Cell phone in UK question
 

This is probably a really stupid question but I'm going to ask anyway....

Do I need a special car charger for my cell phone when using it in a car in the UK or will my normal car charger (that I use in the USA) work fine? I'm asking only because I know I need an adaptor and converter for plugging in electrical appliances (because of different voltages, plug size etc.) but I didn't know if car batteries over there had a similar thing going and I didn't want to get over there and find out my car charger either won't work or doesn't fit.

Thanks!

No, you won t a special car charger.

As a matter of fact...

In the rare event your charger is not dual voltage, you can buy a little gizmo in many stores (I saw it in Target for about $8) that can be plugged into the electric outlets (you will need a US-UK adaptor plug) and then you can insert your car charger from the US. Use it all the time to cut down on the number of chargers I have to carry while travelling.

Wow - so are you saying that this gizmo lets you use your car charger both in the car and in electrical outlets (if so, that's great!)? Or did I misunderstand.

That's correct..

Like I say, I saw it in Target for about $7 or $8...it has US plugs but it is dual voltage so when you arrive in the UK all you would need is a US to UK plug adapter which you might have already. The car chargers are much cheaper than the plug adapters anyway.

As another alternative, you can look at some UK mobile phone accessory sites which have chargers for the UK mains with UK plugs but again they are dual voltage so you could use them in the US with a UK to US plug adapter...also bear in mind the plugs for the continent are different from the UK and Ireland so you would also need a UK to Europe plug adapter if you went to other countries in Europe but the voltage on the continent is the same as in the UK

Does your phone even work in the UK? Many US phones aren't on the same band as the UK or the rest of Europe. You will need a GSM phone. You should check before you buy the converter, if you haven't already.

I do have an (unlocked) dual-band GSM phone that will work in the UK -- but that's very good advice, Fairfax, for other folks reading this thread who may not know you need that over there. I'll be purchasing a Vodaphone Pay-as-You-Talk SIM card once I get over there, as I was told Vodaphone gets the best reception in the rural areas of Scotland (which is where we will be spending most of our trip this summer).