Cellphone for England?

I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly
for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S. My current
phone will not work in the UK so I need to buy or rent - and I'm
finding the options confusing. It's looking like I'm best off buying
and getting on some kind of plan, but a lot of them are expensive, and
I'm trying to keep my costs down. My guess is that I will probably
only be making about 2 hours of local calls and 1 hour of calls to the
U.S. - and will be receiving just as many. Any suggestions?

I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test
it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and
England.
Tracy in Massachusetts

"tracymar55" wrote in message
...
I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly
for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S. My current
phone will not work in the UK so I need to buy or rent - and I'm
finding the options confusing. It's looking like I'm best off buying
and getting on some kind of plan, but a lot of them are expensive, and
I'm trying to keep my costs down. My guess is that I will probably
only be making about 2 hours of local calls and 1 hour of calls to the
U.S. - and will be receiving just as many. Any suggestions?

I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test
it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and
England.
Tracy in Massachusetts

The easy solution is to buy a 'pay as you go' SIM card for about £3 ($6) ,
which comes with £3 of credit on it. Just put it in your current GSM phone,
if it isn't SIM locked...

If you have a friend in the UK get them to buy you one and post it to you.

You can buy credit by credit card.

You can buy a new 'pay as you go' telephone for less than £25 ($50) or a
second hand one for less than £15 ($30) in the UK, sellers on just about
every street corner...

Don't get a contract, they all run for at least 13 months (12 month period
and 1 month to cancel)

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

"tracymar55" wrote in message
...
I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly
for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S.

William Black's suggestion is correct, if you must have a mobile phone. The
small usage you suggest certainly doesn't merit a contract, and you might
even be no worse off using public payphones.


I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test
it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and
England.

Sorry, the reason you need to get the phone rather than bring your US phone
is that the systems are incompatible. You won't be able to test such a phone
in the USA, even if you can buy it there, because it won't work on the
American network.

Alan Harrison

ALAN HARRISON wrote:

"tracymar55" wrote in message
...
I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly
for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S.

William Black's suggestion is correct, if you must have a mobile phone. The
small usage you suggest certainly doesn't merit a contract, and you might
even be no worse off using public payphones.


I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test
it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and
England.

Sorry, the reason you need to get the phone rather than bring your US phone
is that the systems are incompatible. You won't be able to test such a phone
in the USA, even if you can buy it there, because it won't work on the
American network.

There is no such thing as "the American Network" however, but GSM is
increasingly prevalent. Providing the phone has one of the US bands, it
could quite likely work. Even quite a few of the cheaper payg phones are
triband, some quad.

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate -www.davidhorne.net
(email address on website) "If people think God is interesting, the
onus is on them to show that there is anything there to talk about.
Otherwise they should just shut up about it." -Richard Dawkins

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" wrote in message
...
ALAN HARRISON wrote:

"tracymar55" wrote in message
...
I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly
for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S.

William Black's suggestion is correct, if you must have a mobile phone.
The
small usage you suggest certainly doesn't merit a contract, and you might
even be no worse off using public payphones.


I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test
it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and
England.

Sorry, the reason you need to get the phone rather than bring your US
phone
is that the systems are incompatible. You won't be able to test such a
phone
in the USA, even if you can buy it there, because it won't work on the
American network.

There is no such thing as "the American Network" however, but GSM is
increasingly prevalent. Providing the phone has one of the US bands, it
could quite likely work. Even quite a few of the cheaper payg phones are
triband, some quad.

You'll certainly need a tri band phone if you want to use it in the US and
the UK.

Quad band only if you want it for the Far East afterwards.

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

William Black wrote:

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" wrote in message
...
ALAN HARRISON wrote:

"tracymar55" wrote in message
...
I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly
for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S.

William Black's suggestion is correct, if you must have a mobile phone.
The
small usage you suggest certainly doesn't merit a contract, and you might
even be no worse off using public payphones.


I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test
it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and
England.

Sorry, the reason you need to get the phone rather than bring your US
phone
is that the systems are incompatible. You won't be able to test such a
phone
in the USA, even if you can buy it there, because it won't work on the
American network.

