Buy a SIM and top up at Newark?

Hi All
I'm flying LHR - EWR next week (weather permitting). Is there anywhere at Newark to get a USA SIM and buy topup? I'd rather use Virgin as I'm familiar with them from the UK, and their New York coverage seems ok

many thanks

Amber

there are several Hudson News concessions at EWR so try there. There may even be a vending machine of some sort too.

Brilliant. Many thanks Tontybear

Amber

[mitchja]

Also make sure though that your handset is un-locked otherwise you wont be able to use any other SIM card.

All UK handsets sold by mobile networks are usually locked to that specific UK network. They will usually unlock them for you, but there's sometimes a charge.

thanks James. I've got an unlocked triband, which Virgin says should work in the States. Now if SRB wanted to make a few extra squid he would enable UK Virgin mobile customers to buy USA sims directly in advance, rather than chance that they'd buy a competitor's ....!

Just a quick FYI - We are renogotiating our mobile contract at the moment and Vodafone told us in negotiations that they stopped locking their handsets about 18 months ago - Worth knowing....

Paul

juat a thought but does your phone does woirk in the USA? Not all UK phones do due to US and UK using different technology )someting to do with GSM bands?)

[Darren Wheeler]

A SIM for AT&T and will work in an unlocked UK handset.

Virgin Mobile USA use CDMA and that is not compatible with a UK handset as it doesn't have a SIM card.

[mitchja]

For the US, you need either a tri-band handset or a quad-band handset.

On our recent trip to the west coast i picked up an H20 sim, for $50 bucks with unlimited calls, unlimited SMS and 50 meg data, and can confirm it worked ok with a unlocked UK iphone 4.

Couldnt buy any additional data unfortunately, and used it within 2 dsys didnt realise what a data hog i was.

For the US, you need either a tri-band handset or a quad-band handset.

Thanks James - thats what I meant and not all UK phones will work on that no matter if they are unlocked and with a US sim

[Darren Wheeler]

Most phones sold on the UK in the last 5+ years have been tri-band.

Off to the US also next week. Have a Blackberry Bold 9700. There for a month. Can I follow suit and buy a pay as you go US sim? Need data more than calls but this is what really costs on a UK sim abroad. Will be in Cali/Nevada. Thanks.

[mitchja]

Yes, a Blackberry Bold 9700 will work in the US.

From the RIM website, spec page:

GSM: 1900/1800/900/850 MHz

As long as your handset will work in the 1900 MHz band, it will work in the US.

You will obviously need to make sure it's unlocked though.

Getting a data plan is much more difficult than getting a voice/SMS plan whilst you are in the US. In many cases you need a pay monthly plan in order to get data, which obviously you can't get not living there.

One suggestion, mentioned elsewhere is to get yourself a Virgin Mobile US MiFi router. See here. This is what I'm going to try and get when I'm in SFO in a few weeks. $149 initial cost and $40 for 1 month unlimited data usage without needing a contract or credit check.

A great idea would be if someone at Virgin would make these available for sale on-board VS flights. I'd buy one without even thinking about it. As we have seen from here, there is a demand for such devices from US visitors and I'm sure they could easily sell them.

I also wish networks would start looking at their ridiculously expensive data roaming charges outside Europe. There's no excuse or justification for such high charges other than for profiteering.