tttman

Leaving in a few days and wanted to know if this still applies and is the best way to to. Thanks

Go to Tesco, buy a T-Mobile Samsung E1150i for about 14 quid and a T-Mobile Sim Pak. I tell the retail specialist to top it off the sim with 20 quid. Then I call the USA via www.yourcallworld.com, and pay 3p a minute which deducts off the 20 I put on my T-Mobile Sim Pak. Is this correct? I am buying two phones so my wife and I can call each other for free correct?

lincasanova

The part about you and your wife calling each other free has me stumped. I hope it is true, but not so under normal circumstances. It is free to receive calls but not to make them.

tttman

We have nothing like these plans in the US so the questions can be redundant. Looking at CPhone Warehouse, Samsung E2121B has this plan with Vodafone: Additional Vodafone Rewards

Vodafone TopUp and Get Talk: Gives you 1000 minutes of FREE UK calls to everyone on Vodafone for 30-days when you top up £10. Call 4352 o opt in.

Vodafone TopUp and Get InternationalGives you FREE international calls to standard landlines and mobiles for 30 days in addition to your credit. Call 4351 to opt in.

Is this really saying I get free calls to my wife on Vodafone AND I can call the US for 30 days with my top up? To me that's too good to be true.

Alec

You can only get <b>either</b> free international calls (for 60 min with £10 top-up) <b>or</b> free Vodafone-to-Vodafone UK calls, not both on the same SIM card. To get both, you have to get another SIM card (free from CPW with minimum £10 top-up with a card, £20 with cash) and opt into one of the other plans and swap SIM card as appropriate. You will have two different phone numbers.

lincasanova

wow. that is interesting, alec.

tttman

If I use Yourcallworld and pay them for 3p a minute to the US, don't I also pay per minute on my pre-paid sim?

Alec

<i>If I use Yourcallworld and pay them for 3p a minute to the US, don't I also pay per minute on my pre-paid sim?</i>

It's 3p min in total from Orange, Three or T-Mobile, but I don't think it will work from Vodafone. You dial a special access number.

xyz123

Alec has it correct...that's the way it works with Orange, T Mobile and 3......other companies have their own relatively cheap plans...or example vodafone UK has a plan where calls to the USA made directly cost 5p/minute (a rip off if you ask me compared to ycw)....also there are several virtual companies which have rates in the vicdinity of 4p or 5p per minute to call the USA and many other landlines throughout the world and even less. You might run into hawkers on the street for lebarra; I think they just raised the tarif for calls to the USA to 5p/minute (it had been 4p/minute)....some companies, not sure about t mobile UK, have all worts of local plans that might enable you to call other t mobile phones for free, not sure of that part.

Incidentally, all international tariffs in the UK have the provision that calls to mobile are somewhat more expensive. Thus on yourcallworld you can call Australian landlines for 3p/minute but it's 15p/minute to an Australian mobile. But all calls to North America (USA and Canada) are considered landline calls even if they go to an American or Canadian cell phone.

Finally, all these rates are timed to the second.....not raised to the next highest minute. The only other thing I might say is I get the feeling when using ycw there is a delay whereas if I use the naitive T Mobile service (at 5p/minute) the quality of the call is much better....I have this service to the USA +1 800 555 8355 which I can call to get say baseball scores or USA weather (it's called tell me)...sometimes when I call them through ycw they mnake me repeat the command several times...I might want the New York Mets score and say Mets and they say they can't understand what I'm saying. Happens when I use ycw; doesn't happen when I use the naitive ld on the carrier and I have no idea what's comng out on the other side.

