2 Week Vacation in UK

Malkav · 19-04-2010, 15:37

Most UK networks offer dirt cheap pre pay mobiles (with charger etc...all in) prices start from like £20 to thirty quid...

Also try branches of Carphone warehouse they are found all over the place. bonus there is that many of there phones are unlocked.....

LOTL · 20-04-2010, 04:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malkav

Most UK networks offer dirt cheap pre pay mobiles (with charger etc...all in) prices start from like £20 to thirty quid...

Also try branches of Carphone warehouse they are found all over the place. bonus there is that many of there phones are unlocked.....

We will have very little time to get a phone when we arrive. Being that Bristol appears to be a decent sized city, i would imagine i should be able to email one of the carriers and arrange to pick up a phone on a specific date and possibly even get a number from them before we arrive.

So much to plan in a short amount of time. Sounds like there are many different ways to go about this. Just slightly overwhelmed, but im sure itll all work out.

Motel75 · 20-04-2010, 09:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by LOTL

We will have very little time to get a phone when we arrive. Being that Bristol appears to be a decent sized city, i would imagine i should be able to email one of the carriers and arrange to pick up a phone on a specific date and possibly even get a number from them before we arrive.

Crikey. You can pick up a brand new phone within a few minutes for very little money, possibly at the airport, or otherwise just about anywhere else. Britain is about the most competitive telecoms market anywhere, and there are phone shops on nearly every corner (note that #1 Carphone Warehouse does not actually sell car phones anymore, but the old name has stuck). You can't e-mail ahead and request a number (and there'd be no reason to - once you've got the phone, just call home and tell them what your number is).

If you get a Vodafone SIM, you can call the US for 5p a minute, and there are other cheap deals available - see PrePaidGSM: United Kingdom. (And if you do decide to get a nice phone rather than a 5 pound throwaway, do get one that's quad band, so you can use it in the USA.) You can even keep your UK SIM active so you can use it on future visits, even years later, by occasionally doing something with it like sending a text message every six months.

LOTL · 20-04-2010, 15:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Motel75

If you get a Vodafone SIM, you can call the US for 5p a minute, and there are other cheap deals available - see PrePaidGSM: United Kingdom. (And if you do decide to get a nice phone rather than a 5 pound throwaway, do get one that's quad band, so you can use it in the USA.) You can even keep your UK SIM active so you can use it on future visits, even years later, by occasionally doing something with it like sending a text message every six months.

Motel75,
Thanks for the link to the UK Prepaid page. I did check them out and i didnt see 5p for calling the US with Vodafone. It was £ 0.99 for landline and € 1.21 for cell.
T-Mobile was 10p pr/minute to both Landlines and Cell.
Orange is £ 0.20 - € 0.24

Ill have to look into it more to see what their packages include. The link to the prepaid T-Mobile card that was posted earlier T-Mobile UK Prepaid PAYG SIM Card w/FREE ROAMING & MORE - eBay (item 150425602949 end time May-19-10 14:17:41 PDT)
mentions that you can receive calls within the UK for free, and can receive text for free ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD including the US!

T-Mobile seems like the way to go and their coverage map appears the same as Orange and Vodafone.

Hopefully a few more hours of research and the info i have gotten from the people here, will help with the decision.

MATHA531 · 20-04-2010, 15:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by LOTL

Motel75,
Thanks for the link to the UK Prepaid page. I did check them out and i didnt see 5p for calling the US with Vodafone. It was £ 0.99 for landline and € 1.21 for cell.
T-Mobile was 10p pr/minute to both Landlines and Cell.
Orange is £ 0.20 - € 0.24

Ill have to look into it more to see what their packages include. The link to the prepaid T-Mobile card that was posted earlier T-Mobile UK Prepaid PAYG SIM Card w/FREE ROAMING & MORE - eBay (item 150425602949 end time May-19-10 14:17:41 PDT)
mentions that you can receive calls within the UK for free, and can receive text for free ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD including the US!

T-Mobile seems like the way to go and their coverage map appears the same as Orange and Vodafone.

Hopefully a few more hours of research and the info i have gotten from the people here, will help with the decision.

You have to sign up for vodafone international to get 5p/minute to the USA. See International Calling - Vodafone

Lebarra as suggested above is 4p/minute to the USA

T Mobile UK can be 3p/minute to the USA but you have an extra step to call a firm called yourcall world (see www.yourcallworld.com)......

Orange camel plan is 6p/minute to the USA but as above you can use yourcallworld to make it 3p/minute......

T Mobile UK straight up has a plan you can sign up for 5p/minute to the USA

	(#1)
Malkav (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 267 Join Date: 09 Jun 2006 Location: Malkavian University Country:	19-04-2010, 15:37 Most UK networks offer dirt cheap pre pay mobiles (with charger etc...all in) prices start from like £20 to thirty quid... Also try branches of Carphone warehouse they are found all over the place. bonus there is that many of there phones are unlocked..... Current networks: Orange 3g UK, 3 pay monthly, Virgin pay as you go UK, 3UK payg, Tesco payg, Asda mobile Active phones: Blackberry Torch (02), Google Nexus one (Vodafone) Inactive Sims: Oskar Czech R, BT Genie Pay as you go UK. Spare (unused phones) NEC 616, Ericsson t68/i, Nokia 3310, Sendo m550, Mototorola v66i, Motorola a1000.lg u880, Sony Ericsson t230. Orange spv m5000, Samsung z400, Motorola SLVR (Red)!, lobster tv700, spv m700, prada phone, motorola l7e, Skype phone, siemens sl65, blackberry 8810, Nokia 6500 slide X2.