Cell Phone Question For A Visitor To The UK From The USA

"Mark Hewitt" <[email protected]>
wrote in message news:[email protected]
> "Poddys" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...

[snip]

> > Most of our phones over here don't have a card, you
> > sign up with the company, get your phone, they program
> > it and voila.... Everything is different...
>
> Sounds like you have a non-GSM phone then.

He said he's on Sprint, they don't use GSM, they're CDMA IIRC.

Ivor

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› See More: Cell Phone Question For A Visitor To The UK From The USA

On 23 Aug 2006 05:08:12 -0700, "Poddys" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Thasnks everyone for your help - the cell phone market in the UK was in
>it's infancy when I left 12 years ago - so much has changed over there.
>
>I was thinking about getting a GSM phone here before I went and paying
>the charges, but I might as well just pop into a store over there and
>buy one if it's that easy. It certainly should be a lot cheaper, and
>more compatible too.
>
>Do they check proof of UK residency or something before they let you
>buy a pay as you go phone? Being a US resident these days, I wouldn't
>like to get there only to find they won't let me buy a phone...

You can do anything here thse days, no questions asked. Even try and
blow the country up!

"©¿©" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]
> On 23 Aug 2006 05:08:12 -0700, "Poddys"
> <[email protected]> wrote:

[snip]

> > Do they check proof of UK residency or something before
> > they let you buy a pay as you go phone? Being a US
> > resident these days, I wouldn't like to get there only
> > to find they won't let me buy a phone...
>
> You can do anything here thse days, no questions asked.
> Even try and blow the country up!

You still can't take a tube of toothpaste with you on a plane. Perhaps
they're in league with a secret group of foreign dentists..!

Ivor

Thanks a lot everyone - I think I am either going to go with Tesco,
Virgin or T-Mobile - just depends on which is easier to obtain at a
store - I think that's easier than trying to buy online - especially as
they don't want to ship a phone to anywhere other than your billing
address - which in my case is the USA!

Just depends on plans for Pay As You Go - Tesco looks to be the easiest
to buy maybe, T-Mobile has a slightly cheaper plan. For the amount I
expect to use it for outgoing calls it shouldn't be a lot of difference
in cost whichever plan I use.

"Poddys" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]
> Thanks a lot everyone - I think I am either going to go
> with Tesco, Virgin or T-Mobile - just depends on which is
> easier to obtain at a store - I think that's easier than
> trying to buy online - especially as they don't want to
> ship a phone to anywhere other than your billing address
> - which in my case is the USA!
>
> Just depends on plans for Pay As You Go - Tesco looks to
> be the easiest to buy maybe, T-Mobile has a slightly
> cheaper plan. For the amount I expect to use it for
> outgoing calls it shouldn't be a lot of difference in
> cost whichever plan I use.

There are a lot more Tesco stores around than Virgin ones..! Almost every
town has at least a small one, they're one of the biggest supermarket
chains in the country so you shouldn't have any trouble..!

Ivor

"Poddys" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Thanks a lot everyone - I think I am either going to go with Tesco,
> Virgin or T-Mobile - just depends on which is easier to obtain at a
> store - I think that's easier than trying to buy online - especially as
> they don't want to ship a phone to anywhere other than your billing
> address - which in my case is the USA!
>
> Just depends on plans for Pay As You Go - Tesco looks to be the easiest
> to buy maybe, T-Mobile has a slightly cheaper plan. For the amount I
> expect to use it for outgoing calls it shouldn't be a lot of difference
> in cost whichever plan I use.
>

One thing to be aware of is that unlike the USA, in the UK mobiles work on a
"caller pays" basis, any credit on the phone is used exclusively for
outgoing calls, anyone calls you and they pay for it...
--
Cheers, Steve.
Change from jealous to sad to reply.

As others have said, you are definitely better off with your own GSM
phone and local UK prepaid. My carrier here is sprint, but I also have
a couple of GSM phones for international travel, since I vist my family
in London quite often.

