I'll be spending 10 days in and around the Jackson/Vicksburg area next month. I have an unlocked Seimens CX65 tri-band phone on T-Mobile PAYG. What's the best way of arranging to be able to ring my home landline in the UK while I'm away, and for my other half to be able to phone me? I'm completely new to this, so if you can offer advice I would appreciate it jargon-free and assuming I know nothing!

First things first. My favorite restaurant in Jackson is called "Bravo", it's just off the Interstate highway on the NE side of town. The same owner has a different resatuurant on the other side of the highway called the "<Something> Street Baking Company", sort of an upscale sandwitch shop.

The best way for your family to call you is the same way you make other international calls from home. Mobile numbers in the US are CSP (Cellular Subscriber Pays), so you will be paying the airtime for both incoming and outgoing calls. You might want to SMS them and have them call you on a landline (e.g. Hotel) to save the airtime.

You do not want to call home directly from your T-Mobile prepaid. I believe a call to the UK would be something like $1.50/min. You could set up an account with a company like Gorilla Mobile or this VoiceStick.com which act as dial-thrus. You call their local or toll-free access line and are recognized based on caller ID and prompted for the number you want to call. The air time still comes out of your account but you save a bunch on the long distance toll.

OBVIOUSLY, the landline and good calling card would be the cheapest way to go. BUT.... if he doesn't have access to a landline -- remember the time difference?

How about a US prepay GSM SIM off Ebay -- wither Cingular or T-MO? The T-MO SIMs often come with 60 - 150 minutes for dirt cheap -- like $10. Calls from UK to US mobiles SHOULD cost same as landline --- TRUE, the inbound call deducts from the balance. He could also use his US prepay to call 800 #s (calling cards) for overseas calls bck to UK.

My 2 shekels.

Stan

OK, I'm an idiot! He means a T-Mobile UK prepaid, not a T-Mobile US prepaid. I thought somehow he already got a US prepaid.

Let me think about this.

He is NOT EXPLICITLY clear, but I took him to mean he had a UK T-MO pay as you go account. T-MO US is called TOGO these days or previously Easyspeak.

I suspect he can find a good UK calling card that will work in the US, too. If not, he can always pick up and MCI or ATT card at a drugstore or supermaket.

Stan

OK, I thought about it. One issue is that Cingular in central Mississippi is both 850 MHz and 1900 MHz. I believe that a 1900 MHz phone will work OK but I'm not 100% sure. The CX65 has only 1900 MHz for the US.

Suggestions:
1) Go to Pharos International and buy the "O2" prepaid. This SIM has a flat 14c/min rate which includes international calls to UK. It comes with 50 mins, so you might want to add a top-up to the order.

2) Buy a T-Mobile SIM on eBay and set up a dial-thru account with either GorillaMobile.com or VoiceStick.com (Jackson is in the 601 area code) for the long distance.

3) Walk in any Walmart in the Mississippi and buy a Simple Freedom phone and use an international long distance calling card.

I looked at BeyondWirelessGSM.com but they didn't seem to understand that anything existed beyond the borders of the US. Has anyone tried to get the to ship international?

DR, I think your answers may overwhelm the man. Can you be more specific -- like with prices or pricing -- what is an estimated price for each suggestion? Are all 3 needed or are those 3 separate suggestions? Or do they somehow work together?

A calling card (sure it's cheap, but DON'T support uncle Wally if you can avoid it) MCI or ATT will give you rates of 10 - 15 cents a minute to UK land lines. A $10 international card will give you 70 - 100 minutes. I bet you can find UK calling cards with rates just as good if not better. Perhaps the "better half" will be able to use a calling card, too, either from land line or her mobile.

There might be T-MO TOGO prepaid SIMS on Ebay.uk if he does that. Otherwise he should be able to pick one up in MS, no? Price? Perhaps $30 for 60 minutes? I haven't priced one lately retail. Sure, more expensive than Ebay, but if he does't want to use Ebay.....?

Stan

OK, the "O2" card from Pharos International is about $22 plus $6 for shipping but shipping may be more to UK. The top-up is however much you want and they e-mail you the PIN, so there's no shipping.

The T-Mobile SIM is whatever they are selling them for plus shipping.

You can establish an account with VoiceStick for as little as $10 and you don't need to buy the USB gizmo.

GorillaMobile is advertising a free trial. But they charge a $6 annual fee.

A BeyondWireless SIM is $10 plus shipping.

I can't do all the research here. Anotherbob is going to have to start reading and decide how he wants to do it. I'm not 100% sure that Cingular in Jackson will work on 1900 MHz but I'm 99% sure it will. I'm also not sure if these places will ship to UK.

Most of this assumes that he has a working major credit card and/or Paypal account. If he doesn't all I can suggest is to walk into Walmart and plop down cash for a prepaid phone and international calling card.

You guys gave very good advice. I'd also suggest the tmobile prepaid card on ebay too. It's a little expensive to call the UK with, but for emergency calls, it's not bad. He'll just need to pay the going rate for receiving calls on it. I just bought one on eBay lastweek (misplaced my current one) with 150 minutes for $9.99 and free shipping. He can just load up the card with $100 and that will give him quite a few minutes and 1 year expiration.

As for calls back to the UK. I use the "purple card" from the site below. It's 1.5cents/min to UK land lines and 20 cents to UK mobiles.


http://www.uniontelecard.com

I'd like to thank you people for your advice.... there's a lot to digest.
I should have been clearer. My T-Mobile PAYG card is UK, and according to the T-Mobile website, if I use my existing card, calls from the USA are charged at 1.20 GB Pounds a minute (outgoing) and 0.90 GB Pounds (incoming). SMS cost 0.50 GB Pounds to send and nothing to receive.
I'm on a tight schedule during my stay (a Smithsonian Journeys Tour) so I can't be sure I'd have the opportunity to visit local shops.