There is no such thing as "the American Network" however, but GSM is
increasingly prevalent. Providing the phone has one of the US bands, it
could quite likely work. Even quite a few of the cheaper payg phones are
triband, some quad.

You'll certainly need a tri band phone if you want to use it in the US and
the UK.

Quad band only if you want it for the Far East afterwards.

No, quad band is also useful in the US, as there are some GSM areas
there using 850 as well as 1900. You'll typically get better coverage in
the US with a phone that supports both- i.e. quad band.

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate -www.davidhorne.net
(email address on website) "If people think God is interesting, the
onus is on them to show that there is anything there to talk about.
Otherwise they should just shut up about it." -Richard Dawkins

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) wrote:
William Black wrote:

Quad band only if you want it for the Far East afterwards.

No, quad band is also useful in the US, as there are some GSM areas
there using 850 as well as 1900. You'll typically get better coverage in
the US with a phone that supports both- i.e. quad band.


When I eventually buy a new mobile, I want a quad-band. My current one
is a tri-band, with both US bands plus 1800. I generally use Orange in
the UK, so that works for me, but some parts of the Highlands only have
coverage with O2, and they use 900.
I can't yet justify the expense of a quad-band - I'm waiting until the
prices drop, (or the current phone does).

tracymar55 wrote:
I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly
for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S. My current
phone will not work in the UK so I need to buy or rent - and I'm
finding the options confusing. It's looking like I'm best off buying
and getting on some kind of plan, but a lot of them are expensive, and
I'm trying to keep my costs down. My guess is that I will probably
only be making about 2 hours of local calls and 1 hour of calls to the
U.S. - and will be receiving just as many. Any suggestions?

I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test
it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and
England.


You can get a phone plus SIM for about USD 20, and buy airtime for
USD20, for a total of only $40 - and you get to keep the phone for
later trips, sell it, or lend it to a friend.

http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/show/handsets/pay_as_you_go/all/all


Buy the phone as soon as you arrive, and text/SMS the number
to your US contacts. Ask the shop to make sure to give you
the cheap 'call abroad' PAYG plan - it lets you make calls
back to the US for only 6 pence (about 12 cents) per minute.
You will not be charged for incoming calls and messages, only
for outgoing, so your GBP 10 should last for a while.

Or you could try phoning a local shop (you can find the numbers
on the website), selecting a phone, and asking the staff to
have it charged and ready for pickup. The shop should be able
to give you the phone's number. I did this not long ago, when
my daughter and a friend were travelling. They simply went to
the shop and identified themselves, and the phone was all ready
for them.

On 23 Jul, 10:51, tracymar55 wrote:
I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly
for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S. My current
phone will not work in the UK so I need to buy or rent - and I'm
finding the options confusing. It's looking like I'm best off buying
and getting on some kind of plan, but a lot of them are expensive, and
I'm trying to keep my costs down. My guess is that I will probably
only be making about 2 hours of local calls and 1 hour of calls to the
U.S. - and will be receiving just as many. Any suggestions?

I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test
it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and
England.
Tracy in Massachusetts

My tuppenceworth

On ebay.com you can get a second hand phone.
The triband phone I use V66 can be obtained
for USD30 including shipping. Maybe a quadband
would be better for use in the US, but a triband
is fine for the UK. Make sure you buy an
UNLOCKED one. You can get a SIM easily and
cheaply when you arrive, although it may be
possible to get something in the US at greater cost.
NB you will probably be understood in the UK if you
say "cellphone", but everybody here says "mobile"

On Jul 23, 1:51*am, tracymar55 wrote:
I will be in England for 2 1/2 weeks and will need a cellphone mostly
for local calls and a few short calls back to the U.S. My current
phone will not work in the UK so I need to buy or rent - and I'm
finding the options confusing. It's looking like I'm best off buying
and getting on some kind of plan, but a lot of them are expensive, and
I'm trying to keep my costs down. My guess is that I will probably
only be making about 2 hours of local calls and 1 hour of calls to the
U.S. - and will be receiving just as many. Any suggestions?

I need to get the phone a week or so before my trip in order to test
it out and give my phone number to contacts both in the US and
England.
Tracy in Massachusetts

Why don't you buy a tri band phone that works in England? Then you
have other options.