Cell phone in London
Mar 11th, 2008, 04:13 PM
#1
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Cell phone in London
I have looked at the forums, and have decided to get a PAYG phone in London for a couple of reasons. My husband and I are going for less than a week, leaving Saturday, and are leaving 4 kids and his medical practice behind. From what I understand, at Carphone Warehouse, I can get a phone for about 20 pounds, with calls to the States about 5 pence. (This was from emailing a guy at CW.) We have Verizon, so our phones aren't an option. I need to be able for my kids to get in touch with us, and he'll have to call the practice a couple of times a day. Is Carphone Warehouse the best place, or will other places have better deals? Will I need a SIM card in addition to the PAYG phone?
Thanks!
Thanks!
Mar 12th, 2008, 05:59 AM
#3
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CW is a retailer, rather than a service provider. There are shops for all the different chains (Carphone Warehouse, Phones4U, The Link) all over the place, as well as the providers' own outlets. More general retailers, like ASDA (our part of the Wal-Mart empire), Tesco and Rymans (stationery and office supplies) sell basic phones on PAYG. So you could shop around once you get here.
5p a minute does sound very cheap - they must be getting some more money from you somewhere else.
The SIM card should come with the phone, if you can't put a new one in your own phone.
Try this comparison site:
http://www.onecompare.com/buy-a-mobi...hone-deals.asp
5p a minute does sound very cheap - they must be getting some more money from you somewhere else.
The SIM card should come with the phone, if you can't put a new one in your own phone.
Try this comparison site:
http://www.onecompare.com/buy-a-mobi...hone-deals.asp
Mar 12th, 2008, 06:18 AM
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5p/minute...to much for me...actually you can call from the UK to landlines throughout the world for as little as 3p/minute (15p/minute to those countries where caller pays to mobile phones; to American and Canadian mobile phones it's 3p/minute)...
How I hear yu say...
Go to www.yourcallworld.com
This is a call through service that works much like a calling card insofar as you call a local number, 07755 500 500 and then you enter the international code (00) followed by the country code (1 to the USA and Canada) and then the number followed by # and the call goes through for 3p/minute (as noted above except to mobiles where caller pays prevails but not to the USA and Canada)...and, get this, if you are using a T Mobile UK PAYG sim card, you don't even pay for the triggering call.
Nonsense I hear you say...WRONG...it works and I have used it and the rate is correct 3p/minute.
Now if you don't want to make a triggering call...if you are calling the USA or Canada and you have a T Mobile UK sim card, you can purchase a bundle of 50 minutes of calls to the US and Canada for £2; if my math is correct that means 4p/minute if you go through the entire 50 minutes...information is available on the T Mobile UK web site (www.tmobile.co.uk)...the web site also explains how you can get T Mobile UK sim cards for free (if you have a UK mailing address!)..if you're in the USA, I have seen several merchants on ebay offer T Mobile UK sim cards for $10 including shipping and handling.
Now Orange UK, not to be outdone, has a service called call abroad. The sim card is free but upon purchase you have to top up for £10. Unfortunately they've gotten greedy...when the service first came out it was 5p/minute to call the USA and Canada as well as other destinations...now they've raised it to 7p/minute a 40% increase...what a bummer.
Carphone warehouse indeed is a mobile phone chain but they offer a service called Mobile World which also offers 5p/minute to call the USA and Canada. However, Mobile World does not allow roaming that is use outside the UK and will expire in 90 days.
Both T Mobile UK and Orange UK allow you to roam with their cards and also have the eurotariffs in effect...so you can receive calls within the eu on each for 19p/minute and make calls within the eu for I believe 34p/minute or something like that...also since they allow roaming in the USA and Canada, you can easily keep them active by for example sending one text message every six months so you can keep the number (if y ou use the cards for data, just downloading a ringtone, for example, costs 9p and also keeps the card active!)
What you need is an unlocked gsm phone with at least the 1800 frequency as Orange UK and T Mobile UK operate on 1800, thus many Americans and Canadians with gsm carriers already have the phones..they may need to get the phones unlocked....if you don't have a gsm carrier, cheap gsm unlocked phones with 1800 as a frequency are readilly available on ebay for as little as $50...if you live in Britain you probably are working on your second or third mobile phone as stats show most Brits upgrade once a year so if the phone is unlocked, you can get the free sim cards from T Mobile UK or Orange UK or Mobile World and use these to call the USA, Canada and other foreign countries.
Incidentally, of the deals above, my favorite is T Mobile UK as all calls within the UK whether to landlines or other mobile networks are 15p/minute.....
But yes it's very easy to be able to use a mobile phone to call throughout the world for 3p/minute.
How I hear yu say...
