Going to the US on the J1, Mobile advice required.

netwhizkid

Hi,
Me and a friend are going to New York for 3 months. What i'd like to know is this.

I have a vodafone motorola V550 triband phone Ready to go. Would it be possible to get this phone unlocked and get an american sim for pre-paid usage from the likes of t-mobile, at&t/cingular or Virgin mobile us ?

Now my friend has got a meteor dual band sagem myC5-2 so if he was to buy an american tri-band pre-paid phone would it be possible that if it was unlocked over there would it work here with any of our 3 networks.

Also could somebody tell me does any of these ready to go or meteor pre paid actually roam over there without start up fees or registeration. It would be handy if they did for the first few days just until i get set up.

Any help would be much appreciated,
Thanking you in advance,

netwhizkid

douglasman

Also could somebody tell me does any of these ready to go or meteor pre paid actually roam over there without start up fees or registeration. It would be handy if they did for the first few days just until i get set up.

Vodafone Ready to Go with triband phone like you have will work with Irish vodafone sim as normal for receiving calls and receiving texts in the USA. In order to make calls with it, you will need to change over to Vodafone billpay before you go, then it will work completely. I don't know about Meteor.

netwhizkid

Thanks for that douglasman,
i didn't know it would work on readytogo in any shape or form at least there limited usage. But could anybody tell me about using my phone when its unlocked on a US pre-paid or otherwise network. Also is it true that vodafone are obliged to send an unlocking code once you have topped-up by over €127 ?

thanking you again,
netwhizkid

theothernt

Hi,

An unlocked tri-band phone will work fine in the states as long as you use a GSM provider over there such as T-Mobile or AT&T Wireless (now Cingular).

- Neil

netwhizkid

Thanks for that piece of info theothernt i appreciate it.

Regards,
netwhizkid

eoinm1

When i go to NYC on holidays i buy a cinguler pre pay sim and stick it in my tri-band phone.
Cingular are the best network i found.

Eoin

Del2005

How about sending txt's from the US with RTG? Do you need a billpay?

theothernt

Hi,

By all reports, sending text messages works fine if you're on Ready To Go while in the U.S.

- Neil

netwhizkid

Okay thanks for the info everybody.

Regards netwhizkid