Best USA prepaid SIM for very occasional data use?
 

I just got a highpowerd unlocked GSM tablet computer.

It will be used mainly with the wi-fi connections at my two residences and my office.


But occasionally when I travel domestically (I live in the USA) it would be nice to utilise the 4G connectivity for uses where my smart phone screen is to small, so I need to get SIM card card for it.

What is my best option for an occasional use data plan? Are there any No fixed monthly fee data plans that charge only based on data usage? I have not found any so far.

What tablet do you own? Your choice of carriers is probably very limited due to the frequency bands supported by your device.

If you are in cities where TMobile has refarmed its HSPA+ to 1900mhz, you might want to think about their $3 a day for 200 megs per day of HSPA+ with unlimited EDGE. By a TMobile prepaid SIM, put $100 on it to get gold status, and use this plan. $10 a year in recharges keeps the SIM alive and rolls your balance forward.

I've lent out my Truphone sim to visiting family in the US, 15c/MB. OK for occasional use, and prepaid credits don't expire, for at least a year. Cost of sim is around $30, compared with the $100 you have to load onto TMo to keep it active for the year.
Of course, the Tmo data rate is much cheaper, comes in at only 1.5c/MB once you have loaded up the card, and you do have the 100 to use, unlike Tru, where you still have to load credit after buying the Sim. I imagine tablets gobble data faster than phones, due to larger screens and full function websites.

A Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 GT-P6800

Remember that with TMobile, it is $100 for the first year and $10 for every year thereafter. Truphone isn't a bad idea. Another idea (and again it turns on consumption) is a portable hotspot device from ting.com. Ting uses CDMA (EVDO and WiMax or LTE) so you'll need the hotspot. You can't simply pop the SIM in the Galaxy.

Truphone isn't a bad deal.

Where in the Us are you going to be using it?
 

Are you sure you have 4G?

Tru at 15c/MB [17c/MB with tax] costs $30 & includes $15 credit.
Uses T-Mobile at 3G [see below] and AT&T at edge speeds.

T-Mobile is 'refarming' its bands to allow 3G in many parts of the USA.
The below will tell you the good or bad news about where you want to use it.
Sightings of T-Mobile 3G/4G/HSPA+ coverage on 1900MHz (PCS/UMTS band II)

Having it available will probably result in more usage--probably a good thing.

Whatever you get, we would be interested in your results and impressions.

I'll put aside the discussion of whether HSPA+ is 4g or not.

That one supports UMTS on 850, 900, 1900 and 2100 Mhz, of which only 850 and 1900 MHz are used in the US. Apart from few regional carriers only AT&T and T-Mobile run UMTS on these frequencies, though T-Mobile has only recently started deploying UMTS to their 1900MHz spectrum and so coverage is limited. For an indicative coverage map of T-Mobile's UMTS1900 network see Sightings of T-Mobile 3G/4G/HSPA+ coverage on 1900MHz (PCS/UMTS band II)

Many of those locations just went live within the last ten days. TMobile is making this refarming operation a priority.

It is hard to say what is acceptable for this individual. He is talking about occasionally use and he'll probably be ok with it if he lives in Florida and unhappy if he lives in Indiana.

Yes you are right the tablet has 2G and 3G cababilities


Thanks for the various suggestions

You shoud be aware that what T-Mobile USA calls 3G and 4G is in fact the very same network using the same radio technology called UMTS, which originally provided data rates of just 0.384 MBit/s but was increased over the time using backward-compatible enhanced data transmission modes called HSPA and HSPA+. At some point T-Mobile decided that, despite everybody else calls UMTS networks "3G" regardless of which HSPA category has been implemented, they should market their network as 4G where it supports 42 MBit/s. Unfortunately they were even ablte to convince the ITU to accept this misnomer.
That said your Galaxy Tablet will work flawlessly on what T-Mobile calls a 4G network, you will simply not get more than 21 MBit/s because your device doesn't support more. Even if it supported those 42 Mbit/s I doubt you would observe a difference as long as you don't start huge downloads in the middle of the night when the local network is uncongested.
The real fourth generation technology which deserves to be called 4G is LTE which at this time is still pretty immature and at this time offers little to no advantage over UMTS. So don't get fooled by the worldwide 4G hype.

Other Possibilities
 

Depending on how soon you need this, there is supposed to be another option this 'January'.
Ultra Mobile's Ultra rate is [supposedly as found in their printed material] 4.9c/MB for data.

I am working on a post for here about 5 newish T-Mobile MVNOs.
One reason I am holding back is one is supposed to have PAYGO in 'January'. With 4.9c/MB data.

And TM is only 100 if you want gold status otherwise you can pay less.