Cellphone usuage in California USA

[Peter L]

Hi there,

I have a motorcycle holiday booked in Northern California this August and i am wanting to take my phone to use as my GPS as well as a phone.
Can i simply purchase a Sim card in the USA and use it without issues, or does the USA use an other type of system that this
isn't possible?

Has anyone any experience in the USA, that could advise me please.

Peter.

[onearmedbandit]

Was just over there last year, my provider (vodafone) treats America like Australia in relation to charges so it cost me fuck all more to just use my phone as it was over there, meant everyone could just contact me as if I was in NZ still.

[Gremlin]

It mainly depends on your mobile (which frequencies it supports), your provider, and which provider you want to use in USA (frequencies and coverage).

When I travelled in 2011, I chose T-Mobile for their coverage maps (I covered a lot of states in the West, and also Canada, which T-Mobile would roam ok to), bought a sim, and knew their frequencies would work with the BlackBerry I had and I was on Telecom (now Spark).

It also depends on the length of your travel. For a short period you could consider roaming (maybe up to a week or two) but more than that, get something local. If you need to be contacted on your NZ number, then either a dual sim phone or pop the sim in now and then. For clients, the regular travel ones are on Vodafone, $5 a day roam charge and they're using their NZ plan (unlimited calls, txt, bunch of data).

[Peter L]

Thanks for the help guys.