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#1
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Cellphone for England?
I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly
for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S. My current phone will not work in the UK so I need to buy or rent - and I'm finding the options confusing. It's looking like I'm best off buying and getting on some kind of plan, but a lot of them are expensive, and I'm trying to keep my costs down. My guess is that I will probably only be making about 2 hours of local calls and 1 hour of calls to the U.S. - and will be receiving just as many. Any suggestions? I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and England. Tracy in Massachusetts |
#2
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Cellphone for England?
"tracymar55" wrote in message ... I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S. My current phone will not work in the UK so I need to buy or rent - and I'm finding the options confusing. It's looking like I'm best off buying and getting on some kind of plan, but a lot of them are expensive, and I'm trying to keep my costs down. My guess is that I will probably only be making about 2 hours of local calls and 1 hour of calls to the U.S. - and will be receiving just as many. Any suggestions? I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and England. Tracy in Massachusetts The easy solution is to buy a 'pay as you go' SIM card for about £3 ($6) , which comes with £3 of credit on it. Just put it in your current GSM phone, if it isn't SIM locked... If you have a friend in the UK get them to buy you one and post it to you. You can buy credit by credit card. You can buy a new 'pay as you go' telephone for less than £25 ($50) or a second hand one for less than £15 ($30) in the UK, sellers on just about every street corner... Don't get a contract, they all run for at least 13 months (12 month period and 1 month to cancel) -- William Black I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach Time for tea. |
#3
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Cellphone for England?
"tracymar55" wrote in message ... I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S. William Black's suggestion is correct, if you must have a mobile phone. The small usage you suggest certainly doesn't merit a contract, and you might even be no worse off using public payphones. I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and England. Sorry, the reason you need to get the phone rather than bring your US phone is that the systems are incompatible. You won't be able to test such a phone in the USA, even if you can buy it there, because it won't work on the American network. Alan Harrison |
#4
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Cellphone for England?
ALAN HARRISON wrote:
"tracymar55" wrote in message ... I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S. William Black's suggestion is correct, if you must have a mobile phone. The small usage you suggest certainly doesn't merit a contract, and you might even be no worse off using public payphones. I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and England. Sorry, the reason you need to get the phone rather than bring your US phone is that the systems are incompatible. You won't be able to test such a phone in the USA, even if you can buy it there, because it won't work on the American network. There is no such thing as "the American Network" however, but GSM is increasingly prevalent. Providing the phone has one of the US bands, it could quite likely work. Even quite a few of the cheaper payg phones are triband, some quad. -- (*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate -www.davidhorne.net (email address on website) "If people think God is interesting, the onus is on them to show that there is anything there to talk about. Otherwise they should just shut up about it." -Richard Dawkins |
#5
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Cellphone for England?
"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" wrote in message ... ALAN HARRISON wrote: "tracymar55" wrote in message ... I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S. William Black's suggestion is correct, if you must have a mobile phone. The small usage you suggest certainly doesn't merit a contract, and you might even be no worse off using public payphones. I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and England. Sorry, the reason you need to get the phone rather than bring your US phone is that the systems are incompatible. You won't be able to test such a phone in the USA, even if you can buy it there, because it won't work on the American network. There is no such thing as "the American Network" however, but GSM is increasingly prevalent. Providing the phone has one of the US bands, it could quite likely work. Even quite a few of the cheaper payg phones are triband, some quad. You'll certainly need a tri band phone if you want to use it in the US and the UK. Quad band only if you want it for the Far East afterwards. -- William Black I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach Time for tea. |
#6
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Cellphone for England?
