Cell Phone Question For A Visitor To The UK From The USA

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Poddys - 23 Aug 2006 00:54 GMT

Our cell phones in the USA work on a different system to everywhere
else - they just have to be different..........

I am visiting the UK in a few weeks (returning home to see the family)
and I was looking at renting a cell phone while I am there, but I can't
see any good deals - everything is horribly expensive.

While browsing I came across a company that will sell me a GSM phone in
the USA already supplied with a UK number and card for $50 (30 pounds).
While this seems like a good deal - I get to keep the phone and nunber
and it will work in most countries in the world, the rates per minute
for outgoing calls are $1.50 a minute (almost 1 pound).

My question (finally getting there), is that as I understand it, your
phone number is linked to the card that you put in the phone, therefore
in theory I could acquire another card when in England where I could
pre-pay as I go and get a better rate. Is this possible, how easy is
it to buy and register a card, and what sort of per minute rates would
I expect?

Most of our phones over here don't have a card, you sign up with the
company, get your phone, they program it and voila.... Everything is
different...

Thanks in advance - looking forward to coming home.......

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Jim Burks - 23 Aug 2006 02:57 GMT

> Our cell phones in the USA work on a different system to everywhere
> else - they just have to be different..........

Not all of them - just the CDMA ones.

> While this seems like a good deal - I get to keep the phone and nunber
> and it will work in most countries in the world, the rates per minute
> for outgoing calls are $1.50 a minute (almost 1 pound).

I was in Italy and Poland earlier this month, and my Cingular quad-band GSM
phone worked well. Calls connected to the USA in 2 seconds or less. Call
delivery from my US number worked fine. I have everything in my dialing
directory entered as +1 npa nnx xxxx, so it all worked fine.

Rate was either $1.99 or $2.49/min depending on whether I turned on the
International roaming option with Cingular, which I did (to get $1.99).
Blackberry data service worked the whole time. Not much more expensive than
the proposed option of a $50 phone and $1.50/min.

If you're going to talk a lot over there, wait until you get there and buy a
pre-paid phone. Use it while you're there, then throw it away.

> My question (finally getting there), is that as I understand it, your
> phone number is linked to the card that you put in the phone, therefore
> in theory I could acquire another card when in England where I could
> pre-pay as I go and get a better rate. Is this possible, how easy is
> it to buy and register a card, and what sort of per minute rates would
> I expect?

If the GSM phone is carrier locked, another card won't work. If it's
unlocked, then the number (and carrier) are driven by the SIM card.

> Most of our phones over here don't have a card, you sign up with the
> company, get your phone, they program it and voila.... Everything is
> different...

Not really. Cingular and T-Mobile are GSM and use the same system as most of
the world. Verizon, Spring and most other PCS carriers chose CDMA.

If you travel frequently, either pick a GSM carrier, or get one of the rare
and expensive dual mode CDMA/GSM world phones from Verizon. That's my
opinion. Cause when I go International, I want the phone to WORK when I need
it. I care much more about the phone working when I want to place or receive
an important call than about the rate per minute. Of course, I'm only there
a week or so, and I don't talk any more than I need to.

Jim Burks

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www.goldno.com - 23 Aug 2006 12:35 GMT

> Our cell phones in the USA work on a different system to everywhere
> else - they just have to be different..........
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
> Thanks in advance - looking forward to coming home.......

Get your self a O2 pre pay sim with best text and talk rates back to the
USA.

Signature

www.experimentalist.co.uk/shop/index.php
Australia, New Zealand, USA, German, UK, South Africa, Thailand, Brazil Sim
Cards &
EPIRB.
My help forum
www.experimentalist.co.uk/forum/index.php

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Mike S. - 23 Aug 2006 13:21 GMT

>Our cell phones in the USA work on a different system to everywhere
>else - they just have to be different..........

We have GSM phones just like theirs; except they operate on different radio
frequency bands. Plenty of phones out there that cover all of them.

>I am visiting the UK in a few weeks (returning home to see the family)
>and I was looking at renting a cell phone while I am there, but I can't
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>and it will work in most countries in the world, the rates per minute
>for outgoing calls are $1.50 a minute (almost 1 pound).

You don't give the details of this, but it sounds like Mobal.

They give you a custom SIM card from O2, which carries a UK number, and is
billed postpaid, except that ALL calls (except incoming calls within the
UK) are charged at roaming rates.

>My question (finally getting there), is that as I understand it, your
>phone number is linked to the card that you put in the phone, therefore
>in theory I could acquire another card when in England where I could
>pre-pay as I go and get a better rate. Is this possible, how easy is
>it to buy and register a card, and what sort of per minute rates would
>I expect?

Again you don't give the details of the vendor you are looking at.

If it's the Mobal $50 phone, you can't do this because the phone is
subsidy-locked to the O2 SIM that it is sold with. If you buy a PAYG SIM
from another carrier after arriving in UK, the phone will reject it.

The most cost-effective thing to do would be to buy an unlocked GSM phone
from someone on eBay before you leave. It may be dual, tri, or quad-band,
depending on the assortment; the bands you would need are 900 (and
preferably also 1800) MHz. There are a gazillion phones on eBay right now
that fit the bill, many for $50 or so.

You could then buy a PAYG (pay as you go) SIM at Heathrow, a cellphone
store, many supermarkets, tobacco stands, etc and use it like a local.
On my last trip to UK, I used a Vodafone PAYG SIM (purchased in the US
from Expansys for $12 plus shipping) and an unlocked quad band phone.
Couple that with a 5-pound calling card for making international calls
back to the US, and you're set.

