recommendations for FL/USA | cheap int'l calling and data required
 

Hello world,

We are four people travelling to Miami in December, where we would like to call each other, call Germany and have some mobile internet access for eMail.
Any recommendations?

We do have GSM1900 and some GSM850/1900 capable handsets. Which operators do actually use GSM850 in Florida?

Thank you,

Inquisitor

Get AT&T. The phones lacking 850 may not work well though (in some areas they will not work at all). Calls to other AT&T phones are free. It also has data. You should be able to get your sims on ebay. There are several threads here that discuss the details.

Thank you. However since AT&T have dropped their unlimited data plan there are only two very expenisve medianet options left (1MB for $4.99 and 5 MB for $9.99), so AT&T GoPhone is a no-go for data.
Also international calling (e.g. Germany for $ 1.49-1.66/min) is a real rip-off. Don't you have any discount-MVNO over there?

AFAIK, AT&T is the only one that offers data. Tuyo mobile is an MVNO that has excellent international rates for calls. They use tmobile's network so your phones lacking the 850 band should work well since tmobiel is primarily a 1900 ONLY carrier.

For example tuyo's rates to Germany mobiles and landlines is $0.26 and $0.02 respectively, plus airtime charge of $0.10. However, their sims are not as "all over the place" as tmobile's or AT&T's. There are a few sellers on ebay though. You can also get them at Exxon-Mobil gas stations. Check their website for other locations.

http://tuyo.com/rates/intrates.aspx?...loc=&slocid=49

Thanks, Bossman. Tuyo sounds great. For data I will use United Mobile, who charge € 0.99/MB in the US.

Calling Cards
 

Use a calling card and you pay the US rate + the calling card rate per minute. Should beat the $ 1.49-1.66 DIRECT charges. TRUE, it is a hassle to dial the card number, pin and then finally your destination. Some calling cards allow you to set up PINLESS dialing... MOBIVOX, Onesuite, Enjoyprepaid are US based and all allow it.

Best travels,

Stan

Thanks Stan. But isn't Tuyo also cheaper for domestic calls? I think they charge $ .10 while AT&T demands $ .25. And the same prices apply for incoming calls, don't they?

Not only that, international text is also $0.10 with tuyo/tmobile. AT&T is at least double that.

http://tuyo.com/rates/default.aspx?lang=en

Sorry if my reply was confusing. I was not indicating a preference for either ATT or TUYO. I was only suggesting that you or your group use a calling card INSTEAD of dialing directly to Germany or other overseas locations. I offered several reasonable calling card services. Germany has some decent calling cards with US access numbers.

Yes, incoming are charged against prepaid balances as are TOLL FREE CALLS ( 800, 877, 866, etc).

Stan

If I'm not mistaken, AT&T GoPhone unlimited internet is still available until the middle of November and can be activated for 3 months in advance via customer service. In other words, you should be able to get unlimited data in December by activating for two months in November (2x $19.99).

As for international long distance on AT&T GoPhone, it is $0.39/minute. Here's the full rate table: http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/po...ance-rates.jsp

While in the US I use StanaCard for International toll bypass. Rather than being your typical calling card provider, they give you 10 US based DIDs you can map to the numbers you would like to call overseas.

Thanks again. Calling cards are interesting, but we'll have WiFi in our Condo, so longer calls will be placed by VoIP or by Callback (both through poivy.com). Actually Tuyo's $ .12/min for German landlines and $. 36/min for mobiles is too cheap to struggle with calling cards and I doubt they would be significantly cheaper.

I just use callback now myself. I have a Canadian DID through voip.ms that I call. It rings busy. It calls me back. It costs me 2.5 cents a minute net (US) to call North America. Europe is not much more.

But with callback you pay something for the incoming call, don't you? So in the case of Tuyo a callback would cost $ .10 for the incoming call + $ .025 for the callback, so $ .125 in total, which would be more expensive than a direct call with Tuyo ($ .10).

Another question came up to my mind, as I'm going to Cali in March: Is there any disadvantage for me if I activated my Tuyo SIMs with an address in NYC, so I get a NYC local number but used it elsewhere? Afaik the big US cellcos offer nationwide tariffs so there's no such thing like national roaming if you leave your home state, right?

No disadvantage to you whatsoever. Pretty much just about all cellphone plans include nationwide calling an usage. So you can call and use it from anywhere in the US and it will not cost you extra. Now, if you happen to have a NY number and have a friend in FL that does not have a nationwide plan on their mobile (highly unlikely) or home number, they will pay long distance to reach that number.

Well, I would just dial directly to call the US. To call Canada it would be cheaper to use Tuyo than to do my trick, but only barely (12.5 cents versus 11.5).

Since I already have a $110 US balance on my T-Mobile SIM, callback works well for me. And T-Mobile works here where I live, so I can keep the SIM active easily.

Can foreign credit cards be used to top-up a Tuyo SIM? I don't recall seeing Tuyo top-up in convenience store anywhere.

Thanks Vlad. I remember recharging a Cingular GoPhone SIM with a German credit card back in 2005, so I hope a ethno-brand like Tuyo will accept foreign cards, too. Anyway Tuyo's FAQs mention recharge cards to be available (http://www.tuyo.com/site/faq.aspx?fid=4).

