[quote=“llary”]I don’t know any country that would give you a contract without some kind of resident status and/or credit history and/or large deposit.
I travel to the US a lot, originally I had a contract which I paid a US$1,000 deposit for but I decided it wasn’t worth it for 4 weeks of use per year so I ended the contract and got my deposit back. Now I use a prepaid card but it’s pretty damn expensive, best I can find is US$30-50 per 100-250MB of data and a measly call allowance.[/quote]
I am in the same situation regarding visits to the US and here are the best options:
Simple Mobile. $60USD for a month of unlimited voice text and 1GB of data. The drawback is that it’s on T-Mobile’s network and thus will only run EDGE on iDevices and Asia-based Androids. I use an old T-Mobile Android G1 while in the States as a hotspot to get 3G speeds using this SIM.
If all you need is data, $35USD for a month of up to 2GB of data on the AT&T iPad MicroSIM. A 3G iPad will tether its connection over WiFi, so your smartphone is covered also, should you need it. I got an iPad 2 3G recently to replace my iPad 1 WiFi and plan to do it this way on my next trip. I map my Google Voice to a Skype-In number, so that should be great for having a phone number also while in the States, since a cell signal usually also means a 3G signal. I use Skype on my iPhone as an international phone with a US caller-ID and call-in number in this manner already, so with 3G in the States, I don’t have to change anything.
Taiwan Mobile’s data is unthrottled and truly unlimited. I have a postpaid contract plan with them for ~690NT per month and routinely pull 10GB plus a month, mostly due to a shared Dropbox that sees constant changes of big design files. 2100NT per month on the 350NT/5day plan may seem expensive compared to 25EURO in Germany, but in the grand scheme of things, it is a very very cheap compared to even contract plans in the rest of the world, especially considering that it is currently truly unlimited. Eating early termination fees may work out better, but most travelers or students without an ARC and a need to feed their iPhones won’t have that option.
Within the next few weeks, Taipei City should be rolling out a citywide free WiFi. If this works anywhere near well, it may be a viable option. The issue may be need for residency/registration of some sort and the fact that it very likely won’t work while in a car, bus or subway where a connection might be particularly handy. Also, as long as there is a signal, 3G on 台灣大哥大, T-Mobile, and even AT&T has always been faster for me than whatever WiFi is on offer at most cafes or hotels, free or paid. The WiFis just tend to be throttled or congested and thus, slow.
I Don’t plan on getting a phone since I already have an iPhone 4. But wifey needs a new one (although that will probably be too late since her phone has decided to crap out from time to time despite buying a new battery). Are the subsidies any good in Taiwan these days? They used to be OK here in Sweden but nowadays they’re basically just a way to buy on credit which I never do.