From what the latest ads show ‘Tracfone’ seems the best option in the USA, plans start at $7.50 a month and they use all national networks. No contracts either.
That straight talk sounds good even if you got it for the net alone
My Verizon I phone has the tethering facility not tried to use it though.
kr79:
My Verizon I phone has the tethering facility not tried to use it though.
I have a Verizon droid that lets me know when I am within range of WiFi as most do these days, it’s much cheaper than using your data. I also find that when I am in range of any such hot spot with which I would have to log in and register on my lap top, I don’t have to do so with the Droid, it uses the hot spot regardless.
I download a lot of podcasts from the uk and use wifi as they hammer the data. Was using it to listen to live radio stream but that was quite data heavy too.
kr79:
My Verizon I phone has the tethering facility not tried to use it though.
It’s an extra $50 a month for that 
Il give it a miss then 
It took me about 6months to get a Verizon contract, took that long to build up enough credit history, I have Nationwide & Canada calling plan with 900mins, enough to talk to missus everynight, $80, 1000 text, $10, and a 4gb data with MHS (mobile hotspot) that will work laptop on WiFi, enough for things like fb, Skype and the like, just so long as you don’t download or stream films or t.v. use WiFi for that. The most they do is 12 fb for $100.
You will need a mickey mouse address in US and a credit card.
Paul.
Hiya Paul, are You the Paul off of Anglo Greek? I’m guessing so, I saw Your Terry a few months back He said You was over here. i hope to see You up or down the road…
Cooper
I got myself a Bell Pay-As-You-Go 12 month simcard for $100 ($108 inc tax) to get me going, 30c local calls, 5c evening and weekends local calls… and was asked ‘‘you want dada…?’’ WTF? … whats dada i asked?
ahhh you mean dayyy-taaa… (data or ‘dada’ in Canada…I have a lot to learn!) as an extra (it was canny expensive at $25 for 500mb)… phone reception works great, picked my own number… and i can remember it already! (usually takes me about 3 years to remember my own number 
)
Col
contractdriver:
I got myself a Bell Pay-As-You-Go 12 month simcard for $100 ($108 inc tax) to get me going, 30c local calls, 5c evening and weekends local calls… and was asked ‘‘you want dada…?’’ WTF?ahhh you mean dayyy-taaa… (data or ‘dada’ in Canada…I have a lot to learn!) as an extra (it was canny expensive at $25 for 500mb)… phone reception works great, picked my own number… and i can remember it already! (usually takes me about 3 years to remember my own number
Col
Do you get charged for incoming calls with that deal Colin ■■
This ain’t the good old UK mate, everyone gets charged for incoming calls on this side of the pond 
Pat Hasler:
This ain’t the good old UK mate, everyone gets charged for incoming calls on this side of the pond
Pat, I was aware of this but also thought you could get deals which included your incoming calls too, thats why i was asking 
I have a Virgin for Canada, 50$ per month + tax unlimited calls, no charge for incoming calls month to month plan. Was at Bell before, too expensive
For the US I bought a prepaid Verizon at Walmart, 15$, get charged only 1.99 per day (unlimited calls) if I use the phone. Prepaid cards can be purchased at nearly every gas station or superstore.
Works fine for me, most calls are to the company on 0800 number from US to Canada, no extra charge. Calls to customers I make with the phone from that country where I’m just in, no charge. Costs per month less than 100$.
I got Virgin for Canada $60 incoming calls comes of my ‘free’ mins and Verizon for the US $50 month all incoming calls free all texts free unlimited data and ofcourse verizon to verizon calls free and mobile to mobile calls in the US free
Canada and the USA can rip you off on payg non contract phones, so I found the best and cheapest ‘non contract’ networks were.
CANADA: Koodo.com… 30 day rolling payg contract, unlimited Canada wide calls ( to call and receive) unlimited texts and 2 GB of Data for $60 per month.
USA: Straight Talk from Walmart (Asda). Unlimited Worldwide calls… yup you read that correctly… UNLIMITED WORLDWIDE CALLS, Unlimited texts and unlimited data for only $60 per month… buy top up cards from any Walmart or use your credit / debit card… it works well and it saves me a fortune in overseas calls which is chuffing great! 
contractdriver is that deal US $60 pm just for a sim card only or have you had to purchase a new phone also to quailfy for all unlimited deal.
Why is the mobile phone system not set-up for both countries to work on one card provider who ever it is, it would prove more cost effective in the long run for these companies to offer Canada - US or US - Canada at a rate that everybody could live with instead of having 2 or more phones/sim cards depending which country you are in.
cheers
shauntel:
contractdriver is that deal US $60 pm just for a sim card only or have you had to purchase a new phone also to quailfy for all unlimited deal.
Why is the mobile phone system not set-up for both countries to work on one card provider who ever it is, it would prove more cost effective in the long run for these companies to offer Canada - US or US - Canada at a rate that everybody could live with instead of having 2 or more phones/sim cards depending which country you are in.cheers
You can get
A Walmart employee told me you can ‘apply for a sim card’, but i just bought a ‘Straight Talk’ phone, which im using now to type this message!
The phone network here is a patchy, messy. and expensive shambles.compared to other countries i have use
d cellphones in, but up to now thats the best ‘non contract’ ones i could find