# Mobile prepaid sim card with data



## pericolo (Jul 29, 2013)

Hi,
(excuse me if the terminology you use in US is not the same but I hope you get what I mean)

Is there any provider of prepaid mobile sim cards that is cheap with no monthly payments (and no expiry) and has data (Internet)

At the moment I'm abroad with a prepaid sim card that I bought a year ago, I recharge it online only when I need (every three months or so ... I don’t have many friends  ) and it has 50MB of free data every month. 
If I don't use it it doesn't expire and I don't have to pay every month, only when the credit runs low .... that's the idea of what I'm looking for

Any idea if something similar exists in the US?

Thanks a lot


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Yes, take a look at this list. The companies that operate over the AT&T and T-Mobile networks issue SIM cards since those are the two major GSM networks in the United States. You can check each issuer's offers at their Web sites.


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## angelrn60 (Sep 9, 2013)

We have several companies that offer month to month. You can get just
A SIM card from most cellular stores. Expect to pay around 40-50.00 dollars
For unlimited and with data. AT&T, Verizon, t-mobile and sprint which are
Our main carriers also all have month to month but tend to be a little 
More expensive but more reliable.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Let's keep it simple. Ignore Verizon and Sprint (the other two national mobile networks in the U.S.) They are not GSM standard.

That leaves AT&T and T-Mobile and the MVNOs that operate over those two networks. AT&T tends to have better coverage but (no surprise) higher prices. Also, AT&T MVNOs tend to have "hard" data caps, meaning once you run out of your data allotment you have to pay more to get more. T-Mobile MVNOs tend to have "soft" caps, meaning once you run out of your data allotment your data speed will be reduced but you can continue using data service at the slower speeds without extra charge.

AT&T operates over the 850, 1900, and 2100 MHz bands for 2G and 3G service. T-Mobile operates over the 1900 and 1700 MHz bands for 2G and 3G service. I'm ignoring 4G/LTE since that's a bit of a mess at the moment. If you have an unlocked mobile device which supports at least the 1900 MHz band you'll do pretty well with T-Mobile and get full T-Mobile coverage, although you may not get faster than GSM EDGE (2.5G). The next most important frequency band is 850 MHz which then picks up the remainder of AT&T's network coverage (including some of its 3G). The 1700 MHz band that T-Mobile uses for 3G is rather oddball by global standards, so your device may not support it. But I don't think T-Mobile has 1700 anywhere they don't also have 1900 coverage, so you can at least get 2.5G and sometimes 3G over 1900. The 2100 MHz band that AT&T uses for 3G is more globally common. AT&T's 2100 always has either 850 or 1900 coverage (sometimes both) in the same coverage areas, so even if you don't have 2100 support in your device you can still get 850 and/or 1900 service, often and increasingly with 3G service.

Please note that inbound mobile call reception in the U.S. is not automatically free unless the rate plan you're on specifically provides that (e.g. "unlimited voice minutes").


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## overmyer (Aug 15, 2013)

A couple of relatively cheap ways I tried with success were TracFone (you buy the phone/sim combo) and buy varied prepaid load minutes for it or Simple Mobile (simplemobile.com). You buy their sim card and put it in an unlocked GSM phone. In this case you pay for monthly or 15 days of service at a time. They have pretty low monthly rates for monthly unlimited SMS/Calling?Data. Both use T-Mobile's network. I'm sure that their are others!


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## givemeabrick (Sep 16, 2013)

Tmobile has a $2/day plan with unlimited voice and 2g data or $3/day with 3g data


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Yes, and there are better rates on T-Mobile's network available from the MVNOs that are listed in the page I linked to upthread. Simply shop around, online.


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