RM67

Unlocking - getting your phone modified so that a sim card from another provider can be used. Thus you can avoid roaming charges when overseas by using a 'local' sim.

Roaming - enabling your phone to use affiliated service providers when overseas. It does not normally require the phone to be 'unlocked', though, which seems to be a common misconception on here.

Robespierre

<i>...most modern bulletin boards I deal with have a key to edit the post after it has been posted...</i>

This one does, too. It's labeled &quot;Back&quot; or &quot;Backspace&quot; on most keyboards.

Rule One: always hit &quot;Preview my reply&quot; (<i>i.e.</i>, do not go directly to &quot;Post my reply&quot when you've entered text. After you have posted, you can edit by backing up (&quot;Back&quot until you reach the frame where &quot;Edit&quot; is offered. Don't back up further.

Select &quot;Edit&quot;
Change your deathless prose
Select &quot;Preview my reply&quot;
Select &quot;Post my reply&quot;

(You can also back up to a post you made any time in the past, the only requirement being that it's still in your browser's History.)

janisj

The main difference being -- IF one edits a post on those other sites, it clearly says &quot;<i>edited by _____ (date)</i>&quot;

It isn't just typos, you know. Here - all sorts of mischief has occurred when someone edits their mis-statements long after others have posted to the thread.

pjsparlor536

I checked out the orange website, but I am having problems getting the answer I need. I am buying the phone pay as you go, but I need it in Paris too, how does that work?

Robespierre

<i>The main difference being -- IF one edits a post on those other sites, it clearly says &quot;edited by _____ (date)&quot; </i>

True of some sites, not of others.

<i>Here - all sorts of mischief has occurred when someone edits their mis-statements long after others have posted to the thread. </i>

Do you like the feel of that high horse between your thighs?

violetduck

You might want to check out
www.unitedmobile.com. Ordered a
SIM card from them for September
trip. It worked well and was
much less expensive than using roaming with our regular service.

violetduck

Need to add a bit of info there--
as others have mentioned you need
an unlocked tri or quad band
phone.

xyz123

Leaving aside the silly argument about being able to modify a post after it's been posted (we should have the ability to modify a post and I never use preview on other boards but let's leave that aside), you need a tri or quad band GSM phone...gsm being the 2nd generation digital technology in use in much of the world (3g and 4g technologies are coming out but gsm will be with us for a while yet)....

As far as Orange UK is concerned and international roaming, thanks to the foresight of the eu communcations director a person as I remember by the name of Redding almost all PAYG plans on local gsm sims within the eu, have relatively modest roaming arrangements...the key one being you can receive calls for something like &euro;0,24/minute (19p/minute)...at least that's been the rate so yes the Orange UK PAYG sim card will work in Paris for receiving calls but it will cost 19p/minute...calls within the eu are also relatively cheap but iw ould cost a bit to call outside the eu (although you can use an international calling card with a local (within the eu) triggering number.

With the cost of local sim card, especially within the UK being as low as it is, there is nothing to keep you from getting a local UK sim while in the UK and then using an international sim, such as United Mobile which is very good, for the rest of the trip.

A lot depends on your capability of setting up international call forwarding, for example. In my case, my local landline which is on Verizon, allows me to use international call forwarding and set it up remotely so I can really have my cake and eat it too...when I arrive in the UK, I set up the international call forwarding to the UK sim card, pay whatever my ld carrier charges and that's it..people can call my local NYC number, pay whatever is charged to call it domestically and it call forwards to the UK number while I'm in the UK..I pay something like 22¢/minute but nothing to the UK sim card...I can call back to the USA while in the UK for 3p/minute...then I switch over to the United Mobile sim card (which I've had for years)...there are other solutions.

Hope there aren't any typos as because of the absurdity this bulletin board refuses to go, I won't be able to fix them after I post.

xyz123

Just checked the Talk Mobile website and I was correct (as usual but not 100% of the time, only 99% of the time)...international calls from the UK to North America are now up to 4p/minute (but of course, with the way the UK&pound; is tanking, that's now only about 6.8¢/minute US...within a month who knows how cheap that will be!

xyz123

Matt...

Not bad but read the fine print...the sim card is free for the first three months and then $3.99/month thereafter. ouch

The point being made is that the competition is so fierce in the UK for UK local sim cards that they are FREE period; can't do much better than that eh.

Also if one needs a T Mobile UK sim card, I just checked ebay and they are being offered (no time included) by one merchant for about $6 to US and Canadian addresses shipping included...you won't have any time on it so your first stop on arrival will be to top it up for the first time with the swipe card but, if this is important to you, you will know the number.


Free sure beats $3.99/month any day of the week wouldn't you agree?

Robespierre

<i>...you need a tri or quad band GSM phone.</i>

Not necessarily. The two frequencies in use in Europe are 900 and 1800mHz. If your phone has these, that's all you need.

T-Mobile will sell you a PAYG SIM with &pound;5 credit on it for &pound;5 - so it's basically free. These chips are good for voice calls at per-minute rates, as well as unlimited internet access for &pound;1 per day or &pound;2.50 for five days. The first ten days are free (see goodybag, below).

T-Mo has a store on every other block in London. Some candy included with the SIM: http://t-mobile.co.uk/goodybag

telechick

XYZ123 - I have a question for you.

