magilla442

My british vodafone contract is finally up, and since i live here now i need to get a U.S. one, only thing is, I have no idea which company off the best deals for phoning and texting back to the UK, does anyone have any advice, I have spent hours trawling throught the websites, yet they all seem concentrated on national call plans

Any help greatly appreciated!

BritGuyTN

i pay an additional $5 a month that allows me to call uk landlines for 6 cents per minute

www.cingular.com

Bob

depends where abouts you are for what's on offer....T-Mobile and Cingular aren't bad though...

Problem you'll find, international calls on a mobile ain't going to be cheap, can get phone cards that you could use if you get free 1-800 access...

If you only need something to keep you going for a bit, Tracfone ain't bad, 90 days on a $20 prepaid card, and anything added on top adds another 90 days...and if you move, can get a new number for where you move to...and if you let the use by date go over, a top up within 90 days and you won't lose the mins....can't knock it for a $19 phone in wally world or wherever....not the cheapest option around as 1 unit=1 min local, 2 unit=1 min while roaming, but all calls are charged at same rate, and txt msg is 0.5 units....handy to have in the car as an emergency phone at least, or till you sort out a proper plan.

AdobePinon

Sheeh. If you look at any recent US map of the World, you'll find three areas of the planet - the United States of America, Here be Dragons, and Here be Illegal Immigrants.

magilla442

cheers for that Bob. I mainly use my mobile for texting, and I'm in NC, usually use 1010987 to call the uk on the home phone

NeilW

Bear in mind that most companies charge for incoming as well as outgoing calls. I'm on Cingular, been pretty happy with the service so far. I have 500 minutes a month and any calls I recieve from the UK get deducted from this.

AdobePinon

I thought T-Mobile had some special plan, but 34 cents/min doesn't seem too special.

http://www.t-mobile.com/Internationa...eOverview.aspx

fatbrit

OP: Where's your credit history?

Drebin

I just moved from the extortionate VirginMobile PAYG to a Sprint Contract.

I pay $30 a month for:
- 500 free anytime minutes a month, extra mins only $0.10 a min (as good as any PAYG deal)
- Free evenings and weekends
- Free mobile to mobile if they're on Sprint
- Free picture mail and web access
- Selection of decent phones with rebates. Lowest end one is free.

And soon I'll try for $5 off my bill a month to get it to $25 a month.

Here's how you get it, it's not quite straightforward but it's worth the effort:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y

Did have to put down a $150 deposit since I had no credit rating, but apparently I get this back in six months.

fatbrit

Pigs might fly! But good luck anyway!

Drebin

For international calls I use the Bizon card from here:
http://www.cards4calling.com/

I found this from a reccomendation on this very forum, so thanks whoever that was.

It's great to use of a weekend or if you're up late enough for it to be morning back home... With it being free of an evening/wend on my phone, it just costs 1.9 cents a minute to call the UK! You can tie it to specific number(s) to avoid typing in pin codes, which is nice.

No idea about texts, hate 'em!

Roadster280

Is roaming in the UK/ROW an issue?

If so - Cingular and T-Mobile are the way ahead (GSM technology), as they will roam in Europe/ROW, if you have the right plan.

If not, Verizon and Sprint (with CDMA technology) probably have a better call quality and are closer to 3G network enhancements. Virgin Mobile use Sprint's network, so technologically are identical.

We're on Cingular, and as posted earlier, for $5 a month, the outgoing calls to Europe are charged at a fraction of the "normal" rate.

Big D

I am about to add that $5 extra to our plan - glad to hear it works OK - 6c a minute is cheap enough outside of VOIP. Txt to the UK will still be pretty pricey though i imagine?

Dan725

I'm a fan of the T-Mobile Pay as you Go - if you put 100 dollars on there, it lasts a whole year if required and gives you 1000 minutes. I'm a fairly light phone user, that lasts me about 3-4 months. Each text message costs a minute (or 10c, national or international). I wouldn't phone the UK with it though (its expensive at $1.50 per minute) - I use my Lingo VOIP "free" phone for that. Now they have improved their coverage area as you can roam on Cingulars network with PAYG (Used to be contract on). Compatible with the rest of the world too.

magilla442

Just starting to establish it over here, but will put the contract in my wifes name, whos credit score is over 800!