I’ll be spending a week in England (London, Bradford, and back) in March, and it would be convenient to have a cell phone while there. But my US cell is not GSM tri-band, or any of that stuff. So what are my best options?
I probably won’t be making lots of calls, just “where should we meet” kinds of things. And it would be nice to be reachable from home (US), but there’s a good chance I won’t have to call or be called internationally.
This place offers a phone and $20 of airtime for $50, which seems pretty reasonable. I was wondering if I might be able to walk into a store in London and pick up a pre-paid phone cheaper and more simply than using Telestial.
When I went to Ireland last year I went through Verizon Wireless’ international service which is operated by Vodaphone in the UK. I was able to rent a phone. Because it was last minute, I had them overnight it to me. It came in a leather bag, a charger with a set of adapters for various countries and a manual. I was able to forward my calls from my US cell phone number so I didn’t have to worry about handing out an international number to all my friends.
When I returned home I put it in a box they gave me with a Fedex label already on it, called Fedex and they picked it up. I got the bill about 2 weeks later.
I think it was $50 USD intial fee + $10/day + minutes @ $1.49/min. I tried to keep my minutes as low as possible. I used the phone more for contacting car rentals and such. Called home to let them know I was still alive a few times.
For the same reasons most people use cell phones: because I may want people to call me when I’m not in my hotel room, which will be most of every day, and I may want to make calls when I’m out sightseeing, without a pocket full of change.
But as I’ve thought about it, although I might save a few bucks (or quid) by buying a phone when I get there, it’ll be much more convenient to know the number before I leave home, so I can tell everyone I may want to call what the number is.
So I’ll probably get something like the phone in my first link. But if anyone has any other ideas, please feel free to share.
You’re going to Bradford? My inlaws are there. (Don’t visit them, they’re very dull.) Why Bradford, if I might ask? I know it’s not because it’s beautiful at this time of year. . . .
I’m on the “disposable cellphone while there” side of the question, btw. That’s if you can’t get international calling added to your phone for a short time.
My mother- and father-in-law are 82 and 84 respectively, and they have lived in Bradford ALL THEIR LIVES. ALL THEIR LIVES ALL THEIR LIVES ALL THEIR LIVES.
Can you even begin to IMAGINE??? . . . .the horror. . . .
And buying a cheap-ass GSM phone will allow you to pick up pay-as-you-go SIM cards if you go elsewhere in the world. I did this on a round-the-world trip in 2005, and picked up pay-as-you-go SIM cards in Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. Very handy, and very cheap.
Furthermore, international calling from a foreign country back to the host country on your host plan is usually appallingly expensive. However, if you get a “disposable” cell, you can also get a heavily discounted prepaid calling card for making calls to the US, that goes via a free UK number.
How do the SIM cards work? (US cell phones don’t use them, so I know nothing.) I thought you get a different phone number with every card. I can buy a cheap used unlocked phone on eBay before I go, but if I get the SIM card in London, won’t I have to wait until then to tell my contacts how they can reach me? And that will probably involve calling them, using up minutes, just to tell them the number.
It seems to me that the US$50 phone offered in my OP’s link gets me all set up before leaving home, and for only maybe $20 more than buying a phone (or SIM card) in London. I should be able to e-mail everyone the number before leaving. And I can still add onto the card that comes with it while there, or even get another card if I need to.
Am I wrong?
BTW, what is a good rate for minutes, within a country and internationally?
AT&T, T-Mobile, and a few other US carriers use SIM cards. The card stores your information, which can include your phonebook entries (think of it as the phone’s brain). You can take it out of one handset and pop it into another and be on your way (making upgrades painless). If you go with one of the prepaid plans, you should get instructions on how to add minutes once you run low.
B
It’s a little cumbersome, but once you get the new phone you could call your US-based voicemail and leave the new # in your greeting (if you get int’l calling with the new phone, or use a landline) or send a quick email to those who might call you.
If you are going to be travelling to Europe occasionally try this:
You can buy a phone fro 50 bucks and pay only for the time you are using it for calls. You have the same # permanently. Bought one last year for a trip…worked great.
payphones (or Public Call Offices, to give them their proper name) are an endangered species here now. Many generate so little revenue that they have been taken out altogether and I think we will see the death of them within the next five or so years, unless it’s in airports or tourist traps