Whatazarian

Hi,

I am going to be an international student this fall.

My questions are:

How should I go about purchasing a cellphone in the United States?

What sort of phones should I be considering?

What are the major phone companies?

Is there anything else I should know?

Any help would be appreciated.

PlattsburghLoser

How should I go about purchasing a cellphone in the United States?
It depends. Are you staying for an extended amount of time or just visiting to study abroad for a semester or two? If it's the latter, you might want to consider short-term cellphone loans - that way, you don't get wrapped into a year long contract.
If you're staying long-term, then just visit any cellphone provider and they should be able to assist.

What sort of phones should I be considering?
It doesn't matter which phone you get. The type of plan you get is what matters. I'm assuming you'll be calling home, so look for a plan that either has free international or cheap international calls. Or, look into buying international calling cards.


What are the major phone companies?
Verizon, Sprint, T-mobile, Cingular, and Alltel


Is there anything else I should know?
Check to see which provider works best with wherever you're staying. For example, Sprint has almost no reception in the Northern Adirondacks while Verizon does.

b@r!um

"Is there anything else I should know?"

You need a social security number to get a cell phone contract. If you don't have one yet, it will take a few weeks to arrive once you apply for it. If you don't want to wait so long, get a pre-paid cell phone.

mex_pablo

So if I'm not going to work while in university, could i still be able to request a SSN, or do any of you know what international students use for things like this?

redwingshockey

where are you going to be going?? a lot of this stuff depends on the country...

leah377

i'd advise you to get skype to talk to your family and friends internationally--it's ridiculously inexpensive. use your cell phone for domestic calls.

mex_pablo

Actually skype has some plans that like for 4 euros a month, you can make unilimited calls to phones in an specific country or like for 8 euros a month to all the world (in the US is fixed and cell phones, in other places just fixed landlines). You also get a local internet number from any place in the world you want, and you can redirect your calls. It would work like this.

Someone calls your local internet number (you'd choose one like in the city you live in) ---> the call goes to skype ---> skype redirects the call to any phone you want to, so let's say to your US cell phone. (In this case you should get a US unlimited plan for 4 euros a month, and that's it, it's so damn cheap.)

Whatazarian

Thanks for all the help so far!