London cell phone rental
 

Hi. Any ideas on where I can rent a cell phone in London? Thanks.

We've been down this road constantly...

Unless it is for a very very short period of time, it is usually not a smart idea to rent a mobile (the English term) phone in London...there are many horror stories on this board about overcharges up to $800 for these phones and even if you don't run into a hassle, the prices are outrageous.

1. Get yourself an inexpensive tri band phone on E bay or through web merchants or even through Mobal (they're offering a $49 dual band (European frequencies) and either have it unlocked or it may come unlocked. Take out the sim card and upon arrival in London

2. Walk into any mobile phone store and buy a Virgin Mobile sim pack. When I was in London last week they were selling the sim packs for £10 with £10 worth of calls. My math says the sim pack is therefore free...receiving calls is free to you unlike rentals and charges for calls to the US are very reasonable (20p a minute timed to the second) or after using it for 5 minutes you can switch over and make a UK call triggering a calling card (5p a minute for the UK call)

Read the thoughts of many people who have done this and see how easy it is with none of the hassles of renting.

Hi g,

See www.mobalrental.com

Don't even waste good money buying a phone in the US.

Today's price in Dixon's (branch on practically every country lane) for a perfectly serviceable PAYG phone is £25 including a SIM or £15 without. Topup vouchers at every convenience store and petrol station in the land.

Flanneruk, you forget the terrible exchange rate for US $ into pounds. XE.com today had $49 (the price for a phone from Mobal) as being 25.46 pounds.

Makes the costs about equal, so it's more a question of convenience -- do you want a phone in hand when you arrive, or can you wait till you get to where the shops are? For my trip in a couple of weeks, I'm going with Mobal.

The advantage of flanneruk's point is the inclusion of the SIM card (question for you flanneruk, what model and what UK service provider)..Mobal's rates for making call are obscenely high in the UK although since in the UK they do allow free reception of call it should be coupled with a callback service to make calls.....

Point taken, xyz and flanneruk -- thanks for all helpful info.

As you suggested, I checked the Dixons web site (dixon.co.uk) and see they have dual band phones (Nokia and Sagem) starting at 29.99 pounds. Store finder shows they have locations where I will be staying, so that's great.
They also have a store at Heathrow Terminal 4 (we're flying BA) -- does anyone know if this is only in the duty-free departure area, or can you get to the store from arrivals areas?

I'm reconsidering the Mobal decision, and time's getting short...