Cell phone service in London

[Thump553]

My daughter is going to spend a semester studying in London. Any ideas on what kind of cell phone she should get for there? The rest of the family is on Verizon (and in the US). She has a Verizon phone but that account is ending before she goes.

She will be in England from January to May, and possibly through the summer if her summer employment prospects are better there than here.

 

[Rallispec]

My fiancee and I used cellular abroad (http://www.cellularabroad.com )when she went to Ireland for 2 weeks. It worked out really well. Probably isnt the cheapest solution, but it was really easy and worked like it was supposed to.

 

[royaldank]

It would be cheaper to use landlines and sign up for one of the many low cost services. I think my brother pays $0.02/min to call the states.

 

[midwestfisherman]

My daughter is in France for study abroad right now. We found the best situation for us was for her to purchase a cell phone once she got there for her use in the country. She can text message us for free. So if she needs to talk with us she shoots us a text message and we call her. We also got an international calling plan from our land line provider (Verizon) for .10 a minute. When we want to talk to one another I'll call her, since her calling us from her cell eats up her available minutes very fast. This has proved to be the most economical set up, not the most convient, but it's worked fine.

 

[royaldank]

onesuite.com is a good company with cheap rates for the times you are calling to the UK. I've used it for the last 3 or 4 years with no problems. $0.024 cents a minute.

 

[kami333]

Buy an unlocked GSM phone (one that supports 1800Mhz, they are usually labled worldphones or tri/quad-band) and have her get a prepaid SIM card once she gets there. That's that I did when I studied abroad and it's the cheapest option. You can find used phones on eBay for less than $50, and prepaid SIMs usually run less than $20 with initial credit included for the same amount.

Also a lot of programs usually have former students selling their phones when they leave, its done in different ways but a lot of times they will leave it with friends and have them sell it. You should see if such a thing exists where she is going.

If she has a internet connection, SkypeOut is a good way to call home and is very popular with the students. Otherwise, there's a bunch of cheap calling cards you can get to use from payphones, I used one that was about 2cents a minute to the US.

Be aware that though recieving calls are free on the cell phone, if you call a cell phone in Europe you (the caller, even if from the US) will probably be charged a higher rate, usually about 2-3times more. Depends on the plan but for example the AT&T cards charge 3times more for calls to a cell phone compared to calling a landline.

 

[Mill]

Unlocked GSM Phone + Pre-Paid SIM using O2 or Virgin, etc.

That's what I did in Europe when T-Mobile roaming rates were too high in a country 'cept I had a Swisscom SIM.

 

[Koing]

It isn't cheap! Not with a cell phone to call abroad.

Pay as you go is fine but it pricey to call USA at ~ 40p+ per minute unless you pay for montly fee for cheaper rates.

Her best bet would be to have the Pay as you go for people to call her. Then when she calls you or people in the states she buys a CALLING CARD and uses a land line to call on. Most price plans in the UK are crappy when compared to what you guys get!

Koing

 

[Mark R]

If a mobile phone is required then the cheapest option is to buy an unlocked handset (often available for £20 or less on ebay) and buy a Pay-as-you-go SIM card (typically between £5 and £10 - available from supermarkets, high street shops, etc.). Complete handset/SIM card kits are available new for about £50 in the shops.

Note that call charges for a mobile phone are high. This includes calls made *to* the mobile phone - which must be paid for by the caller (I believe that most US tel cos will charge a big extra fee for connecting to a UK mobile, instead of a UK landline). It also includes calls made *from* the mobile phone - especially international calls.

International calls are best made from a landline. You can easily get pre-paid calling cards which give even better rates to international destinations (as low as 1p/min to the US) but they aren't always sold at your big electrical retailers/phone shops. You'll need to look for smaller independent retailers/newsagents - ideally in areas with a large international or student community.

Note that most mobile phone networks have got wise to calling cards - and will charge calls at a very high rate, or simply block the number you need to dial. So, if you do use a calling card - only use it from a landline.

 

[aiex]

Get a GSM phone before you leave and put a sim card in it from over here in the UK. O2 (o2.co.uk) will usually give you a free sim. If that doesn't work PM me, i think i have some sitting free here. I got mine free and if i top it up £10 a month i get 300 free text messages to anywhere in the world. Calling out from a cell phone over here is expensive, typically 30-40p a min but it is totally free to receieve calls on the phone. Which means you can call her phone from the US or via Skype and it won't cost her a penny to pick up.

Good luck