Reporting back
I ordered a Truphone SIM and it arrived quickly. I activated it when I was in the US but had some trouble - it just wouldn't work as they said it would. I called and talked to a super friendly rep in the Phillipines with perfect English. She tried a couple of things quickly and then said that there were problems with the activation which she promised would be fixed within an hour. She offered to call/email me the moment it was fixed. I was leaving the US at that time and told her I was worried because I wouldn't be able to test the data properly since I would be in Canada ($4.50/MB - ouch!. She immediately offered me a $15 credit (my activation fee) to make up for the trouble (and to pay for my data testing in Canada). Wow.
As promised, it worked when I got home and I tested it in Canada, paying $4.50/MB. The credit showed up immediately. I was very impressed now.
Best of all, logging in online displays my detailed bill easily letting me see exactly what I used and when. It promises to show up within an hour (In practice, it showed up almost immediately). Great for monitoring use.
I was at Universal Studios last weekend and it worked flawlessly. With wifi everywhere I knew I wouldn't use data much but still wanted it available. This is what I used:
- 1 call (3mins) to Universal dining to make a dining reservation (did not want to fuss with making it online at that time).
- 1 call to my DH when we split up (9 cents)
- 1.5 MB to make an Open Table reservation when The Kitchen (at Hard Rock Hotel) said no tables were available for a walkup. I tried doing it with their wifi first but it was horrible there. Irritated, I just switched on my data plan and made the reservation super quickly.
That's it - everything else was fine with wifi. I spent about 58 cents all weekend.