Using mobiles in Florida, can we buy sim cards?

[Pamela]

Hiya

Hoping someone can help me.
Off to Florida 6 weeks on Thu [clap][clap][msnsmile2]
There will be 3 couples going and 3 cars (don't ask, men and their cars [msnmad] )
Is there any way we can keep in touch when we are out there, such as taking our UK mobiles and buying a pay as you go sim card when we are there, or do they not have them there? Is it that easy? Don't want to get our normal mobile providers in UK to allow calls over there as some of us use our mobiles in the UK for business and don't want customers calling, nor do we want big bills when we come home!

Any ideas?

Pamela

[pieman790]

THe US phones i have seen do not have sim cards nor have i seen any sim cards for sale. You can buy US PAYG mobiles in places like Walmart for $30-$40 with some credit on them. You will pay to make and recieve calls but you can top the phone up.
You could buy some Walkie Talkies to keep in touch or use your UK mobiles and text each other. Call using UK mobiles are about £1.20 per minute but text message are about 35p each.

[wrpac00]

Buy a phone card when you are over there, there are about $10 in Walmart.

[MTP]

We us the walkie talkies and they work well, although you obviously won't get the reception or coverage of a mobile.

[TonyBlenk]

We bought PAYG phones over in Florida and they have a digital walkie talkie feature which operates throughout the States.
You can have a perfect conversation over any distance - it costs an additional $1 per day to use the walkie talkie feature.

[Cruella DeVilla]

Yes you can buy SIM cards for your UK mobiles.

[chrisflowers]

We bought a Cingular Go-Phone SIM for $20 and used it up ringing US cell phones easily within a week. Would have cost a forture with International Roaming with Vodaphone.

Must have a look at the Walmart ones though

[Pamela]

Thanks all, gives us something to think about. Just thought it would have been good to stay in touch if say we got split up in the parks or cars!or even if we were doing our own thing through the day and wanted to meet up at night.
I think a trip to Walmart will be best [msnsmile]

[KevinT]

Pamela,
If you go to a T-Mobile USA main dealer in Florida you can buy a sim to use in your UK mobile (provided it's a triband or quad band one). Costs about $50 for a starter pack I think....this also provided some airtime. Bought mine about 3 years ago and once you have got to $100 airtime top ups, the time rolls over and lasts for a year. (Otherwise you lose it after around 45 days). USA sim cards also generally become invalid if you don't top up every so often.
Rather depends how often you intend to be in Florida. We go a couple of times a year and my sim will last for 365 days , then just the minimum $10 top up keeps it active for another year!! (and accumulates to any time left on the phone)

[Pamela]

I wish we could go that often but I only have 17 days hol a year and I am taking that all in one go this year when we go in Nov for three weeks, our last trip to Florida was Nov 2004 for two weeks and our next will prob be 2008 I'm afraid [msncry]