I discussed this to some extent a few months ago, now we're leaving early next week and I hope to get a quick answer from someone who is located near or passes through Santa Barbara. I have a Sony-Ericsson z520i quad band unlocked phone I'm bringing from Europe and I need to get one month of local service, mostly in SB but it'd be nice if it worked in the L.A. area as well. It would appear Cingular does a decent job, but I'm interested in any coments in the next few days: Have you purchased a SIM in a store? Whose? How did it go? I don't want to spend the month looking for pay as you go wireless. Unfortunately, we're staying in rented quarters which makes it harder to shop on the web because of shipping address, plus not sure how well the mail will work for us. I'm fine with 25c a minute, I'll need very few minutes of phone time, just the possibility of calling and being called for the month of August. tia for any help! r
Your options are Cingular or T-Mobile. Either works in LA and Santa Barbara, but the coverage is supposedly better for Cingular between SB and Ventura than for T-Mobile.
ZaphodB, thanks, I think you must have been among those that answered my questions in April or thereabouts. It's very, very clear that all companies want your subscription money and only do pay as you go because some people (like me) have no need for a subscription. Why is it so much easier to get info on independant sites and buy SIM cards on ebay and other sites? Because Cingular et al don't want to be bothered? For info, here in France I keep a minimum prepaid account in order to receive calls (free to callee here) and use SMS. This now costs me about $15/month. You can but the SIM kits from three companies in hundreds of locations here or on the web from nationally known online stores. One reason I'm so adamant about not wanting a contract is that I have known of several instances where the company had to be sued in order to stop billing the debit card. I had a friend who moved to another country. He did all the paperwork with three months notice, etc, all letter perfect, and they NEVER stopped billing him. It only stopped because he closed the bank account! I love this forum, I must try to come back with any experiences I have in California and watch for questions about travelling in France. r
I went with Cingular and it was relatively painless. The woman in the store was knowledgable and efficient (which I didn't expect). I was able to configure media access for email and it all appears to work fine. Access here in town has been fine. We'll see what it's like when we drive down to L.A. later in the month. In the end I went with the 10c plan but I'm not certain it was the best idea. There is one thing that surprised me,, maybe someone can confirm this. Even if we put a $100 credit valid for one year, it is suspended after three months if we make no calls. Since we may not be back in the US within three months, this won't be cost effective, obviously, unless media activity is sufficient to keep things going or I make a short call every three months which would cost about $2-$3, I suppose. If that'd work it may be ok.
Although there are other Prepay services that require a call to made every so-many days (months), I have never heard of that requirement for Cingular Prepay.
It would seem to make the $100 option a lot less attractive! It is a rather odd scene in that I have prepaid in France so roaming here would be like $1.50/minute and more importantly, it's hard to tell friends, "yeah gimmie a buzz at 011 336 12345678". Ironically, I have service that allows me to call USA folks roaming in Europe at 1.3c/min but it costs them an arm and a leg I actually called Cingular customer service about this (and another issue) and found the person I spoke to to be very helpful. Yet I've seen tons of negative posts about their "service". I guess it has a lot to do with billing. If your provider overbills you, obviously you're not gonna be happy. Anyway, so far so good. (fingers crossed)
