Roaming on All UK Networds with a UK number

[OuterSpaceHopper]

Are the various world or international type sim cards all tied to a specific mobile network in the UK?

What I'm after is a sim card that can roam on all networks in the UK, giving it the best chance of being contactable in remote places in the UK. If necessary I could then divert my normal phone before I go into a network provider dead spot to the roaming sim number, which might then still be able to receive a signal from another provider.

I currently have O2 and Orange but I regularly stay somewhere which only has Vodaphone coverage. International guests can just roam onto any network whereas UK non vodaphone sim cards are out of range.

Does anybody have a world, or international sim card with a uk number(to keep the cost of diverting my normal number low) that they can test out by manually trying to connect to various networks?

I'd be interested to know the result.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Stu]

Most roaming SIMs don't use a true UK mobile number. Instead, they use an Isle of Mann or Jersey number. Calling this number is treated as a UK Mobile on some networks, but not on all networks. You do get access to multiple carriers, but I'd be real careful what I forward my numbers with.

If you aren't blessed with the right network, you might be able to get around this with a Maxroam SIM and popping the extra 36 Euros a year for a UK virtual number. Inbound calls on that number are 6 Euro cents (classic SIM) or 9 Euro cents (global SIM). Another option to think about is Globalstar with a car kit. Global star has some great plans right now, but their network has some problems (hence the discount).

[adam917]

Wouldn't just getting an eKit Home & Roam SIM & diverting (forwarding) your calls work? I can bet the problem is some mobile operators treat Isle of Man as a separate country while others don't.

[PhotoJim]

O2 and Vodafone are the two carriers with 900 MHz spectrum, which will tend to give them the best rural coverage. Perhaps this is as simple as examining their coverage maps and seeing who has the best network, and using that single carrier.

T-Mobile and Orange share an 1800 MHz network, and Three uses a 3G 2100 MHz network (and roams on 2G Orange, at least based on my experiences in Scotland in '07). So the best bets are almost certainly going to be Voda and O2, unless you are needing coverage down to this building's basement versus that building's basement.