Summer Camp Secrets

At most camps, you’re aren’t allowed to use your phones at all when you’re around the kids, but you can use them when you’re off duty on your own time. However, you’re going to actually need a phone that works in order to use it, right? You DO NOT want to use your current contract abroad unless you want to come home to a MASSIVE bill!

Depending on which agency you’ve gone through, part of the pack you receive from them may include a global or American SIM card that you can just pop straight in your phone (you will have to make sure you’re phone is unlocked first though – call your network for this), top up and hey presto you’ve got an american number!

However, these types of SIM cards aren’t always the cheapest option – I had an ekit SIM for a while and even though it was great because I got a global number and a US number, I couldn’t top up less than £30 at a time and even just a few texts would use up a huge amount of that credit.

So it really depends on what you’re going to use your phone for and how much you’re going to use it, but personally I would recommend waiting until you get to America and sorting yourself out with an American phone or SIM card.

So you have a few options:

Global/USA SIM cards

eKit – These guys provide a whole host of different SIM options, with data bundles and different SIMs for different countries.

Go-Sim – Much like eKit above, you can get a whole different range of SIMs and price options.

WorldSIM – Looks like they’ve got some pretty good deals on here. I’ve never used them myself though so can’t recommend entirely!

**UPDATE (14/06/17) – This year I am using a SIM card from J1 SIM, which is one of the options recommended by CCUSA – the SIM card is free and for just $25/month you get unlimited Talk, Text and Data.

USA Phones/SIMS

AT&T GoPhone – This is the one I’m going for this summer, as I can get a SIM card for about $10 and then just top up $25 a month which should do me fine for calls and texts (we have wifi at camp so I don’t need data). If you don’t have an unlocked phone, you can buy a prepaid phone just for the USA!

TracPhone – This works much like the AT&T GoPhone. Again you can get a prepaid phone or ‘bring your own (unlocked) phone’, and hey presto you’ve got a working phone in the USA without the need for a contract!

FreedomPop – This is a relatively new company that provides a free SIM and FREE talk, text and data (limited amount). I don’t know any more about it than thought though because I cant get onto the US version of the website from the UK, but it seems pretty cool! Just double check they have service where your camp is.

These are just a few of the phone options I have found. What other phone plans have you tried whilst in America?