Phone

It would be good to note that when Americans say ‘mobile’ or ‘cell’, they typically mean handphone.

The major service providers in the Los Angeles area are AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint. Verizon uses a CDMA network, while AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM. The only important difference that you need to know of between these two standards is that GSM uses SIM cards, while CDMA does not. This means that you are likely to be able to use your Malaysian phone on AT&T, but not on Verizon. The caveat to this is that Malaysia GSM phones use the 900 and 1800 MHz bands, while American ones use the 850 and 1900 MHz bands. Since most phones these days are tri-band or quad-band, this is unlikely to be a problem, but you may want to check nonetheless.

In terms of corporate reputation, Verizon is generally held in higher regard than AT&T. Lest this deters you from signing on with AT&T, though, it is worth knowing that AT&T’s coverage is likely superior to Verizon’s due to its number of users (it used to be the sole iPhone provider until Verizon and other carriers entered the market in 2011), so it remains an open playing field.

Phone plans generally start at an exorbitant $40/month (or more like $50, because they neglect to mention taxes). They usually come with a phone, a contract, and a certain number of minutes. There are several important things of note here. First, if you do not have an SSN (and most of you will not), you will very likely be asked to furnish a $500 deposit when signing your contract and you might be asked to show some form of ID in which case your passport would be the one to use. The deposit is refundable after one year. Second, there is no concept of “free incoming” – all minutes, incoming and outgoing, are included in your plan. Third, you have to pay extra for SMS, or what is known as “text”, again both incoming and outgoing.  You also have to pay extra for data, so that iPhone plan you had in mind will set you back about $80/month. Perks on AT&T include free calling after 9pm and on weekends, and completely free AT&T-to-AT&T calls. Perks on Verizon and T-Mobile… well, this author does not use Verizon or T-Mobile or Sprint, but I’m sure they have appropriate ones to compete with AT&T. If you want to get an internet-capable phone but have no intention of getting a data plan (which is probably a rare case), it would be advisable to inform the sales assistant otherwise you would be automatically given a plan that includes data.

How can you save money? Get a family plan. A group of three, four, or five can sign up as a “family”, and combine their phone lines under one account. Your phone bill might go down to $30/month with free unlimited texting by joining a family plan. (Caveat: fewer minutes to go around, and you do not want to exceed those minutes. This will result in ridiculous phone bills.)

Or you can check out Virgin Mobile which provides 350 minutes, unlimited text and data for $35/month without any contract. Alternatively, look into prepaid plans, offered by all providers. T-mobile has good packages such as $30 for 100 minutes, unlimited text and  4G internet speed (first 5GB which is more than enough) or $30 for 1500 minutes and texts and some amount of data but with limited speed. 


It is always a good idea to spend few hours checking out all the options out there on the internet before you purchase your phone plan.