Those Prepaid SIM cards

Just like getting through immigration at LAX, trying to get a prepaid SIM card in the US requires one to go though a fair amount of red tape. It was so easy in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia) just flash your passport and you can get one within 15 minutes and activated. T-Mobile USA just came out with one of those USB Internet Broadband on the Go running off their new 3G network. Since the place I am staying at didn't have one I squirmed after 2 hours at a Starbucks at trying to download and do my incomes taxes online. With the loud music and noisy environment I got little accomplished. So I looked into the T-Mo USB solution. Pretty neat. They scrapped the Express Card and came out with the USB web connect a few weeks ago. The good thing is everytime I am in the US I can just get it activated - but with some hassle. This time around, I just activated it for a month. The credit and background check I had to go through was a hassle since I have identity protection in place, the T-Mo rep had to call me on the listed number on file with Experian, TransUnion and the other credit agency (the big US 3). As I stood there at the counter both phones rang back and forth, the phone at the T-Mo counter and my other prepaid cell number. What a farce. After an hour I walked out a happy camper. I squirm at the thought of having to go through it all again the next time I pass through the US: just to get a new SIM with a working number. America is becoming a land of security paranoia. I just found out today my ebay account got compromised. What a hassle. Fraud. Fraud. Fraud. It sucks.