Thanks for the tip I'm gonna buy Tuyo as well. Does anybody know if you need an American credit card to recharge. With T-Mobile it is, my dutch master cards did'n't work.

mastercard is not that populat in the USa. Try Visa card. I had an at&t card last week in the US and loaded it with my dutch visa card. No problems to do so.

My brother topped up his Tuyo card with his UK issued American Express. That was about 2 years ago. He called their customer service (free from the phone) to do it. I also believe you can register online. Call and sms detail is also online.

MasterCard is accepted almost anywhere in the US that accepts Visa. In approximate order of acceptance in the US: Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, everything else (e.g. Diner's Club).

AFAIK, master card is accepted anywhere visa is accepted. In the old days you may see a few stores that do not accept master card. not any longer though.

My Dutch Mastercard was not accepted at the website of Y-Mobile last year. I asked the question at TúYo and they told me I should use a USA based credit card. I will still buy a Tuyo card though and see if it works. I will be in the states for 4 weeks and it's cheap and without any callback or callthrough services.

Edit, I just saw you can top-up online with a top up card as well. I think I'll justbuy a bunch and top up 3 times before I am back in the states again.

Amex cards may be the best bet as they've yet to implement ZIP code matching as part of the authorization process.

I just ordered a Tuyo card from eBay. As soon as I get it I will try to top it up with a French issued debit VISA.

That may be the first time I'll have a benefit from my AmEx card, for which I'm paying yearly fees without having any advantage against my free Visa and MasterCard.

lol, I've got two reactions yesterday from my one question: "I am from Europe and am planning to visit the states in Februari as I do every year. I would like to buy a sim card but would like to use it every year without the need to get a new number every time. Therefore my
question: is it possible to recharge my balance with an European credit card? With T-Mobile this unfortunately doesn't work for example."

Answer one yesterday: "Thank you for contacting TuYo mobile. Please rest assured we will work our hardest in answering any and all your questions. In regards to your question, unfortunately you must use a U.S. credit card to reload a Tuyo account. Hope this answers your question. If you have any further questions or concerns do not hesitate to call us at :
1-800-get-tuyo(438-8898) or dial 611 from any TuYo handset."

Answer two: "Thank you for contact regarding your request yes it is possible To recharge from Europe so went you come to the states you would not have to buy a new sim card you can to this on line the link is www.tuyo.com and you can recharge on line or if you have need problem pleas call customer service at 1-877-438-8896 Thank you Customer service"

When I fuel my car, the pump frequently asks me to enter my "zip code" (US postal code). I never considered what would happen if I used a non-US credit card. I guess I could always take it inside to the clerk. I could see how this might be a problem for online purchases.

I was just looking around the tuyo.com website and found a page that mentioned 50c/day for WAP access. It seems you activate the option and get 24 hours of WAP access. Now, I have no idea what "WAP" means to Tuyo. It might be a walled garden or it might have at least some way to access HTML & e-mail, like T-Mobile's T-Zones.

Tuyo looks interesting. The only disadvantages I see are the poor coverage and 90-day validity.

I noticed CallingMart.com sells Tuyo refills. No sales tax, 3% discount and best of all... <b>PayPal payments</b>.

I wouldn't say that. I use my MasterCard every time I go there (I don't know that I've used a VISA card in the USA since the 1980s).

I haven't seen a merchant that would accept VISA but not MasterCard in many years, either here in Canada or in the US.

Every now or then one of the companies pays some event for an exclusive arrangement so they can advertise, "But be sure to take your XXX because they don't accept YYY."

Here's the information about the Tuyo WAP service. I found it in the terms & conditions:Beyond the 50c access fee they charge for content download. Now, I wonder just how much wiggle room you get with their WAP access? What are the GPRS settings? Does anyone have a Tuyo phone?

When I recharged my tuyo card (when I had it) online, I do not remember ever entering my address. They just ask for the credit card number period. As I mentioned, my brother used his UK issed Amex to recharge via customer sevice.

Here's a thread on HoFo about Tuyo Mobile. It seems that the 50c/day WAP feature only gets you to their walled garden where you can spend more money on useless junk like ring tones and pictures of cars and girls.

I've just successfully recharged my credit with tuyo on their website with my German AmEx. As state I picked "APO/AE", all other details were the regular German ones.

For those who may not be familiar; Those are the postal abreviations for military overseas mail delivery, Europe.

Onesuite has great rates for their prepaid calling card and voip services. It can be use from other countries calling back to US as well.

I've just come back from Fort Lauderdale in Florida. I bought a pair of AT&T SIM cards from eBay, and registered them before I went. Worked great: local calls and calls between us virtually free, and calls to UK very reasonable.

The SIM cards are no use to me now, they expire after a few months, so they are up for grabs ...

Hi I would be interested in these so long as they don't expire before mid may - drop me a PM with costs ( I posted 2 weeks ago on trade board asking if anyone got any!)

Just to say Nigel came back with a good offer- but in meantime been offered an active tuyo which suits me better - so guess still available