as little as 0.1c + postage on Ebay.com/Amazon.com.

I also keep an old phone to use in the US as it saves me from the (slight) hassle of having to get the US data settings every time I visit and resetting my phone on return to the UK. I like to have access to data as soon as I arrive, but if you were swapping out the sim its easy enough to use hotel/Starbucks etc wifi to have the settings sent to your phone.

I hope this helps, I do have a nano sim and a regular sim at home if anyone wants me to post them out. You can activate the sim from the UK if you have access to a US c/card.

Hi all, Hoping to recycle this old thread..

I am an expat living in London and for various random reasons I need a US number.  In London, I have an unlocked smartphone and I have a Three UK pay-monthly SIM in it.

I was hoping to find a decent US company that will sell me a SIM card, and thus a US phone number. I will retain the US SIM with me in London (where I am 99% of the year).  I'll pop it in my unlocked smartphone every month or 2 to see if I have any texts or voicemail. In London I will do this.

The suggestions earlier on this thread aren't the best for my situation. T-Mobile is a flat out no, because as far as I can see from their web site, their PAYG plans are only pay us $$$ a month for XX data XX min XX texts.  I strictly want a plan that's like "top-up" with $10 or $20 and then burn that "credit" up with $1.50/min or text, or something like that.

AT&T do that plan, but I have to pay $5 for the SIM, then initially top up with like $25, then the rates arent that cheap: $1.50 a min, 50c a text, and $15/MB.

http://www.att.com/shopcms/media/att/2013/shop/wireless/documents/ppu-rates.pdf

I'm content paying AT&T but I thought I'd just ask, in case someone on here is already doing this with a decent company that has better rates.

Do you just need a U.S. number for when you are in the UK? (ie. Not for in the us)
Have you looked into the International Favourites Bolt On from O2?
I have it on my mobile here. It gives you a U.S. number that people from the U.S. can call, then it just rings through to your UK mobile. It also allows you to call 3 US numbers. It comes with 3000 mins a month for £10. It's worked well for me!

If you just need a US number in the UK you can get that with Skype. I have Skype on my phone and the voice quality is pretty good. I do get a few telemarketing calls at odd hours tho!