Originally Posted by Bob

depends on the phone, but chances are, it won't be a tri-band phone, so won't work, and even if it were, it's probably locked, so wouldn't work with another sim card.

but if you do have a tri-band gsm phone over here, find an unlock code for it, and buy a sim card in the UK, £5 for most of the networks for a pay as you go, and your sorted.