Dear Lazyweb...

[brrm]

I am going to California at the end of this month.
Can I buy a USB data stick here in the UK (e.g. this one from Vodafone), buy a SIM of some variety in the USA and use them together for internet access?

Cheers!

Comments

[karohemd]

Aren't those entirely independent, i.e. you don't need a SIM to make the USB stick work?

[brrm]

I thought the USB sticks contained a SIM?

[karohemd]

Not sure if it isn't integrated, i.e. you can't replace it.
The other question is whether the stick will work. As your phone needs to support the frequency band used in the US, the stick will have to as well.

[mjg59]

I haven't seen any that have a non-removable SIM.

[mjg59]

Problem 1: The majority of sticks sold by networks will be network locked. You'd be better off searching ebay for unlocked ones.

Problem 2: I don't know of any US GSM network that provides prepaid mobile broadband. All the networks on http://www.mobile-broadband-reviews.com/prepaid-mobile-broadband.html appear to be CDMA and overpriced. What you can do is pick up a t-mobile prepaid SIM and follow the instructions on http://wiki.howardforums.com/index.php/T-Mobile_Data to use the Sidekick plan. Port 80 is blocked, but I'm sure you can figure out a way around that. The real problem there is that t-mobile US's 3G network is on a frequency that's not used in Europe (1700MHz, I think) so you'll either need to make do with EDGE or pick your adapter carefully.

In summary: this shit is fucked.

[brrm]

Well, I managed to find at a Vodafone shop one of their old-style PAYG dongles whose topups don't expire after 30 days. I'll give that a shot in the US if I can pick up a SIM card - otherwise it's only 29 quid spent, and potentially useful in this country. :-)

Thanks for the AT&T GoPhone tip, will try that!

[brrm]

Cool, thanks! - I presume it'll take any username and password like the UK ones tend to? Next challenge is to find suitable software - unsurprisingly the Vodafone OSX software was unhappy when I put in an O2 SIM, and I assume it will react similarly to AT&T ones. No linux here, I'm afraid. ;-)