Buying a Phone in Manchester
 

I don't own or use a cell phone at home, but I would like family members to be able to reach me in case of emergency. We'll be flying in to Manchester on our way to a cottage in Hebden Bridge. Is there a cell phone store in either the airport or one of the two Manchester train stations where I could buy a cheap mobile phone?

There isn't a shop that sells mobile phones available to arriving passengers at Manchester Airport.

Orange say they've got a branch at Piccadilly Station, though shops come and go at stations with astonishing speed There's practically no retail at Victoria.

You can't always rely on single-brand phone shops to sell the very cheapest PAYG phones. If all the station branch pof Orange has is loopily priced, feature-rich fashion accessories for techno-addicts, there's a list of some phone shops at http://www.city-visitor.com/manchest...ilephones.html

Input those with M1 or M60 postcodes into multimap.co.uk to see where they are in relation to the station.

Hebden Bridge - cottage. check if there is a signal in the cottage, if its very rural there may not be one

Hebden Bridge does have a signal - and it's not exactly rural

Thank you for the suggestions, flanneruk! It looks like the best bets are the Orange shop and a Vodafone shop near Picadilly Station. I might just call the Orange shop & see if they do carry inexpensive PAYG phones.

I was also considering one of those Mobal phones since my main concern is that family be able to reach me. But it would be a drag to pay $1.25 any time I wanted to call a taxi!

While Hebden Bridge isn't rural, and practically nowhere in England fails to get a signal anyway, flybob's point is worth listening to.

In the bumpy bits of England, it's not unusual for individual houses to be unable to receive signals from all operators: a house in a valley, or in some kind of signal shadow, might be invisible to, say, T-mobile's nearest transmitter but able to receive from Vodafone's a few yards away. This is rarely a catastrophe: your phone beeps and tells you messages are waiting as soon as you walk a hundred yards or so.

But it's always worth checking with the house owner if he knows of any operators whose signals aren't easily received. I once had the irritation of having to walk regularly to the top of a hill to do emails when in a house which couldn't get my GPRS operator. Ms F's phone, of course, worked perfectly, so she could chat in comfort while I was getting soaked.

Don't listen to people telling you "Vodafone (or whoever)'s got better coverage". They might: nut that doesn't mean they've got coverage of the square yard you're going to be in

I'd suggest going to the Carphone Warehouse store in the Arndale Centre (a rather dismal mall halfway between the two train stations). They're a large chain, so if you have a subsequent problem you'll be able to get help at another branch if necessary, and they'll have a decent PAYG range.

Most supermarkets sell PAYG phones these days - pick one up when you stock up on groceries in Hebden Bridge.