E17Avenue

I just had a brainwave for our visit around New Year. Last time we were over we used VoIP on the laptop wherever we found a Wifi spot, or accepted the $1/min roaming charge on our T-Mobile phones if we wanted to make a phone call - or accept the hotel's crazy rates for calls. (Edit: Calls within the UK I might add - ordering pizza or checking opening times of museums or whatever)

We are a little more settled in our T-Mobile account now, and have since discovered that our phones use SIM cards. None of the previous phones with other providers had that little luxury.

So I was checking rates for monthly plan SIM cards and found Virgin is the cheapest so far with one for 8.50 GBP, for 100 minutes. Plenty for the couple of weeks we'll be there. It's cheaper than the lowest T-Mobile rate and with unlimited texting.

Which providers are awful in the UK and which are good? I was very happy with my reception whenever I did need to use the phone last time we were there. Who has as good reception or better than T-Mobile? I don't want to find a cheap deal and find out it's a load of crap. This could springboard into our provider when we make the permanent move.

brits1

Vodaphone are good they have a sim (pre pay) where you pay 10 pounds and get 500 unlimited text and also 100 mins free talk time....going to a "car phone warehouse" is one of the best places for info etc....O2 is supposed to have good pay as you go sim offers as well....good luck

aries_bird

Hi, are you thinking of swapping the sim card to a local pay as you go when you come over (not a monthly plan - you will be tied to a minimum 12 or 18 month term) and using the same phone? just bear in mind that most phones over here are "tied" to a service provider, in other words often putting an O2 sim into a T_Mobile phone won't work, crafty service providers like to keep you with them! - you would have to get your handset unlocked so it can be used with any service provider. It is very easy to do here, local market mobile stands often do it for about seven uk pounds. But it may invalidate any warranty you have on the phone.

Failing that, you can actually buy a cheapo pay as you go here for use when visiting. I saw an O2 handset (think it was a very basic Nokia) for £9.99 last week, add a tenna top up credit and you are sorted (there are 2 different pay as you go plans with O2 that I know of - other providers may have ones that cost the same and suit better?)

Good luck.

Mummy in the foothills

Ds and my Mother are both using O2 pay as you go and both love it. Ds says it's a much better value than he got here and last year when my mother visited us in the US her phone worked here, it jumped between AT&T and T-Mobile she got texts from friends in the UK and even called my sister in Spain for something.
Also Ds says the cheapy phones there are much more modern than the cheapy phones here. He loves his old second hand phone that my Sister gave him.

islandwoman120

Jumping in here: I have an O2 pay as you go, got the plan that costs £15 per month, unlimited texting and talking to other O2 users, then 20p per call to those not on the O2 system. Have to top up the £15 by the same day each month, and any unused credits roll over. The handset is the cheapest one, an LG, with a small screen, but just fine for my needs. Apparently Tesco have a good deal also, but I locked myself into the O2 before I knew of the Tesco one, and anyhow, my daughter and I are both on O2 so we talk/text back and forth each day for no extra charge. You do need a phone number here for job applications - some of the online applications will not allow you to submit the application without a phone number.

E17Avenue

Now, where you say they are locked for one provider, does that still mean I can swap the SIM for one from T-Mobile UK?

Apart from that, it looks like I will be picking up a ho-phone.

aries_bird

At a guess yes, but I wouldn't like to swear on it with it being a non UK handset. Certainly if you had a T Mobile UK handset you could swap UK T Mobile sims no problem. However you can walk into Carphone Warehouse or T Mobile shop and ask them, I am guessing you would be good to go!

Have you got someone in the UK that can take delivery of a sim for you? you can get one free here:

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/free-...-go-sim-cards/

Bevm

A cheap PAYG phone is probably best.

I recently got a Tesco PAYG one, and it also works in most countries, which is great. Costs a bit more elsewhere, but not terrible, especially for texting, and it has a little slide out keyboard to help with that.

To use a phone in many countries, it must be tri-band. Probably you all know about this, but I didn't. I was keeping my Canadian phone for use on visits there, and thinking about what to do for visits to the Continent. All fixed now.

Bev

aries_bird

Reference to the Tri-Band is a good point, I changed a very good but tatty handset for a cheap and cheapful trendy one which worked in Dublin and Spain but was completely duff in the US

Picnic

If you have had your T-Mobile phone for longer than the original contract period you can ask customer service to "unlock the phone". This means that they will send you a code to type into the phone and afterwards it will accept sim cards from any provider.

I use pay as you go sim cards for all the countries I visit on a regular basis and its great to be contactable when on vacation.

Here's a link to help you choose which sim card would work for you: http://www.moneysupermarket.com/mobi...only/sim-card/

You can also compare pay as you go phones here: http://www.moneysupermarket.com/mobi...pay-as-you-go/

For example I chose a tariff with Orange f that allows me to text back to my home country cheaply, but the trade off is that calls in the UK are slightly more expensive.

islandwoman120

Here are two useful websites that may answer some of the questions posted here, or start a few more.

www.carphonewarehouse.com
www.geeksquad.co.uk

Mummy in the foothills

You have to get the phone unlocked to be able to change the sim and use another provider. It's done with codes that are put into the phone you can find people who know how to do it for a "small" charge