I haven’t used a drier in years. Our first place had the wash/dry combo, but the drier was a piece of crap. I bought a few of the little racks that hang off the radiators and a stand alone drying rack. It makes doing laundry interesting…
Not really, one can get a Pay-As-You-Go SIM in every other shop for about £1 *, and top up there or through a dozen methods. Just stick it in a cellphone. Or get the SIM off the internet for free.
As for contracts you may have to register the SIM but they don’t really care.
I’m with PAYG Asda, despite it being quite expensive £5 a month 30 day optional bundle 250 minutes 1000 texts, — or 8p a minute without a bundle. I’d prefer Three but one needs a 3g or 4g capable phone:
Three PAYG = 3p a minute, 2p a text, 1p a MB.
http://www.three.co.uk/Store/SIM/Pay_As_You_Go
A useful site for cellphone plan comparison is http://kenstechtips.com/. And basically there are only 3 real providers; all the numerous little providers just use those three companies’ infrastructure.
You could get an anonymous cellphone ( we ridiculously call them mobiles, and the Germans call them handys ) off EBay or https://www.hotukdeals.com/ ( a deal hunting site ).
- Everywhere. The idea of a British shop assistant showing interest is amusing.
Strangely enough the site I mentioned has a post on this
**Visiting Or Moving To the UK: Using Your Cellphone & Best SIM Cards **
Thank you for all the tips!
We’ll have to work out the bank stuff. I hadn’t realized it was quite so painful.
We are moving some pets.
As far as furniture, I don’t think we’re planning on taking anything. We’ll store some things here, and get rid of a lot. I think we’re mostly taking clothes, and maybe shipping some books. I’m planning on buying what we need when we get there.
Would it be too rude to ask what you r accommodation budget is? Would give us a better idea of where you could live and what you could get. What kind of lifestyle are you looking for? City life v spacious suburb, restaurants and culture v glorious countryside etc. there are some beautiful country villages around for e.g.
Sorry, I meant on a contract, not PAYG.
No worries. Feel free to get in touch. There were a few bumps at first but it’s all good now and we love it here.
Sure. I may mention that in the meantime Asda have increased their bundles and I now have 2000 texts. From the 1000 text allowance I used just 1.
[ However £35 a month PAYG from Three will get you unlimited minutes, texts and internet: Three only do PAYG. )
And there seem to be 4 main providers not 3 as I said; but two will merge when they can… It’s Marx’s Iron Law of Capital.
1750 pounds* a month, maybe higher. I think we’d prefer a little more room for the dogs and all, so spacious suburbs or glorious countryside it is.
*I haven’t figured out how to do the pound sign on the keyboard. :o
Well, you can buy a British keyboard once you get here.
For Broadband go to one of those cheap-looking comparison sites like MoneySavingExpert asap and don’t choose BT.
As with phone coverage there is a lot more choice than in the USA, but an equal chance of being gouged. Since the beginning of this year the charge has shot up, and the average price is around £25 a month + including compulsory line rental ( other than cable ). Fibre is a bit more. Most areas have fibre now. I pay £12 a month including rental *, but that’s through taking a new special offer every year in the future. I was with Orange ( prev Wanadoo [ France ], taken over by EE, which itself was taken over by BT ) for 10 years then they doubled the cost, after being bought over. As I said, gouging is rife.
The countryside’s is nicest, natch, but you won’t meet so many people.
- And I think they should pay me since it’s 3MB, totally unacceptable anywhere for the last 5 years. BT OpenReach ( they own the infrastructure the other companies use ) won’t upgrade the nearest line cabinet.
Hold down Alt and type 0163. Like this: £.