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MATHA531 · 19-04-2010, 03:12

Well the dirt cheapest phone would probably be something you could pick up in the UK along with a sim card..they tell me there are many places that sell the required gsm phones with the 900/1800 mhz bands for as little as 15 quid although you make a point of wanting to have everything lined up before arrival and not to have too much time to waste.

Look,l here's the deal. UK competition is very very fierce and the big telcoms are literally giving away sim cards for free...you can have them posted to you at any UK address (say your first hotel) and they're extremely easy to top up (most come with no credit...a quick pop into a grocery or convenience store or a drug store will take all of about 30 seconds to top up)....dirt cheap calls available for all of them to wherever you are from (it seems the USA) with rates starting at 3p/minute. You will receive for free.

I don't know just where in the UK you will be and just where the best service is..perhaps some of our colleagues here from the UK can help you out on this. However, if you want to really be all set before arriving, you can search on ebay for a cheap gsm phone, they come in all prices depending on the bells and whistles (do you want a camera? an MP3 player? Internet?)....just make sure the phone has the 900 and 1800 mhz bands (if you truly want never to use it again but you can use it in the USA with certain carriers if you get a quad band)....as far as getting a British sim card you will find on ebay almost all the major telcoms available for about $2 + a couple of bucks for shipping, say less than $5 when all is said and done. T Mobile UK is there, Vodafone UK is there, Orange UK is there (although Orange requires a step to register, T Mobile and Vodafone will work right out of the box as soon as you top up, many Vodafone cards come with small amounts of credit so they'll work right out of the box)....you can check on their web sites for what has to be done to get cheap calls to the USA (vodafone requires you to sign up for a plan, Orange you want the camel plan), T Mobile also has a cheap plan to the USA now)...Orange and T Mobile tie in with a firm called yourcallworld and you can get calls to the USA for 3p/minute so there's really no need to keep the phone off, it's really a mobile phone haven right now. And another good thing is that since the language spoken in the UK and American are very closely alligned, you will be able to talk to people for help and even read the web sites and manuals (something I'd love to be able to do for my trip to Germany but alas alas...).

The problem is not doing it, really there are so many choices and they're all very viable.

Just as an example, here is a link that will enable you to buy a T Mobile UK sim card for $1 with $3.25 shipping to the USA

http://tinyurl.com/y5jaefv

Here's another link to get an Orange UK sim card for $4.95 + free shipping:

http://tinyurl.com/y5x7rbc

You want vodafone UK? For $5.95 (free shipping)

http://tinyurl.com/y442sdb

Really can't do better than that unless you want to wait till you arrive in the UK where they can be had for free...but you won't know your number in advance if that's important to you.

	(#2)
MATHA531 (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Specialist Posts: 869 Join Date: 15 Oct 2004 Country:	19-04-2010, 03:12 Well the dirt cheapest phone would probably be something you could pick up in the UK along with a sim card..they tell me there are many places that sell the required gsm phones with the 900/1800 mhz bands for as little as 15 quid although you make a point of wanting to have everything lined up before arrival and not to have too much time to waste. Look,l here's the deal. UK competition is very very fierce and the big telcoms are literally giving away sim cards for free...you can have them posted to you at any UK address (say your first hotel) and they're extremely easy to top up (most come with no credit...a quick pop into a grocery or convenience store or a drug store will take all of about 30 seconds to top up)....dirt cheap calls available for all of them to wherever you are from (it seems the USA) with rates starting at 3p/minute. You will receive for free. I don't know just where in the UK you will be and just where the best service is..perhaps some of our colleagues here from the UK can help you out on this. However, if you want to really be all set before arriving, you can search on ebay for a cheap gsm phone, they come in all prices depending on the bells and whistles (do you want a camera? an MP3 player? Internet?)....just make sure the phone has the 900 and 1800 mhz bands (if you truly want never to use it again but you can use it in the USA with certain carriers if you get a quad band)....as far as getting a British sim card you will find on ebay almost all the major telcoms available for about $2 + a couple of bucks for shipping, say less than $5 when all is said and done. T Mobile UK is there, Vodafone UK is there, Orange UK is there (although Orange requires a step to register, T Mobile and Vodafone will work right out of the box as soon as you top up, many Vodafone cards come with small amounts of credit so they'll work right out of the box)....you can check on their web sites for what has to be done to get cheap calls to the USA (vodafone requires you to sign up for a plan, Orange you want the camel plan), T Mobile also has a cheap plan to the USA now)...Orange and T Mobile tie in with a firm called yourcallworld and you can get calls to the USA for 3p/minute so there's really no need to keep the phone off, it's really a mobile phone haven right now. And another good thing is that since the language spoken in the UK and American are very closely alligned, you will be able to talk to people for help and even read the web sites and manuals (something I'd love to be able to do for my trip to Germany but alas alas...). The problem is not doing it, really there are so many choices and they're all very viable. Just as an example, here is a link that will enable you to buy a T Mobile UK sim card for $1 with $3.25 shipping to the USA http://tinyurl.com/y5jaefv Here's another link to get an Orange UK sim card for $4.95 + free shipping: http://tinyurl.com/y5x7rbc You want vodafone UK? For $5.95 (free shipping) http://tinyurl.com/y442sdb Really can't do better than that unless you want to wait till you arrive in the UK where they can be had for free...but you won't know your number in advance if that's important to you. Last edited by MATHA531; 19-04-2010 at 03:27..