Advice Need On Sim For Traveling Companion

[TheMadBrewer]

I'm going to be spending 10 days or so in the UK with my father. I currently have a Riiing (UM) and a Mobal SIM. I was going to just borrow a friends phone (with Mobal) for my Dad (Mobal having free incoming in the UK).

But at $1.50/min for Mobal to Mobal calls that could get quite expensive.

OK, think positive -- this is a chance to evauluate some other international SIMs.

I looked at 0044 but that seems to only work in the UK and I get there maybe once a year and the SIM would expire before I make it back. (That also leaves out most of the UK National SIMs)

I looked at bunch of the international SIMs mention here and all seem to have a catch (for my situation) of some sort or another. (or have gotten bad reviews here)

So I am down to buying another UM SIM for my Dad (for the UM to UM rate -- which while not great, its the best I've found so far) But after the trip I have no use for another UM SIM (but I could probably find a home for it somewhere).

So I guess what I am looking for is a SIM that:

1) has good rates to UK mobiles (my Mobal) or FL (my UM) when in the UK

2) has good rates when I call from my UM (I have a dual SIM cover so switching isn't a problem)

3) has some use in Europe after my UK trip this summer. (I travel to Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland mostly -- visit each of those at list once a year -- 3 or 4 trip/yr total)

Bonus points for being able to setup voice mail from the US without costing an arm and a leg (my Dad gets there first and I'd like to have it set up for him)

So, any words of wisdom from the collective? TIA. (and if anybody else is attending the Great British Beer Festival I'll buy you a pint or two )

[MATHA531]

10 days in the UK...calls to the US...here is what you might consider.

You might consider a dirt cheap for the one time a British sim for both of you..

You might want to look into Mobile World (available from Carphone Warehouse)..

Mobile World sims cost something like 5 quid and then have to be topped up as they come with no credit.

Advantages of mobile world...

1. Calls to the US are dirt cheap....5p/minute except for a brief period early in the evenings..I believe from 1900 to 2100 when it rises "dramatically" to 7.5p/minute.

2. Calls to other UK mobiles is 15p/minute (mobal in the UK is basically O2 at least as far as receiving.

Downside of Mobile World

1. Limited shelf life (I think it has increased from 60 days to 4 months)...can't be gotten around as it allows no roaming whatsoever...requires 1 use every 4 months; at least we haven't figured out a way around this.

2. As noted no roaming...useless outside of UK but so what....it is dirt cheap to get and you can thorw it away or try to give it to somebody else.

3. Since no roaming, cannot set up voicemail from outside UK.

Bear in mind there is a move going on to reduce or dump European roaming charges so the situation might dramatically change in the future regarding travel in other countries.

Right now, UK sim prices are dirt cheap as the companies are literally giving the sims away because of the competition.

Also since Mobal has the free incoming in the UK, bear in mind you can set up callback accounts with either enlinea or callbackworld to make cheap calls back to the US and other places.

So this is probably the direction I would look into as you will be in the UK for 10 days....there's also virgin mobile with its 20p calls to the USA but it charges I believe 40p to call other mobiles (Mobal for example) in the UK but again stince the sims right now are dirt cheap, it wouldn't be out of the question or break your budget for the 10 days in the UK to get 2 for each of you...I know a merchant called L8shop (L8shop.net) that is currently selling virgin mobile sims for ?3.95 with 5 quid of credit and they do ship to the USA (?6.95 a little stiff) but you would have your numbers in advance and for ?3.95 how can you go wrong...you could set up voice mail from the USA in advance and they charge something like 3p to text message from virgin to virgin.

Virgin mobile roaming, however, is expensive (but with the eu poking its nose into roaming rates, who knows what the near future holds)

You can also get O2 sims from them too (for the O2 to mobal) for the same ?3.95 and O2 has all sorts of bolt ons for long distance (to the USA).

Hope this gives you a couple of things to mull over...

[TheMadBrewer]

Thanks. I hadn't considered getting two SIMs but that might make sense. Especially if they will combine shipping.

Calls to the US (or other countries other than possibly FL) is not important. Mobile to mobile calls are the driving force here.

[Przemolog]

Originally Posted by TheMadBrewer

Thanks. I hadn't considered getting two SIMs but that might make sense. Especially if they will combine shipping.

Calls to the US (or other countries other than possibly FL) is not important. Mobile to mobile calls are the driving force here.

Mobile World is good when calling abroad, and acceptable when making national calls, but not to FL mobile! When I "discovere" MW, I was shocked by its FL mobile rate:
http://www.carphonemobileworld.co.uk/mobil...IC&NODE_ID=7648 43.1 p/min :P

[andy]

get the same British SIMs for both of you - they are almost free with a quid or two credit on when registered - I could have offered to send you a couple, but I'm just about to leave for 3 weeks

for occasional roaming with a UK SIM, Vodafone is probably the one - with its Passport scheme you can make off-peak calls for 5p/min to landines, with 75p connect charge - use this with a calling card like Bizon to call home

It looks like other roaming costs will be dropping pretty soon, but maybe not in time for this trip - I expect you aren't planning to go to the football World Cup for which T-mobile UK has just announced roaming at 25p

you might consider easyMobile SIMs for calls between you at 3p/minute, and they keep having special offers like the current ?15 credit for ?1 ..... read the thread I wrote about it though, as you need to cancel the SIM when you leave to avoid 75p a month low use charges

[TheMadBrewer]

Andy,

We're not leaving until the end of July (the 27th to be exact) so there might be time to take you up on your offer. I'd gladly pay shipping, time left on the SIMs and whatever you want for the SIMs.

[TheMadBrewer]

Found a couple of Virgin SIMs (with airtime) on ebay for a good price. Thanks for the idea.