Getting a prepaid SIM card in the States

For anyone coming over to the states to do the PCT and wanting a prepaid SIM card, here’s hopefully all the info you need:

Verizon – apparently has the best coverage on the PCT but they don’t sell prepaid SIM cards – you need to buy a phone with SIM card. (This wasn’t an option for me because I wanted to use my own iPhone 5s).

The man at Verizon told me there were two other options: AT&T and T mobile and according to him (and everyone else I’ve met), AT&T has the best coverage of the two.

So off I went to AT&T and had the following options for a prepaid card including data:

$45 – unlimited talk, text & data usage for the first 1.5GB at high-speed then unlimited data at some snail pace speed (I think it was like 100mb)
$55 – unlimited talk, text & data usage for the first 2GB at high-speed then unlimited data at some snail pace speed (I think it was like 100mb)
$60 – unlimited talk, text & data usage for the first 4GB at high-speed then unlimited data at some snail pace speed (I think it was like 100mb)

You can recharge by calling 611 or online https://www.paygonline.com/websc/loginPage.html

And you can also set up an automatic payment system with a credit card (international credit cards are fine).

I have my sim, I have 4gb data, I’m all ready to go!

8 responses to “Getting a prepaid SIM card in the States”

Good luck and I hope you enjoy your adventure. We are walkers of the Camino de Santiago in Spain. We were looking into the Toulose France trek from Arles to Spain. We have done seven different ways to Santiago. We loved Le Puy to St Jean Pied de Port anyway I found your blog and will follow you. Take care. Nancy

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I wouldn’t advise going with AT&T as their coverage was worse than useless. . But if you do. Get your sim from Walmart its the same deal but $10 a month cheaper on all options

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followingthearrows April 13, 2015 at 1:06 pm · · Reply →

Hi @snailtrainerpct2014, I remembered what you said about Walmart but I went there and they were charging the exact same price as AT@T. AT&T is really the only option if you want to use your own phone and not buy a new one because T mobile’s coverage is worse than AT&T!

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List of carriers may be helpful. A lot of smaller companies use Verizon towers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_mobile_virtual_network_operators

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Buying a Total Wireless (a Verizon MVNO) SIM and refills from Walmart is the cheapest way to get Verizon service AFAIK. Nevertheless, I think AT&T works better on the PCT.

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