Pay as you go phones
 

I was thinking of taking an unlocked phone that I have here in the States to the UK, and just get a sim card over there. However, on the off chance that getting a sim card does not work, any recommendations for a PayGo phone to get for about a week or so over there that is under 25-30 GBP(with say around 100+ minutes of talk time) that will allow me to call back home to the States

Are you sure the phone is unlocked....test it out by getting any sim card of a company you know didn't lock it in the first place....put the sim card in the phone.....if you don't get an immediate message the sim card is unauthorized, the phone is not locked and is accepting the sim card (even if you get the dreaded sim card registration failed message...if it gets that far, the phone is unlocked).

Next look up the model number to see if it has the proper gsm frequencies used in the UK and the rest of Europe; preferably both (900 and 1800 mhz). If so, there is no off chance the phone won't work. When you get your free UK sim card, it will work, I most certainly assure you.

So, what would be the exact message, because I did put one sim card in it and it said the sim card crashed, but actually still worked after putting back in phone that sim card came from. Also phone is a quad, so I think it will work

We got our PAYG phone at carphonewarehouse.com. Only £4 for the phone and a £10 card. Incoming free. Outgoing is 10p text, 20p/min local and maybe 25p/min international??? Not sure about that as we use it for local communication only. They may be better rates with more expensive phones, not sure.

CPW now do PAYG phones from £2.95 plus airtime.

I was looking at Car Phone Warehouse... they actually have PAYG phones from 1 pound! Hard to beat that deal!

alan/paris,
will these allow me to call overseas, back here to the States

"will these allow me to call overseas,"

Why do you imagine anyone would market a phone that couldn't?

Maybe in your country, companies go out of their way to avoid business. Here, we cling to the old fashioned idea that they're there to make money.

And the higher the call cost, the more the companies make.

Yes and you will be shocked how cheap calls overseas wih British sim cards are....if your carrier is either T Mobile UK or Orange, there is a company called yourcallworld (look up their web site)...they give you a number to call and then you dial the international number starting with 00 (to call the US or Canada yu dial 001 area code number) but instead of pressing send, you press #...cost of the call...to most any landline in the world 3p/minute and timing is to the nearest second...talk for 40 seconds, you pay 2p and as an added bonus, the way the systems are set up all calls to either the USA or Canada are considered landline calls.

Then there is Lebara...calls to the USA and Canada without the triggering number...4p/minute. Vodafone UK has a plan that allows you to call the USA for 5p/minute as does T Mobile UK (without yourcallworld)...you can hardly beat these rates even with a calling card!