Go to www.yourcallworld.com
This is a call through service that works much like a calling card insofar as you call a local number, 07755 500 500 and then you enter the international code (00) followed by the country code (1 to the USA and Canada) and then the number followed by # and the call goes through for 3p/minute (as noted above except to mobiles where caller pays prevails but not to the USA and Canada)...and, get this, if you are using a T Mobile UK PAYG sim card, you don't even pay for the triggering call.
Nonsense I hear you say...WRONG...it works and I have used it and the rate is correct 3p/minute.
Now if you don't want to make a triggering call...if you are calling the USA or Canada and you have a T Mobile UK sim card, you can purchase a bundle of 50 minutes of calls to the US and Canada for £2; if my math is correct that means 4p/minute if you go through the entire 50 minutes...information is available on the T Mobile UK web site (www.tmobile.co.uk)...the web site also explains how you can get T Mobile UK sim cards for free (if you have a UK mailing address!)..if you're in the USA, I have seen several merchants on ebay offer T Mobile UK sim cards for $10 including shipping and handling.
Now Orange UK, not to be outdone, has a service called call abroad. The sim card is free but upon purchase you have to top up for £10. Unfortunately they've gotten greedy...when the service first came out it was 5p/minute to call the USA and Canada as well as other destinations...now they've raised it to 7p/minute a 40% increase...what a bummer.
Carphone warehouse indeed is a mobile phone chain but they offer a service called Mobile World which also offers 5p/minute to call the USA and Canada. However, Mobile World does not allow roaming that is use outside the UK and will expire in 90 days.
Both T Mobile UK and Orange UK allow you to roam with their cards and also have the eurotariffs in effect...so you can receive calls within the eu on each for 19p/minute and make calls within the eu for I believe 34p/minute or something like that...also since they allow roaming in the USA and Canada, you can easily keep them active by for example sending one text message every six months so you can keep the number (if y ou use the cards for data, just downloading a ringtone, for example, costs 9p and also keeps the card active!)
What you need is an unlocked gsm phone with at least the 1800 frequency as Orange UK and T Mobile UK operate on 1800, thus many Americans and Canadians with gsm carriers already have the phones..they may need to get the phones unlocked....if you don't have a gsm carrier, cheap gsm unlocked phones with 1800 as a frequency are readilly available on ebay for as little as $50...if you live in Britain you probably are working on your second or third mobile phone as stats show most Brits upgrade once a year so if the phone is unlocked, you can get the free sim cards from T Mobile UK or Orange UK or Mobile World and use these to call the USA, Canada and other foreign countries.
Incidentally, of the deals above, my favorite is T Mobile UK as all calls within the UK whether to landlines or other mobile networks are 15p/minute.....
But yes it's very easy to be able to use a mobile phone to call throughout the world for 3p/minute.
Mar 12th, 2008, 06:44 AM
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Being the nice guy I am, I have done a little of the research.
1. Information on the £2 bundles on T Mobile UK are available at http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/coverage/bundles/
2. Information on getting a free T Mobile UK sim card (2 in fact) is available at
http://www.t-mobilesimgiveaway.co.uk/
You will need a UK mailing address although on another board, somebody suggested if you want one sent to the USA you can enter any old valid UK postal code and then in City put your city, state, zip followed by USA and he claims he got the sim card although it took about 2 weeks. If your hotel will hold mail, you can have the cards sent to your first hotel.
3. I did a search on e bay for "t mobile UK sim card" and found a whole bunch of merchants offering them for $9.85 and $1.95 postage...I found one merchant who has 4 available selling them for $2.49 with $3.99 s & h....this would be nice if you want to know your UK number in advance.
Do be aware that T Mobile UK sim cards are sold without any airtime...upon arrival in the UK you will have to go into most any chemist (pharmacy such as Boots or Superdrug), grocery chain (Tesco, Sainsbury), mobile phone store (Carphone Warehouse, phones 4 u) or a T Mobile store and top up...topping up is very easy...with the sim card package comes what looks like a credit card, you present this card to the merchant and say, "£5 top up" (if you really want to sound British you can say "top up for 5 quid" (or 10 quid or whatever), the merchant runs the card through his or her credit card terminal, you hand over your £5 (or a credit card) and voila done.....you can then order the £2 bundle or start using YCW....
Piece of cake and hardly brain surgery don't you think.
1. Information on the £2 bundles on T Mobile UK are available at http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/coverage/bundles/
2. Information on getting a free T Mobile UK sim card (2 in fact) is available at
http://www.t-mobilesimgiveaway.co.uk/
You will need a UK mailing address although on another board, somebody suggested if you want one sent to the USA you can enter any old valid UK postal code and then in City put your city, state, zip followed by USA and he claims he got the sim card although it took about 2 weeks. If your hotel will hold mail, you can have the cards sent to your first hotel.
