Using mobiles in Florida, can we buy sim cards?

[Karen]

You can buy T-mobile sim cards from eBay.com you just have to check the dates they expire, though

[pubmaster2k]

you can buy a Cingular pay & Go phone for $30 in Radio Shack or a Virgin phone for similar price, I think they both have $10 credit to start and then minimum $15 top up,once you go home they can be recharged when you return to U.S.

[taylona]

Does anyone know whether the phones get deactivated if not used within a certain period of time?

Thanks

[pubmaster2k]

These phones will be de activated after 90 days, but can be re activated when next in U.S. I saw some in Walgreens this morning for $22.99 they were Tracfone will try to get more info.

[Susan J]

Okay - are your mobiles locked to any provider, or anything? Are they tri or Quad band. If so, look for sim4all on e-bay, you can buy a sim card for about $5-10 off him with $60 credit, and free roaming -perfect for what you need. Then also, go to Walmart, and get a pack of 3 walkie talkies -invaluable even in Walmart if you need to meet up, but good to have one in each car to keep in touch - most have a 5 mile radius and are very reasonable to buy -useful when you get back home too!!

[Pamela]

thanks for that Susan. I will check with my hubby and he will be able to tell me what all our phones are. I just know they are all Nokias!
I will go check ebay now too!
We did think about the walkie talkies last time we went over but never bought them, will get them this year.

Thanks[msnsmile2]

[flyrr100]

Just a small thing. But one that may save a wierd conversation with the clerk at the store.

In the USA a MOBILE is a CEL PHONE. My sister came over and was in the Sprint Store asking for a card for a mobile. They just stared at her in total puzzlement! And me being a plonker of a brother, I just stood back and watched the entertainment! Well, she is my sister, and she'd do the same to me!

Anyway, to those who already knew, sorry. To those who didn't, hope it helps.

[ajackuk]

Can I add a question onto this thread, similar theme ?

I have a UK T mobile phone and want to use it for data purposes, it is one of the newer ones with a little keyboard - MDA Vario for those interested. The UK web site says I can use it in the States fine.

The plan is to connect to my email, pull down the mail headers and then disconnect. With the mail items I want to read, I go back online and pull them down.

I want to drop quick mail messages to friends and family back home, and give certain updates to people on items I have been asked to buy, make sure they are OK with prices etc etc.

There appears to be various mobile cariers in Florida, and am not sure which my phone will connect to when I turn it on, but I know how to manually select a network.

The question is this, the villa is in the Indian Ridge development so should I select a specific carrier to get data features, or will any of the available ones allow it?

[MTP]

ajackuk, I use the 3 network in the UK and similarly use some of the data features. Although my handset works internationally for making and receiving calls and texts, the data features do not work. I am not sure if a newer handset would, but I would be skeptical. You could always try contacting T Mobile, but I would be wary that a call centre operator would have the answer to your questions. Could you set your e-mail to be redirected to webmail or be picked up online, just as a back-up in case the mobile doesn't work?

While we are slightly varying from the topic TonyBlenk mentions the walkie-talkie feature. I have seen many Americans using this and it does seem like a handy feature, could anyone elaborate on it, how it works, its limitations, etc.

Many thanks,

MTP

[nicseg]

We use walkie-talkies. Depending on the quality you buy is dependent on how par they work between themselves. We have used them between cars when travelling and within the parks. You have to decide on a frequence and stay with it, but due to so many people having them you sometimes get very odd messages coming over on them from other people who used the same/similar frequence. We find them invaluable. Would recommend for families - it saves a lot of hanging about waiting for people when you split up in parks, you can just walkie-talkie them and find out where they are and off you go !

Sue