Subscribing to a USA Cell Plan

[Power]

Hey there,

I want to subscribe to a USA cell plan. Specifically AT&T/Cingular Data plan. I have a couple of sales reps that work 80% of the time in the USA and the Data Roaming charges on our Rogers account are killing me.

If I can subscribe to 3G (Edge/HSDPA) unlimited account in the USA for between $79-139 USD it will save me about $100/Person/Month. Not to mention being unlimited I can tell them to go ahead and surf for alittle personal use.

I did alittle preliminary checking with AT&T asking "if it was possible for a Canadian to subscribe to a AT&T Dataplan" and was shocked when the rep on the other end of the line said "Whats a Canadian?".

So the question is... Does anyone know how to subscribe to a USA cell Phone/Data plan without having a Social Security Number?

I don't care if I have to leave a substantial deposit with them. Certainly they would have the Credit Card for automatic payments.

I would assume a typical USA business would not be providing a Social Security Number of an employee in order to sign up...

Thanks for any help...

[jyeung]

You can show Canadian ID - I was able to sign up at T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless with a Canadian SIN card. They pull your Canadian credit history though...and may ask for a deposit if necessary.

- Jason

[Power]

Thanks Jason, I'll give it a try.

I know the AT&T telephone reps are slightly confused with regards to WHAT Canada is let alone doing a Social Insurance check. Honestly I don't care what the deposit is as long as they will accept it :)

[jyeung]

Trust me, the phone people are clueless. Walk into a store where you can explain face to face. Bring your passport along in case they ask for ID or something.

- Jason

[Power]

Well it wasn't easy to make it happen but it's done now.

Essentially they will not offer a monthly contract to someone unless they have a Social Security Number or an IRS Tax ID Number. This is for the purposes of running a credit check.

After going through several people I finally found the "right" person to help me bend the rules. He used a cdn SIN # instead (knowing it was a crapshoot) but that the worse case was that they would require a deposit to give me the account. Lets face it no matter what the deposit I'm saving big bucks on my DataPlan ($59.99 Unlimited).

The computer requested a $500 deposit which was fine with me and we were up and running a few minutes later.

I recently used the service in my laptop on a roadtrip from Vancouver to Los Angels and with the exception of a few minor outages in the mountain tops of the Shasta Mountain range I had highspeed access the whole trip. Even skyped out a few times. Very impressed.

[bubble.tea]

..... rep on the other end of the line said "Whats a Canadian?"......

lmao...It's "someone who lives in an Igloo". :lol:.



Good to hear of your good fortune, and smart business sense vis-a-vis your business sense :).