03-22-2023, 07:59 PM
(03-20-2023, 01:08 PM)dukla2000 Wrote: Visiting the USA and trying to get a temporary prepaid SIM has been quite some experience.
I kept myself limited to T-Mobile & AT&T as research said they were the GSM folk: didn't realise till I came to this thread that Verizon had some potential but think they do not do short term/prepaid deals?
Short story - my recommendation is go into a T-Mobile shop. It worked for me: silly expensive for a few Gb of data compared to the UK but 1-off so no matter.
Longer version: AVOID boost like the plague! First their website would not load for me in the UK (based on geography which was bizarre) to check anything but my daughter got a SIM from Target that included 15Gb data for 30 days that needed to be activated. To activate you have to load an IMEI, turns out a Xiaomi 11 Lite we have is not supported as it is made in China! "It's not possible to use phones that was produced from China in the US. That seems to be the same case with other carriers." At this stage I was much bemused.
My PinePhone passed the IMEI test (even more bemused but hey-ho!) but no way would it activate the SIM. This short summary is after an hour or more online chat and a visit to a boost shop. They are completely useless - they have no ambition to help and could not give a monkeys about customer service. We did play the various games like "buy this black SIM from us as it will work" - "well, I have already paid for this white SIM of yours and it appears you are unable to get your stuff to work so why should I pay you more money ...." and they didn't get the irony!
All you need to do is run down to some local store and purchase a prepaid SIM kit and throw it into the phone. Though some require you to call into activate, or use some sort of internet connection.
Some of the authorized branded stores will activate for you on the spot.