European Roaming Resources (UK and others)

Looks good, ShoresGuy. I'll be travelling to England this summer, and the last time I went I didn't have an unlocked phone, so I racked up close to $20 roaming charges for the week I went. While I was there, I got smart and unlocked my Siemens S46, so next time I go, I'm buying a prepaid SIM, and the site you posted showed me which providers are good, with regards to rates and coverage. Excellent work!

Pritesh

 

So if you only spent $20 in roaming, where's the advantage to a pre-paid SIM? It'd cost you more than that to get a SIM + minutes.... The only thing I can think of would be that for, say, $35, you'd get considerably more minutes and wouldn't have to worry about being so frugal with the minutes. You know exactly how much you spend and you can't go over a certain amount. However, I must say... to go abroad for a week and only spend $20, that's rather impressive. Did you force yourself not to use your phone or what?

 

When you are roaming in Europe and you know how much your call costs, you tend to be quick and call when only neccessary.
Maybe that's only me......

 

I am going to the UK this summer, and I'll need an O2 UK-locked or unlocked GSM900/1800 capable phone. I've chosen O2 UK because of apparently superior coverage in the Cotswolds and Lake District, where I'll be. I'll pick up the prepaid SIM upon arrival in Manchester (I'm on a BMI flight IAD-MAN, so I never touch London). O2 UK's lowest prepaid phone that they have in store (according to their Website; I'll give the proper store - Lancaster LA1 1LZ - a ring on Monday) is the £99.99 Sony Ericsson T230, and £100 is way more than I need to spend on a simple phone.

Do you have any suggestions, besides the obvious eBay? I'd like one that has GSM1900 so I can test it here, but that's not absolutely necessary.

 

Ebay is not your only source. I have seen independant wireless shops that do a brisk business in used mobile phones. I would think a 900-1800 phone should be very inexpensive since it is useless in the U.S. Look for places that sell small appliances and also sell wireless. Try Goodwill, Salvation Army.
Try yellow pages, be creative in your search and you will be rewarded.

 

1) £99 is way more than I need to spend. This is a phone I'll have for 10 days.

2) The phone needs to operate on the O2 network, as they're the only ones who have decent coverage in the Lake District (Windermere/Keswick), according to GSMWorld. Virgin Mobile operates on the T-Mobile Network.

3) I won't be anywhere near Heathrow or Gatwick. I'll be taking a direct flight from Washington Dulles to Manchester. (The other times I've been to England, I flew into Gatwick.)

4) Carphone Warehouse has a Nokia 1100 for the O2 network for ~£50. How's that phone? Still more than I'd like to spend, but that's about what it's going to be, isn't it?

5) Is there a way to get the real phone number for Carphone Warehouse in Lancaster? Lancaster was where I planned to stop to buy the O2 SIM pack anyway All I can find is 0870 1682 466, which costs me a spectacular amount to call ($0.25 per minute, about).

 

3) O2's cheapest phone is £99. They don't answer their phones...it's really annoying.
5) Does the price for the Nokia 1100 include activation on O2 PrePay?

 

When I travel abroad, I use my blackberry for voice calls. I have found that it works pretty well, although I haven't used it outside of Western Europe and Australia/ New Zealand.

When I travel, I usually use The GSM WORLD site as my infomation source. They offer detailed coverage maps, as well as lists of roaming partners and dialing instructions.

 

O2's cheapest phone is not £99... rather £49.99 which is the Nokia 3410, which isn't a bad phone if you're only gonna be here for a week! I know this 'cause I work in an O2 store.

Yeah, the price of the phone includes the SIM which is already active. You just have to top it up with £10+ and you're good to go.

Cheers!

 

Thank you so much! The Nokia 3410 looks perfect for me!

What store do you work in? Do you happen to know someone in the Lancaster store? I can't seem to get them to answer their phone...I have 01524 389 666 for them. (My Caller ID obviously won't be relayed properly, so if they depend on that, I may be SOL.) As I said, I land at Manchester International (BMI rocks!) and get in my hired car and head toward the Lake District up the M6, and the O2 store in Lancaster is less than a mile off the M6, so that's where I'd really like to get the phone. I can go to Carphone Warehouse in Lancaster too. Do they sell it with the SIM and activation too? Is there always a ~£50 pre-pay phone? If so, that may be the way I'm going. (With $ vs £ right now...$1.79 to the £...)

 

I work in a store up in Glasgow... slightly out of your way

The 3410 is a real popular phone for people who're just looking for a basic phone, so it won't be going anywhere soon. For a short trip like yours this kinda phone would be ideal - reliable, good RF, decent battery life, and best of all, cheap.

Sorry it's taken you so long to get through, but trying you will get through. Nah, caller ID won't make any difference, just keep trying.

£50+£10 for call credit will get you up and running.

If you're just looking for a SIM card (i.e. if you had an unlocked phoned) then don't buy from CarphoneWarehouse, they'll charge you £30 for an O2 SIM, whereas they're only £10 from O2 stores.

Cheers!

 

Okay, so the 3410 should be around still in mid-June?