How do you get Verizon to allow the int'l call forwarding from my landline? I just checked their website and they seem to say that they won't do this for international numbers. Can you point me in the right direction? thank you.

I'm glad I came across such a helpful thread because I'm looking to buy a PAYG phone when I'm in the UK next week to keep for my upcoming trip to Germany/Austria/Italy. Since I have Verizon Wireless, they don't make it easy. It's so stupid since they're part of Vodafone.

xyz123

I just checked..

I have remote call forwarding with verizon which is my landline carrier...I pay $4/month for call forwarding and I think it's another $2/month for remote call forwarding. Remote call forwarding allows you to dial a US toll free number and enter a destination number...after going through the preliminary steps you enter the foreign number starting with 011 country code local number omitting the lead zero for the most part...the call is forwarded via your designated long distance carrier which in my case is AT&amp;T...I have their special international ld package...I just checked and it works so I would presume it should work for you.....

Verizon many moons ago made the decision to use a technology other than gsm...of course technology keeps marching on and there have been all sorts of discussions on various mobile phone boards as to which technology is best and it is claimed gsm sucks as compared to CDMA which is I think the Verizon technology. Of course these are all 2nd generation digital technologies and 3g and 4g are all coming in which are far better for data. Vodafone has made several efforts to get into the US market notably about 4 years ago when they attempted to buy AT&amp;T mobile which was purchased by cingular and then cingular changed the name of its merged operation back to AT&amp;T.

I don't see any change in this in the near future. Verizon is the largest carrier in the USA and seems to be doing quite well and as noted gsm which will be around for a long while yet is slowly, very slowly, being phased out in favour of more advanced technologies but the same garbage is going on what with incompatible technologies and frequencies and no attempt to standardize on one technology and one frequency.

But for now, this old fashioned 2g technology will accomplish what you need in terms of voice communication.

telechick

thanks xyz! I think I'll just buy a phone in the UK and tell people in the US its number. If it's a true emergency, they'll call.

Robespierre

In that case, you might want check out these: http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobil...-you-go/all/1/

You can get the LG KP100 for &pound;9.99 and a PAYG SIM for &pound;5. Then you'll have &pound;5 worth of talk time, and if you go to www.t-mobile.co.uk/goodybag, you can have 10 days of internet free.

RM67

Robes said - ''Not necessarily. The two frequencies in use in Europe are 900 and 1800mHz. If your phone has these, that's all you need.''

The OP asked if their Canadian phone would work in Europe. Since it's highly unlikely that anyone would buy a phone for use in North America that ONLY had the two frequencies used in Europe, then yes, it generally would have to be tri or quad band to be used on both continents.

xyz123

There are good things to say about calldurope but not when it comes to British sim cards.

The competition in Britain is fierce and the companies are literally giving away the sim cards.

T Mobile UK, sim card free with purchase of I believe &pound;10 worth of credit with very cheap calls to North America and other places via yourcallworld.

Talk Mobile at Carphone Warehouse, sim card free with purchase of &pound;10 worth of credit. Very cheap calls out of country.

Orange camel...sim card free with purchase of &pound;10 worth of credit. Very cheap calls to North America.

When I say very cheap calls to North America, we are talking about prices such as 5p/minute, 3p/minute or whatever. A ten minute call to the USA via Talk Mobile is 30p. At today's rates, that's about 45¢. You're not going to beat that.

And of course there is no language problem in dealing with mobile phone companies and stores in the UK as American and English are very closely related languages (as is Australian or Canadian and English)...you should be able to communicate very easily with most clerks (although I must admit, that there are many people in London to whom English is a second language there from newly admitted to the eu countries in Eastern Europe and there language might be a bit of a problem)...but you'll certainly be able to read the manuals.

Now if you're talking France or Germany, yes that's another story.

Robespierre

<i>Author: RM67
Date: 11/21/2008, 11:53 am

The OP asked if their Canadian phone would work in Europe. Since it's highly unlikely that anyone would buy a phone for use in North America that ONLY had the two frequencies used in Europe, then yes, it generally would have to be tri or quad band to be used on both continents.
</i>
Yes. &quot;Unlikely&quot; and &quot;generally&quot; are correct. But not impossible. &quot;From Canada&quot; may or may not mean that it works on 850/1900

My primary intent was to help dispel the myth that only tri- or quad-band phones work overseas. Many people who don't have GSM in North America think they have to buy three or four bands for Europe when only two will suffice - and they wind up paying more than they need to for bands they will never use. This is rapidly becoming moot, because the chips that run cell phones nowadays are almost all quad-band - to simplify manufacturing phones for both markets.

RM67

''My primary intent was to help dispel the myth that only tri- or quad-band phones work overseas.''

What myth?

No-one has said that.

All anyone has said is that if you want a phone to work in both Canada AND Europe it'll have to be tri or quad band. The bands for Europe and North America do not overlap.

Robespierre

Timlin -

If you have a phone that has 900 and 1800 mHz bands in addition to the North American ones, it will work all over Europe. Having only one is somewhat of a crapshoot, because both bands are not implemented everywhere.

If &quot;chances are it will work in the UK&quot; doesn't convey enough certainty for you, check the manufacturer's specifications before you set out across the ocean.

&quot;Tri-band&quot; can mean a lot of things - some of them not as good as others.