US mobile phones in the UK.
 

I am travelling to London in November and I was wondering (this may be a naive question) if carriers like Verizon Wireless work in the UK-- specifically London. I've heard of people talking about SIM cards for other carriers like T-- Mobile on fodors and all I know is that my T720 for Verizon does not have a SIM card. I believe Verizon is the American subsidiary of Vodafone, so I was thinking it might work. Maybe not. Hope that turned out to be coherent in one way or another. Thanks for replies. Very much appreciated.

Hi:

Your Verizon service will be either TDMA or CDMA technology based while the UK uses GSM. To the best of my knowledge Voicestream (now T-Mobile ?) is the only GSM carrier in the US.

But you may want to check with Verizon to see what packages they offier. My carrier here in Canada can provide me with GSM (for a hefty premium) and forward my calls to it when I'm in Europe (obviously I only use that option when traveling on business).

A number of companies in Europe can provide short term rentals of cell phones while your there but you don't get your US call routed to it.

Last year I was in Hong Kong & they use CDMA technology, so my phone worked fine. Next month I'll be in New Zealand & their the same. But for the rest of the world its mostly GSM, so those of use from North America are basically SOL.

Sorry for the bad news.

Z

Like TravelMaster said, you're SOL.

AT&T also has GSM but it is pretty limited stateside - probably no better coverage than T-Mobile. AT&T also "locks" their phones so you can't just drop in a SIM from Virgin or Orange... you have to use their relatively pricey service. T-Mobile will unlock their phones after 14 days. Either way, you would need a "tri-band" phone that operates at 900, 1800 and 1900 mHz.

Last year when traveling I needed to have a mobile phone with me and as an ATT user, I could not use my own US phone. It costs $25 for the SIM card which you get to keep for use again at a later date if you need to and they sent me a kit with a phone, and the converters that were needed for car and wall so you are renting this for the amount of time you need it. They send you a mailer to send the phone back to them on your return at their expense. I believe that was another $50 so about $75.00 all total. Your US phone does not work over in the UK. hope this info helps.

hyrlandrs,
I use T-Mobile here and abroad. You need a tri band phone to do this. They also have dual bands for calls within the states.
I have a mobile phone with tri-band which allows use in the states and all countries in Europe.
If you subscribe to T-Mobile and have a tri-band phone (which then comes with a sim card) you merely ask them to put you on their world class service. (FREE)
This enables you to use it in any country in Europe. Calls are 99 cents per minute-no buying sim cards for each European country.
If you go to their website, you will see that you can get national service with no roaming for as little as $19.95 per month (60 min/month and still have European capabilities or 300min/month for 39.95/month.
I have also gotten the unlock code for my phone which I won't use, because I would then have to buy a sim card in every country in Europe that I visit.

ATT has an international roaming service similar to T-Mobile but they are more expensive at $1.29 to $1.69 per minute and you do need a tri-band phone to start with regardless of which carrier you use. There's no charge to activate international roaming, you just pay per call.