I'll keep trying the Lancaster store, as well as Carphone Warehouse's sales line (to see if their £50 O2 prepay phone includes activation and a SIM - I will buy from O2 corporate if it's the same price, don't worry).

 

No doubt I'd say. O2 still have a LOT of stock, so we should see it being a current model for quite a while to come... a bit like happened with its predecessor the 3310 (relased in US as 3360 on TDMA and 3390 on GSM)... it lasted AGES and was (probably still is) the most popular (in terms of numbers) mobile phone in the UK (probably Europe).

The CarphoneWarehouse's will include the SIM (activation in the UK costs nothing... unlike in the US), but be wary, often their prices say "With a trade it", so it could be £10 higher really... not sure.

Keep us aprised of the situation.

Cheers!

 

Wonderful. I had a Nokia 3390 here in the US (it's GSM1900-only, so it's useless in the UK, though one of my friends claims to have used one in Scotland) The 3360 (TDMA) was slightly different: it had two keys instead of the Navi key.

I will call both O2 Lancaster and Carphone Warehouse (sales and/or Lancaster) when I get the chance (the 5 hour time change is making it difficult).

 

Is it possible to buy a UK pre-paid SIM over here in the U.S. so I can have it before going abroad?

 

I guess it just depends where you buy from. Some retailers may ship abroad, others only within the UK. You will certainly find it more difficult, especially if you don't want to be ripped off. In my opinion, there isn't really much advantage to doing it that way, when all you have to do is put the SIM in.... Just buy it once you're here.

Cheers!

 

So...my report.

After a seven hour flight, thirty minutes in Passport Control and Customs (it was very easy, except the passport control officer had no clue where Keswick is), and an easy one-hour drive to Lancaster, getting there at...ohh, about 9AM. (My flight landed at 6AM.) Since O2 didn't open until 10, I had time to kill. I was going to buy the phone from other stores (The Link, Phones4U, Carphone Warehouse), but they were all absolutely clueless on the International Talk & Text, so I waited for O2. They opened and were out of the 3410, so I got the Sagem myX2 for the same price. When I said that I wanted International Talk & Text, the salesperson said, "Yeah?" and pulled out the proper voucher. I love corporate-owned stores. Also, the salesperson interrupted the sale to answer the phone. Now why wouldn't they answer any of my calls?

Coverage was quite acceptable. Deep inside a restaurant in Keswick I got no coverage, but that was the only in-town problem I had. While driving unmarked, unnumbered roads in the Lake District, I ended up with no coverage quite often. Occasionally, a Vodafone and/or Orange roaming signal would show up as emergency-only, but I can only imagine when they weren't present (the phone has manual network selection, but I didn't check often, as it was a pain). In the Cotswolds, Vodafone and Orange were far superior, but O2 was acceptable. I took the train into Oxford from Moreton-in-Marsh one day and half the train ride I had no coverage while Vodafone and Orange had great service (T-Mobile wasn't present either).

I wouldn't use the Sagem myX-2 (http://www.sagem.com/mobiles/mobile/niveau3/index_niveau3.php?modeleType=mob3) as my primary phone. The buttons are squishy and squeaky, especially the soft keys and the up arrow. 0When I landed back home in Dulles and pressed the END button to power on my LG VX4400, I was marveled about how clicky the buttons are! The backlight setting is either "Backlight On" (for a hard-coded amount of time after button presses, though it seems to vary a whole lot) or "Backlight Off." Keypad locking is automatic after a customizable interval. You can't immediately press one button after another, especially after keypad unlocking, so it becomes a real pain to turn off. O2 insists on sending you status messages (not SMSs - they just appear and you have to choice but to look at them right then) after every...single...call. It's really annoying.

Now, I have to find out if the phone is locked and if it is I have to find someone to unlock it. I also have a few logistical questions for O2, so I'll e-mail them directly. They'll actually take my e-mail now, since I have an O2 mobile number!

 

@SQFreak: an extremely intersting read.

I was particularly happy when I read that you love corporate-owned stores: it filled me with a sense of pride, since I actually work in an O2 Retail store up in Glasgow.

It's a pity they were out of 3410s (though admittedly so is our store), as it's definitely a better phone that the Sagem My-X2, even though older and, arguably, more basic.

The issues you experienced with coverage come as a slight surprise to me. I thought that O2 and Vodafone's coverage was basically on-par in some of the areas you listed, though my belief was not founded on experience. I suppose the similarities between Vodafone and VZW don't stop at their business connection, but also at their superior coverage. I'm almost 100% sure Vodafone have the best coverage in the UK, although all of the networks have relatively good coverage (with the notable exception of 3 whose native coverage is extremely lacking, but this is understandable with a network who has built-out from scratch within the last 2/3 years).

As I said above, I agree that the Sagem My-X2 isn't exactly the best phone on the market, but then it doesn't really aim itself at anything but the budget market. The 3410 is dated, but it is a more solid phone. Moot point now I suppose.

Either way, a very interesting read for anyone who's planning a trip to the UK in the near future.

BTW, any of those queries which you have, drop me a PM and I'll be more than happy to try and answer them.

Cheers!

 

I stuck my old BellSouth Mobility DCS SIM in it and the phone asked for the unlock code, so it would appear that it is locked.