Which prepaid plan in the US for these considerations?

Hi,

We plan a visit to the states this may, for a couple of months, and it's not that we couldn't find information over the web and in forums such as these - we simply found too much of it and got confused

We will appreciate your recommendation for a plan for the following needs:
1) Our phones are locked, so we need to rent phones as well.
2) We need at least one phone for local calls to US land-lines (reserving hotels etc) - this will be our main use
3) We need at least one phone for cheap int'l calls
4) The only reason we need two phones is to communicate between parents when we are apart, is this extra phone addition very expensive?
5) Coverage should be the best possible at western USA (we'll visit CA, Utah, Colorado, WY, WA, Oragon)
6) Major consideration would be best price for local land-lines and mobile.

What would be the best rental for us? (pick-up and return from NYC or from LA)

Thanks a lot!

You can't rent a prepaid phone. sorry. you will have to buy it but it's really cheap.

Thanks!
Ok, let's say I bought a cell (where? from the same prepaid operator?), then which plan would you go for to suit my considerations?

Well I would personally go either with AT&T go phone or T-mobile.
You might want to check coverage.
http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/
http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/

You can buy ready pack at any Wal-Mart store or just mobile phone seller.

International calls - for these calling cards are the best.
BTW. Where are you from?

At&t's go phone is not the cheapest way to go. Net10 is .10 a minute including long distance and roaming. This does not include international calling so you may want to do more research into that. Net10 can be purchased at nearly any major store, and to activate, you'd just call them up or get online. Most libraries in the US have internet service you can use for free, in thirty minute blocks, you shouldn't need even close to that amount of time to activate two phones.

net 10 - may want to consider if ur going for west.

The last map I saw didn't look that bad, but hey, it's still better then Nextel's coverage. Apparently that .10 doesn't include roaming. Since Net10 buys airtime from Verizon, I suppose you could say that is similar to what Verizon's network would look like without it's roaming contracts with Alltel and Sprint.

Guys, thanks a lot! Your tips and links really helped me start to understand what is available for me in the U.S.

I looked at the coverage maps, and from what I've seen net10 - as attractive as it seems economically - doesn't have enough coverage at western USA. From what I've seen the full coverage of AT&T includes partner coverage that is not available for the "go phone", but only for the "pick your plan" monthly-prepaid program.

Does anyone know if a phone from them in this plan can double as a modem to my laptop?
Also - do you know how can these plans be entered into when you're not a U.S. citizen?

Again - thanks a lot for all the help.

As a couple of other suggestions. Virgin Mobile is one of the highest rated prepaid service, check their coverage. Oh and check out Tracphone as well. Trac should be more economical then the GoPhone, and since it isn't a contract provider as well, it may offer greater coverage. It also uses the GSM signal that TMobile and At&t use.

You would not want to use your phone as a modem. Even if you could figure out a way to do it, the casual usage charge would be ugly. Most companies charge $.03 a kilobyte which adds up in a HURRY.

Which prepaid plan in the US for these considerations?

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