Nonconformist

"You can ... get ... free international calls (for 60 min with £10 top-up)"

Er, doesn't that mean the calls effectively cost £1 for 6 mins? That isn't actually free.

lincasanova

I think it is OR 60 minutes for top -up. probably misprint.

nona1

You have your £10 worth of call credit to use how you like PLUS 60 mins international calls.

xyz123

Of course it may or may not be a good deal depending just on how many other calls you make....do remember that while in the UK you pay nothing to receive calls and the 60 minutes have a finite time limit (a month?).....

fredandgingermad

No idea where you're flying into but they were handing out T-mobile international Sim Cards for free at LHR on Tuesday

joannay

I've used both, a sim that I had to top up and one that bills my credit card for the calls I make. I much prefer the latter. I got the sim from Mobell several years ago, have had the same number ever since, no extra charges to keep it active and no messing around and wondering if I have enough credit. Perfectly simple.

http://www.mobell.co.uk/british-sim/

xyz123

I betcha joannay that with your mobal card you can't call internationally for 3p/ minute...I'll put up with the inconvenience of having to top up for that!

joannay

Couldn't tell you, xyz. I don't call internationally, use it for calls in the UK. There's always something cheaper, not necessarily better. To each his own.

xyz123

The other question about prepaid vs. post paid....with prepaid should you lose the phone and/or sim card, the most you can be out is whatever credit is left on it, usually a very modest amount.

If somehow you lose a phone with a postpaid sim card, you are responsible for all calls made on it and there are horror stories out there of people running up thousands of dollars in call charges before the loss of the card was noticed and been out the money.

Given this, I just don't see the advantage of post paid on a sim card you're not going to use all that often.

joannay

I don't know the term "post paid". I get a monthly bill when I'm using that phone which is paid by credit card. I suppose that's "post" use.

The lost phone scenario is hypothetical since I've never lost a phone so it seems a remote possibility like other hypotheticals one can insure against. I try to be careful instead. I recently lost €20 credit on a prepaid sim in France so that's a real downside of prepaying for me.

As I said before, it's simply a matter of personal preference. I like keeping the same card, same number, not having to buy one every year as they expire and not having to keep track of my credit balance. Fewer things to think about. Yes, for someone who might visit a place once for a 2 week holiday and never go back prepaid is fine. I'm in the UK for a month or more every year and this is the solution for me.

xyz123

Not meaning to be argumentive but if you're happy paying $1.25/minute to make a call within the UK rounded up to the next highest minute rather than 20p/minute rounded up to the next highest second and $1.25/minute rounded to the next highest minute rather than 3p/minute rounded to the nearest second and 85¢ to send a text message rather than 10p, then I suppose it's your perogative. I presume you just use the phone for emergbencies and a very occasional call and again that's fine and certainly your right. It's the same argument one gets when discussing using their US gsm phones and using their home sim cards or getting a special verizon phone...if it's just for emergbencies and you wish to pay the outrageous rates they charge for the sake of not dialing 150 to check your balance and the inconvenience of popping into a convenience store or chemist or grocery store to top up, who am I to criticize. BTW I've had the same British simn card since 2001...British sim cards are easy to keep active for the most part and don't have to worry about different numbers' besides which I use services to forward calls to a local number in the USA to my British cell phone and can easily change it on the web.

Again, forgive me. It really depends, as you noted, on the way you use the phone. For emergencies, for the knowledge if needed you can be reached, the mobal rates are fine. For most people who really want to have a really functional mobile phone, there is little wrong with the way the Brits handle PAYG....and in the UK, no registration is needed, none whatsoever. And as noted, they literally give away the sim cards for free, certainly can't beat that.

joannay

Are we talking about the same sim? MOBELL is the company I use and I've never paid $1.25 a minute. 20p and 30p to other mobiles. Not the cheapest, I know, but for me the convenience is worth it. And I talk to friends, call accommodations and use it the way I do my mobile at home which is now my only phone. I don't talk a lot but also don't feel constrained by the fees. Higher than some, lower than others. And never a thought about running out of prepaid credit.

It may be that because I walk a lot in the UK and found myself on occasion miles from a shop to top up that this way of doing it came as a relief. And now I find I like it even when I'm near shops, as I said before, one less thing to think about. That's all. Some people like the fiddling, I don't. Ever so simple.