William Black wrote:
"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" wrote in message ... ALAN HARRISON wrote: "tracymar55" wrote in message ... I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S. William Black's suggestion is correct, if you must have a mobile phone. The small usage you suggest certainly doesn't merit a contract, and you might even be no worse off using public payphones. I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and England. Sorry, the reason you need to get the phone rather than bring your US phone is that the systems are incompatible. You won't be able to test such a phone in the USA, even if you can buy it there, because it won't work on the American network. There is no such thing as "the American Network" however, but GSM is increasingly prevalent. Providing the phone has one of the US bands, it could quite likely work. Even quite a few of the cheaper payg phones are triband, some quad. You'll certainly need a tri band phone if you want to use it in the US and the UK. Quad band only if you want it for the Far East afterwards. No, quad band is also useful in the US, as there are some GSM areas there using 850 as well as 1900. You'll typically get better coverage in the US with a phone that supports both- i.e. quad band. -- (*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate -www.davidhorne.net (email address on website) "If people think God is interesting, the onus is on them to show that there is anything there to talk about. Otherwise they should just shut up about it." -Richard Dawkins |
#7
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Cellphone for England?
David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) wrote:
William Black wrote: Quad band only if you want it for the Far East afterwards. No, quad band is also useful in the US, as there are some GSM areas there using 850 as well as 1900. You'll typically get better coverage in the US with a phone that supports both- i.e. quad band. When I eventually buy a new mobile, I want a quad-band. My current one is a tri-band, with both US bands plus 1800. I generally use Orange in the UK, so that works for me, but some parts of the Highlands only have coverage with O2, and they use 900. I can't yet justify the expense of a quad-band - I'm waiting until the prices drop, (or the current phone does). |
#8
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Cellphone for England?
tracymar55 wrote:
I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S. My current phone will not work in the UK so I need to buy or rent - and I'm finding the options confusing. It's looking like I'm best off buying and getting on some kind of plan, but a lot of them are expensive, and I'm trying to keep my costs down. My guess is that I will probably only be making about 2 hours of local calls and 1 hour of calls to the U.S. - and will be receiving just as many. Any suggestions? I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and England. You can get a phone plus SIM for about USD 20, and buy airtime for USD20, for a total of only $40 - and you get to keep the phone for later trips, sell it, or lend it to a friend. http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/show/handsets/pay_as_you_go/all/all Buy the phone as soon as you arrive, and text/SMS the number to your US contacts. Ask the shop to make sure to give you the cheap 'call abroad' PAYG plan - it lets you make calls back to the US for only 6 pence (about 12 cents) per minute. You will not be charged for incoming calls and messages, only for outgoing, so your GBP 10 should last for a while. Or you could try phoning a local shop (you can find the numbers on the website), selecting a phone, and asking the staff to have it charged and ready for pickup. The shop should be able to give you the phone's number. I did this not long ago, when my daughter and a friend were travelling. They simply went to the shop and identified themselves, and the phone was all ready for them. |
#9
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Cellphone for England?
On 23 Jul, 10:51, tracymar55 wrote:
I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S. My current phone will not work in the UK so I need to buy or rent - and I'm finding the options confusing. It's looking like I'm best off buying and getting on some kind of plan, but a lot of them are expensive, and I'm trying to keep my costs down. My guess is that I will probably only be making about 2 hours of local calls and 1 hour of calls to the U.S. - and will be receiving just as many. Any suggestions? I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and England. Tracy in Massachusetts My tuppenceworth On ebay.com you can get a second hand phone. The triband phone I use V66 can be obtained for USD30 including shipping. Maybe a quadband would be better for use in the US, but a triband is fine for the UK. Make sure you buy an UNLOCKED one. You can get a SIM easily and cheaply when you arrive, although it may be possible to get something in the US at greater cost. NB you will probably be understood in the UK if you say "cellphone", but everybody here says "mobile" |
#10
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Cellphone for England?
On Jul 23, 1:51*am, tracymar55 wrote:
I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S. My current phone will not work in the UK so I need to buy or rent - and I'm finding the options confusing. It's looking like I'm best off buying and getting on some kind of plan, but a lot of them are expensive, and I'm trying to keep my costs down. My guess is that I will probably only be making about 2 hours of local calls and 1 hour of calls to the U.S. - and will be receiving just as many. Any suggestions? I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and England. Tracy in Massachusetts Why don't you buy a tri band phone that works in England? Then you have other options. |
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