3. I did a search on e bay for "t mobile UK sim card" and found a whole bunch of merchants offering them for $9.85 and $1.95 postage...I found one merchant who has 4 available selling them for $2.49 with $3.99 s & h....this would be nice if you want to know your UK number in advance.
Do be aware that T Mobile UK sim cards are sold without any airtime...upon arrival in the UK you will have to go into most any chemist (pharmacy such as Boots or Superdrug), grocery chain (Tesco, Sainsbury), mobile phone store (Carphone Warehouse, phones 4 u) or a T Mobile store and top up...topping up is very easy...with the sim card package comes what looks like a credit card, you present this card to the merchant and say, "£5 top up" (if you really want to sound British you can say "top up for 5 quid" (or 10 quid or whatever), the merchant runs the card through his or her credit card terminal, you hand over your £5 (or a credit card) and voila done.....you can then order the £2 bundle or start using YCW....
Piece of cake and hardly brain surgery don't you think.
Mar 12th, 2008, 06:45 AM
#7
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janisj...
Be as skeptical as you want...everything above is true..I've used all these services as recently as three weeks ago when I was last in London...as I said it's not 5p/minute, it's 3p/minute and there are absolutely no catches.
Be as skeptical as you want...everything above is true..I've used all these services as recently as three weeks ago when I was last in London...as I said it's not 5p/minute, it's 3p/minute and there are absolutely no catches.
Mar 12th, 2008, 07:03 AM
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Hold the press..
I also found on ebay on that same search (T Mobile UK sim card) a merchant in the UK who will sell a T Mobile UK sim card for 1p although shipping is £2.64 at today'x exchange that's about $5.40 US (less in CAD as the looney is now worth more than the greenback!)
So....not much to set yourself up with UK cell service for calls back to the USA or Canada.
I also found on ebay on that same search (T Mobile UK sim card) a merchant in the UK who will sell a T Mobile UK sim card for 1p although shipping is £2.64 at today'x exchange that's about $5.40 US (less in CAD as the looney is now worth more than the greenback!)
So....not much to set yourself up with UK cell service for calls back to the USA or Canada.
Mar 12th, 2008, 08:20 AM
#10
xyz - your post was not there when I posted mine. Since you were still editing your <u>long</u> entry while I was posting I could not have seen your info before I posted. So get off the attack mode - OK??
Mar 12th, 2008, 08:35 AM
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janisi..
I didn't attack you...I said in all due respect and I said I understand your skepticism and even said I was a skeptic too....I didn't mean it to be nasty and if you took it that way, I apologize....
I didn't attack you...I said in all due respect and I said I understand your skepticism and even said I was a skeptic too....I didn't mean it to be nasty and if you took it that way, I apologize....
Mar 12th, 2008, 09:00 AM
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janisi...
I just re=read my posts and can understand why you were angry...trust me it wasn't meant to be never question me...it was meant I understand the skepticisim, it's too good to be true but it's true.
If this were a modern message board, I would have re-edited it. Trust me, I always try to interject some humor into my posts although every so often it is misinterpreted as sarcasm every so often so again, please accept my apologies..it just didn't come out the way I wanted it to.
xyz
I just re=read my posts and can understand why you were angry...trust me it wasn't meant to be never question me...it was meant I understand the skepticisim, it's too good to be true but it's true.
If this were a modern message board, I would have re-edited it. Trust me, I always try to interject some humor into my posts although every so often it is misinterpreted as sarcasm every so often so again, please accept my apologies..it just didn't come out the way I wanted it to.
xyz
Mar 12th, 2008, 09:34 AM
#13
What I was trying to explain -- I never challenged your info, nor am I skeptical about <u>anything</u> you wrote. My post was in line w/ what laustic and PatrickLondon had posted before me. Because you were in preview mode your post did not display until after I wrote mine (the reason your time hack is earlier is because when one first starts a post and previews, the time is set.)
If all that info was there I would not have posted.
If all that info was there I would not have posted.
Mar 12th, 2008, 10:44 AM
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On further review, even the self proclaimed genius xyz123 can be wrong (rarely but so)...
Apparently the £2 bundle for 50 minutes of calling to the USA and Canada on T Mobile UK is no longer available to PAYG customers...oh well you can't have everything.
Apparently the £2 bundle for 50 minutes of calling to the USA and Canada on T Mobile UK is no longer available to PAYG customers...oh well you can't have everything.
Mar 12th, 2008, 11:28 AM
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Thanks to everyone for all the input. So from what I hear, I can get a cheap PAYG phone from any number of sources once I get to London Sunday morning; it should come with a SIM card, and I can top it off. I don't want to have to think too much.....I'm afraid of a jet-lagged fried brain! I wish I could order one and have it delivered, but we are staying in a flat in Westminster, so I should be able to get one in that area. I also know that a phone card is probably the cheapest, but accessability is a big deal to me, with 4 kids at home. I'll check out the yourcallworld.com site, though.