Reply to this Message

Poddys - 23 Aug 2006 14:03 GMT

> You don't give the details of this, but it sounds like Mobal.

Hi Mike, yes you are correct - it was Mobal I saw. It sounded like a
good deal last night, but then having read your response and a number
of others this morning (I posted the same msg to 3 cellular groups) I
am convinced that buying a phone over in England is the best way to go.

Whether I only use it for the 10 day trip or whether I can use it for
future trips (technogoly and the companies change so often), it's
probably not going to be more expensive than renting one at the end of
the day, so I might as well just go out and buy one.

I got a list of companies to choose from - just need to find the best
for me. As long as they don't need proof of UK residency (I'm now US
resident but most of my family are still in England), it's just a
matter of seeing who has the best deal. Most of my calls will probably
be incoming (FREE?), and for outgoing I will hopefully call from family
homes rather from the cell. I do have a calling card anyhow to call
back to the USA.

Incidentally, when I call the family from the USA at the weekends I
usually call on my cell phone (free weekend minutes) but use a calling
card that costs under 4 cents a minute. Works out really cheap. There
are slightly cheaper cards, but the one I use (idphonecard) has been
good. At 4 cents a minute you really don't have to worry about the
cost of a call. Now at a pound a minute (some of the cell rates I was
quoted if I rented a phone in the UK) every minute eats a hole in your
wallet....

Reply to this Message

Geoffrey S. Mendelson - 23 Aug 2006 15:30 GMT

> Incidentally, when I call the family from the USA at the weekends I
> usually call on my cell phone (free weekend minutes) but use a calling
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> quoted if I rented a phone in the UK) every minute eats a hole in your
> wallet....

If you are going to be near Islington (just north of the City of London
aka the financial district) and don't mind sitting outside a cafe on
Upper Street, there is free WiFi. You can make and receive calls using a
laptop or PocketPC running Skype or a SIP softphone to Vonage or one of
the other SIP to POTS bridges.

As for phones, any old 900/1800 mHz Nokia phone will do and can be unlocked
over the Internet for free (www.nokiafree.org). There are two 900mHz
companies and 2 1800mHz companies and Virgin which is a "virtual" company
on 1800mHz, so if you plan accordingly you only need a single band phone.

If you are going to visit friends or family ask them, they may have
an old phone sitting in drawer.

Geoff.

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Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm@mendelson.com N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 Fax ONLY: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

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Poddys - 23 Aug 2006 19:43 GMT

> If you are going to be near Islington (just north of the City of London
> aka the financial district) and don't mind sitting outside a cafe on
> Upper Street, there is free WiFi. You can make and receive calls using a
> laptop or PocketPC running Skype or a SIP softphone to Vonage or one of
> the other SIP to POTS bridges.

Thanks Geoffrey. Actually I'm going to do my best to steer clear of
London altogether - headed southwest from Heathrow down to Dorset to
see the family. I used to live in Islington though - just off Chapel
Market. The traffic and parking was bad in the late 70's - I hate to
think what it's like now...

Reply to this Message

Geoffrey S. Mendelson - 23 Aug 2006 20:21 GMT

> Thanks Geoffrey. Actually I'm going to do my best to steer clear of
> London altogether - headed southwest from Heathrow down to Dorset to
> see the family. I used to live in Islington though - just off Chapel
> Market. The traffic and parking was bad in the late 70's - I hate to
> think what it's like now...

I don't know, I haven't been there since August 2001, but it was pretty
bad then too. London went from a collection of small neighborhoods with
little shops to one huge strip mall. A StarBucks, then a Cell phone
store, a Borders, then another Cell phone store, a GAP and so on.
Occasionaly there was a Tesco or another chain to spice it up. :-(

If you are going to visit family, you should ask them which company to
buy a SIM from. Calls within the same company are cheaper and the coverage
varies.

The four SPs claim over 99% coverage, but often the 1% is where you want to
go.

They may also have a phone for you to use......

Geoff.

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matt weber - 23 Aug 2006 22:51 GMT

>Our cell phones in the USA work on a different system to everywhere
>else - they just have to be different..........
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
>Thanks in advance - looking forward to coming home.......

The only hitch with plastic roaming is most phones sold in the USA are
SIM locked, which means your existing phone will not accept a SIM from
another provider. If you have phone that is unlocked, it is almost
always less expensive to get a prepaid in the country you are in.
Virgin Mobile works in much of the world (even in the USA a Virgin
Mobile Prepaid roams on T-Mobile). Many phones sold on eBay are in
fact locked. Any AT&T branded phone will be locked, AT&T doesn't
unlock.. PERIOD.

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mrcamp - 24 Aug 2006 20:37 GMT

It's true that both tmobile and cingular lock their phones, but it'
also true that they both will give out the unlock code upon request (a
no charge too). The only requirement being that one must have been
customer in good standing for at least 90 days, and that one has no
received an unlock code in the last 90 days. Tmobile will even unloc
prepaid phones that are active and have been topped up in the last 9
days.

matt weber Wrote:

> The only hitch with plastic roaming is most phones sold in the USA are
> SIM locked, which means your existing phone will not accept a SIM from
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> fact locked. Any AT&T branded phone will be locked, AT&T doesn't
> unlock.. PERIOD

--
mrcamp

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