Cost to buy a SIM CARD.
 

Hello,

I am going to be visiting the UK from the USA for a few weeks. I already have a unlocked GSM phone and all I need is a SIM CARD and I need to load it up to use. My question is can I buy a sim card at a fueling station or shop where I am able to buy a SIM and Top up the card or do I need to get a SIM in advance? Also How much do the SIM cards cost in the shops? I am looking for a SIM CARD carrier that have good rates to call back to the USA and that has good coverage. Do I need to worry about roaming or any such? I will only be in London, Birmingham areas.
Thanks in advance.

Go to the T Mobile UK web site..(www.tmobile.co.uk)...I haven't checked lately but there are usually offers to post to you up to 4 sim cards for FREE...they will post to any UK address...it comes with a card that looks like a credit card...go into any chain store, mobile phone store, chemist, gas station and top it up...you hand the clerk the card, tell him or her you want to top up for whatever (in increments of 5 pounds so you might wish to start with 10 pounds) and you're all set. Orange UK has had similar offers in the past.

As far as calls to the USA are concerned, there are two ways to do it. Both T Mobile UK and Orange UK (which are in the process of merging) have a tie in with a firm called your call world (www.yourcallworld.com)...that web site will give you a number where you can call all over the world to non cell phones (and all calls to the USA and Canada are considered non cell phone calls) for 3p/minute timed to the second. Talk for 20 seconds and you pay 1p. Sure can't build that.

If you don't want to go through a third party, you can call T Mobile UK and register for their USA international plan which allows calls to the USA for 5p/minute....orange has a plan cdalled camel which givers you calls to the USA for 6p/minute.

Furthermore, if you come off either Eurostar at St. Pancras or the Gatwick Express at Victoria, you will find just outside the tracks a display from a firm called lebarra. They will give you a free sim card with a £5 top up. They charge 4p/minute for direct calls to the USA from the cell phone.

In any case, they each have plans for calls within the UK for about 20p/minute depending on time of day and who you are calling. They all will have free reception of calls within the UK. They will all feature relatively inexpensive reception of calls throughout the eu although if you leave the UK, you won't get the dirt cheap calls to the USA.

Hope that helps.

Oh..if you don't want to wait, you can go to ebay and pick up UK sim cards including postage for as little as $5...they will have to be topped up with the swipe card included but that's no problem.

xyz123. Are you aware of any similar plans from Spain?

No..my expertise starts and ends with the UK because I can almost understand the language as English and American are pretty closely related!

thanks.

If you prefer your SIM card delivered to your US address before you travel then give these guys a go.

http://www.cellhire.com/products/int...al/sim-card/uk
http://www.cellhire.com/products/int...sim-card/spain

They have SIMs for most countries and a European roaming SIM which is useful if you're moving around Europe.

Do you know anything that isn't cellhire related?

Darwin....I'll just let it go at this......are the sim cards and whatever you vouch for cheaper than the ones I suggested which are FREE?

Alan...at first I thought your comment was aimed at me until I saw cellhire in it. Sorry for doubting you.

You can try call in europe they sim cards for the UK. Although i only used them in France so far. Just make sure that your GSM will work in Europe by having the right band.

www.callineurope.com

I also use www.callineurope.com and have had only positive experiences with them. That was for France however. But, you just select the European country of your choice. I have a GSM triband phone. Happy Travels!

A couple of years ago, I was trying to get a UK phone in the most simple way possible, so just walked into an Orange shop in London and purchased a cheap UK phone (for 10 or 20 GBP) and SIM card which I topped up to 20 GBP (as I recall). Altogether, it was very cheap and took about 15 minutes. I signed up for the camel pay-as-you-go plan, which allowed calling the US for 6 pence/minute (looking at the orange website, it looks different now with some free international minutes included and then 10 pence/minute to call the US). You can re-load it online using a credit card. Not sure about coverage in Birmingham, but I used the phone in Spain with no problem (higher rates but still reasonable).

I assume you can just get the SIM card if you already have a phone.

Go to a Carphone Warehouse shop, which is in just about every shopping street/area. They sell their cheapest phone with SIM for 99p (plus compulsory £10 top-up with a card, £20 with cash). Or if you just want a SIM card, they are mostly free, with the same top-up requirement. As you need to have credit on your SIM, it's no brainer.

lincasanova
No free SIM in Spain, but there are often special offers with, say, 5 euro SIM including 5 euro credit, and so on. PAYG SIM is called tarjeta SIM in Spain.