Buying "Disposable" Mobile Phones in the USA

[Oz-kateer]

Howdy - seeing as there will be a party of 5 of us hitting WDW later this year I thought it may be a good idea for us to buy a couple of mobile phones in the US to stay in touch when we're doing our own things at the parks, betwen the hotel and the parks etc, as I can't see all 5 of us together 24/7 for 2 straight weeks and we will need to co-ordinate outselves from time to time. Plus there are times you just have to make calls within the US.

Our Australian quad bands will work in the USA but the rates are ridiculous, if my mobile phone bill from last October was anything to go by.

They don't sell mobiles in the parks but someone suggested mail ordering from Wal Mart and having them delivered to the hotel. I'm ok with mail ordering online and having delivers (did this last time and it worked a charm - but not phones)

I have seen some for about $35-$40USD with 300 mins preloaded talk time on the Wal Mart website.

Has anyone bought prepaid mobiles in the US?

If yes - do you have to show ID? How does that work if they're mail ordered?

How "disposable" are they?? Can you bring them home? Are they complete junk or are they ok?

Any and all reviews or comments most welcome!

 

[JustBusiness]

The mobiles are not junk after, they can be reloaded with codes purchased online, or at a store. Coverage varies from many of the "pay-as-you-go" providers. Generally, in the US, Verizon is the most reliable provider. They offer a $1/day service. Verizon Prepay Site

Hope this helps.

 

[ColB]

I bought two of those 300 mins $40 phones when I got there from Walmart.


Worked perfectly! No problems at all with them and the are good basic phones.

 

[aussietravellers]

I went into this on our trip a few weeks ago. I was going to get the phones now and use them this trip and then use them again when we go in Sept/Oct. But when we went in Sept we would have to get a whole new simcard and phone number, so didn't bother as we only had a week left of that trip, but we will get them for our month long trip.

The prepaid phones we looked at at Target with various carriers looked great, and good brands. I am not sure about using them when you get back as the phones are locked to the network that you are buying them from I believe.

Still some of them were for as low as $25 and they were good phones, so well worth it to use on a trip.

 

[DizOz]

When we travelled to the US a few years back on business we purchased prepaid phone cards and just changed over the SIM card in our phones. When we got back to Australia just threw out sim cards and put our old ones back in.

From memory we just purchase them over the counter at the shop in our LA hotel. No ID required, just like buying a soft drink.

 

[Oz-kateer]

Thanks for the idea but we already thought of this and can't do, because I will still need to keep my Australian phone/SIM number available and on standby. Need two completely new phones.

 

[PrincessBelle39]

We bought phones on our 2007 trip for the same purpose. We paid $20 each for them at Walmart including calls although I can't remember how many $ worth of calls there were. But there was heaps of credit left when we left after a month.

 

[ozdisfan]

this may sound like a really really really dumb question but does the prepaid fones already come with its own number? and also i'm planning on going to canada after disneyland in december so would these fones work over there?

 

[AlyssaCameronsDad]

this may sound like a really really really dumb question but does the prepaid fones already come with its own number? and also i'm planning on going to canada after disneyland in december so would these fones work over there?

Yes and Yes.

You'll get a new number once you register the phone - I think it took about an hour. The phone will work in Canada, but may be different rates back to the US.

Also as a side note, the credit on the phones expire after a set period - 30-60 days, so don't put too much on as it may expire before your next trip.

-Brian