Newbie Traveling To Uk

[kdkrone]

I will be traveling to England for two weeks and have been looking at pay-as-you-go services. O2 and Orange seem reasonable. I have an unlocked GSM phone.

I am unclear about how cards are "re-charged". Do I need to call the company and add a certain amount on my VISA? Am I obligated to stop in at one of their stores? Are there designated shops where one can "re-charge" the cards?

I am rather clueless about this. Here in the US I pay my bill, use my phone, and that is it...

Thanks very much
Ken K

[snaimon]

No experience with UK, but I am fairly certain they have refill or top up cards that can be widely purchased. Based on the German & Malta prepaids, I am going to guess that if you want to refill online, you would need to register your card/number online. You may be able to top up by using your credit card at ATMs or other places, but I cannot guarantee that; is possibile in Germany also at the post office.

Where were you going to buy such a card, here (Ebay) or there (after you arrive)?

Why don't you check on Ebay and ask your questions?

Here is an example:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-ORANGE-UK-PAY-AS-Y...1QQcmdZViewItem

Not saying that offer is good or recommending it an any way.

Stan

[kdkrone]

I hadn't thought of Ebay, especially as I am leaving in 4 days! I was hoping to pick up a card at Heathrow or when we arrive in Bath.

Thanks
Ken

[Motel75]

Don't worry about eBay. Prepaid telephony is one of the great inventions of our time, and it's a mystery to me why it's used so little in the US. All it means is that you pay for the calls ahead of time, rather than afterwards. Because of this, there's no need for a contract or a credit check, and you can easily control spending. There are many ways to top up, but the most common way is to buy a voucher (available just about everywhere). You call a free number on your phone and enter the number on the voucher, and the credit is added to your account.

You have a GSM phone, but be aware that the frequencies in Europe (900 and 1800 MHz) are different from those in the USA (850 and 1900) and if your phone isn't quad- or tri-band it will not work; if it only supports one European frequency it might not work terribly well. Fortunately, you can often get a very cheap phone with your SIM card (perhaps less than 20 pounds), so this might not be such a big deal.

You should look into Virgin Mobile. They have good service, reasonably fair prices (and sometimes cheap phones) and calls to the USA cost 20 p a minute, far less than on O2 or Vodafone; also, you can keep the account active by as little as sending a single SMS per year, if you plan to return to the UK (although topping up Virgin outside the UK can be a pain, though you can buy the topup cards cheap on eBay and call international customer service to do it). If it turns out you don't need a phone, the SIMs currently cost 5 pounds with 5 pounds credit.

Orange international prices are also more reasonable than Voda, TMO, and O2. Carphone Warehouse (on every high street in the UK) has a SIM-only offer called mobileworld with the best international prices, though unlike most UK prepaid offers there is no international roaming and the card expires after a few months.

[Malkav]

if you want i have some uk pre paid sim cards if you want to trade? i have 02, Virgin, Mobileworld, orange, vodafone. re topping up, most prepaid packs you get a 'etop' up card wich with vodafone and virgin is pre linked to your account, with the card you simply go into a shop wich has the green etop up logo (post offices, supermarkets, carphonewarehouse etc) and hand over the card and the amount you want to top up your account and within about ten mins its been put on your account. anyhow if your intrested in trading prepay sim cards pm me ok.

[TheMadBrewer]

Originally Posted by Motel75

...(although topping up Virgin outside the UK can be a pain, though you can buy the topup cards cheap on eBay and call international customer service to do it).

You can buy Virgin UK top-up vouchers on ebay and they seller will email you the 16 digit voucher number -- just enter it in the phone (free call) and you are good to go.

As an aside, after my trip in August I should have an extra Virgin UK SIM if anybody in the US needs one.

[Motel75]

My point was, it's not a free call from outside the UK. Topping up VM from abroad can be a bit trickier; strangely, you can't enter the topup codes on the website.

[TheMadBrewer]

Originally Posted by Motel75

My point was, it's not a free call from outside the UK. Topping up VM from abroad can be a bit trickier; strangely, you can't enter the topup codes on the website.

Voice Mail is not free from outside the UK but I believe topping up is. At least I was not charged the two times I did it.

[Bossman]

Yes, topping up is not available on the website, but it's a free call (just like the other UK sims) via 789. What the website gives that I like is the call and data usage detail. I use the sim primarily for GPRS roaming outside UK, since they charge the same regardless of roaming, and it's good to be able to see the charges right away. Virgin also works with opera mini without any additional setup. Not sure of the other UK providers.

[Motel75]

Voice Mail is not free from outside the UK but I believe topping up is. At least I was not charged the two times I did it.

Really? Did 789 work or did you have to go through the international customer service number? (Their website claims, and my experience is, that the latter does cost money.)