Virgin sims are also very easy to get. I have bought 3 (each with 5
pounds credit)on ebay and had them shipped here for less than $10 total
each. The topups can also be got on ebay. Also, it only costs 20p/min to
call back to the USA on virgin. It also works as soon as you pop it in
your phone (whether in Uk or not). It roams on tmobile here.

Virgin sims on ebay:

http://tinyurl.com/h2ckx




--
mrcamp

Thanks again - yes I'm fully aware of the Tesco's giant - I was
certainly considering that it might be a lot easier to find a Tesco's
than a Virgin or T-Mobile store...

I was also aware of the different way in which the phones work over
there - it's nice that incoming calls are free - we have to pay for all
our calls, but weekends and evenings are free. 20p for calls to the
USA isn't bad at all. I pay under 4 cents on a credit card to call the
UK from here, but to use the same card from over there is more than 20p
- more like 50p, so that's something to consider... Also calling to a
UK cellphone from the USA isn't 4cents - it's more like 36cents - eek!
Think I will have the family call me at a family landline!

Poddys wrote:
> Do they check proof of UK residency or something before they let you
> buy a pay as you go phone? Being a US resident these days, I wouldn't
> like to get there only to find they won't let me buy a phone...

Not bought a payg phone lately, but I have bought a new payg SIM from
Virgin a month or so ago. You get the SIM and a swipe card that is
used to top it up, and although they invite you to register a name and
address, so far I havn't and it still works. I will get round to it
when everything else is done....

You could always use the hotel street address and post code, that would
be perfectly valid and true. I'd be worried about the suggestion of
making one up, as a simple postcode check would throw that up and in
these suspicious times that might cause trouble.

[email protected] wrote:
> You could always use the hotel street address and post code, that would
> be perfectly valid and true. I'd be worried about the suggestion of
> making one up, as a simple postcode check would throw that up and in
> these suspicious times that might cause trouble.

Quite true - it's ok I have plenty of family addresses I can use.
Thanks. I'm surprised they don't check addresses though - it does mean
anyone can get a phone and remain annonymous - although if they insist
on some form of id when you buy...

"Poddys" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]
> [email protected] wrote:
> > You could always use the hotel street address and post
> > code, that would be perfectly valid and true. I'd be
> > worried about the suggestion of making one up, as a
> > simple postcode check would throw that up and in these
> > suspicious times that might cause trouble.
>
> Quite true - it's ok I have plenty of family addresses I
> can use. Thanks. I'm surprised they don't check
> addresses though - it does mean anyone can get a phone
> and remain annonymous - although if they insist on some
> form of id when you buy...

They don't. Only Orange require an address on registration, the others can
all be used unregistered, although I know Virgin in particular offer some
advantages such as reduced roaming charges when you register.

Ivor

Virgin offers reduced roaming charges only when you register your credit
card/bank details, and you opt to pay by "direct debit". I believe they
debit it from your CC or bank acct. Obviuosly, this is only available
to UK residents. Actually, virgin, and most of the other carriers only
accepts UK issued credit cards. Orange requires an address, but that
can also be any valid address just like virgin.

Ivor Jones Wrote:
>
> They don't. Only Orange require an address on registration, the others
> can
> all be used unregistered, although I know Virgin in particular offer
> some
> advantages such as reduced roaming charges when you register.
>
> Ivor




--
mrcamp

I just got back from England and the Tesco phone worked very well,
EXCEPT that you can only register for top up etc with a UK address.
Even though I do have a UK credit card and a UK bank account, the
statements are sent to my USA address, so I could not register them.
The only way that I can top up the phone is to go into a Tesco store
and buy a top up voucher (or other locastions - didn't check that out).

The best option seemed to be to buy the phone, wich comes with a sim
for regular pricing, and on my GBP39 phone I got GBP10 of free calls.
Don't use that sim, but buy the Texco EXTRA sim for under GBP2. Put
this in the phone, allocate the GBP10 to that number, be sure to top up
with at least GBP15 to get the EXTRA rate, and try not to make too many
calls before the rate kicks in - around 48 hours.

Apart from the minor inconveniences it worked pretty well.
Thanks to everyone who helped me to come to a decision.