Using UK cell phone in USA
 

My in-laws are arriving Sunday from the UK with their mobile phone - do they need to enter USA international code or just dial our USA telephone number when they touchdown?

Re: Using UK cell phone in USA
 

My Mom uses her O2 phone over here while on holiday. She just turns it on and it finds a service. Sometimes she's connected with AT&T and sometimes with T-Mobile, depends where we are in the house even :lol: She has no extra charges or anything, I was amazed, I wish my tracfone did that in UK.
She still dials like she's in UK, so I think the call must bounce around the world before I get it.

Re: Using UK cell phone in USA
 

I have to dial our full US number from my UK cell phone, and if dialing the UK from it I dont need any extra dialing codes.
Remind them that they have to pay to receive a call even if from the US, and if they dial a US number I believe it is classed as a call from the UK to US.
Remind them also to turn off data roaming if they have it, i forgot to do that one month and got a £250 data roaming bill!!

Re: Using UK cell phone in USA
 

Just dial the 10-digit number. The 'phone will be connected to a local carrier, so no international code needed.

Re: Using UK cell phone in USA
 

I got bill shock using Singapore mobile in USA: whilst in Singapore incoming calls are free; you have to pay in USA for all incoming calls.

So when someone in Singapore calls me I pay international charges plus roaming rates... which is just over 3USD just to answer a call. Big ouch!

So then I thought if I just let some calls go to voicemail that should be cheaper. Wrong. If my phone is on and voicemail answers the call, I also get billed at 3USD, then per minute.

Re: Using UK cell phone in USA
 

Nope.

The number needs to be dialed as if one was still in the UK.

Re: Using UK cell phone in USA
 

Actually it's worse than that....they have the UK-US charge, plus a roaming charge.

If they plan on using the phone quite a bit it's probably cheaper to pick up a $15 PAYG phone at WalMart and put $25 credit on it.

Re: Using UK cell phone in USA
 

Nope. You just dial the ten-digit number, if you are connected to the local carrier.

Nettie (who worked in US telecoms for a number of years).

Re: Using UK cell phone in USA
 

Well when I tried that it didn't work....and I had to dial 001-etc....

I was on T-Mobile UK at the time.

Re: Using UK cell phone in USA
 

depends on the phone and network though...o2 payg wouldn't work doing that when I used it either.

Re: Using UK cell phone in USA
 

That will still work, but the "short" version to dial the UK should work also. You are always afaik put on a local network while roaming abroad.

Handy hint - if you make all your contact +country code, they will work regardless of the country you are in. e.g. if their UK number was 07888123456 make it +447888123456. It will always work, regardless of whether you are in the UK, US, or anywhere else. If you are in the UK, it will just dial as normal. I TRY to remember to do this when adding new contacts, and it comes as second nature to add their international code. The "+" just tells it to go "abroad", then the country code etc.

Re: Using UK cell phone in USA
 

No extra charges? that'd be a first. Whilst I believe you I'm skeptical! I've had many people coming over, thinking that and then telling me they get hit with whopper bills/roaming/per minute charges. UK is a scam. As is USA when we go over there. You might be billed a month or two later so please, be careful or show me the fine print :) Nothing in life is free, least not roaming on cell phones!

Good luck!