Prepaid UK SIM

skins07 · **Prepaid UK SIM -** 18-03-2007, 19:53

This may have been asked and answered, but I'd like some suggestions. I'll be in the UK in May 2007. I have an unlocked quad-band phone and use T-Mobile (phone and data) in the US. Roaming in the UK is US $0.99/min and $0.015/KB for data.

What are my options for buying a prepaid UK SIM that offers less expensive calls to the U.S. and also offers GPRS? Should I buy the card before I go or when I am in the UK? And finally, how does one add money to these cards while traveling?

Thanks in advance for any help.

powerlifter · 18-03-2007, 23:33

I have a vodaphone sim card. I have the passport option on the card. You can wait and buy in the UK, sometimes it is free. You can call CS and give them your U S credit card number, but you must give them a UK address. this all of 15 min. to complete. If you want to buy before hand use this company they maild to me here in the US. www.freedom-mobiles.co.uk/ They are very good and shipping is free.

skins07 · 19-03-2007, 00:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by powerlifter

I have a vodaphone sim card. I have the passport option on the card. You can wait and buy in the UK, sometimes it is free. You can call CS and give them your U S credit card number, but you must give them a UK address. this all of 15 min. to complete. If you want to buy before hand use this company they maild to me here in the US. www.freedom-mobiles.co.uk/ They are very good and shipping is free.

Thanks for the suggestion. I looked at the www.freedom-mobiles.co.uk/ site. The lowest GPRS rate (£4 per Mb) is available through Orange.

Does anyone know if a UK Orange Pay As You Go SIM Card can be activated and topped off while I am still in the US?

BBg1 · 28-03-2007, 03:15

i know studentjetpacks.com offer a pack with SIM cards and other very handy stuff in..if your coming to london, they also give you an Oyster travel card! Though says for students, anyone can use them, and they specialise in providing the most economic jetPacks for the traveller.

Just checked the site for you and they say the sim is activated, so you can get your number before you come to the uk - its with Orange call abroad, costing ONLY 5pence to call the USA from you mobile to moble/landline! wow!

Cehck out www.studentjetpacks.com/jetpacks

Dont forget your umbrella when you come to the UK!!

skins07 · 26-03-2007, 23:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by powerlifter

I have a vodaphone sim card. I have the passport option on the card. You can wait and buy in the UK, sometimes it is free. You can call CS and give them your U S credit card number, but you must give them a UK address. this all of 15 min. to complete. If you want to buy before hand use this company they maild to me here in the US. www.freedom-mobiles.co.uk/ They are very good and shipping is free.

I bought the UK prepay SIM (no credit included, but there was a separate T-Mobile top-up card in the package), put it in my unlocked GSM phone (and my wife's), entered the unlock PIN code and I get a message that the SIM card is unregistered. I called T-Mobile UK and they told me I need to buy a top up voucher when I get to the UK. I was able to register on My T-Mobile UK, but was never emailed the PIN code to open the account.

Here are my questions:
1) Is there any way to register or activate the T-Mobile UK SIM card in the phone in the US before going to the UK? Am I unable to register it because it's not in the UK or because thereis no credit associated with the account?

2) Is my only option for topping up to buy an e-Voucher when I get there? The T-Mobile UK CSR told me they will only accept UK credit cards. If I buy a top-up T-Mobile UK voucher on eBay, will this work?

MATHA531 · 19-03-2007, 00:04

Well there are several plans that are very cheap to call to the USA but you'll have to get somebody more familiar with GPRS....

Vodafone is not a good option if calling from the UK to the US is one of your priorities...rates are very high.

As it stands now....there are 2 excellent plans for calling the USA. One is called Mobile World offered by Carphone Warehouse...sim card pack is free...you pay only for time...calls to the USA and Canada are 5p/minute (billed in 60 second intervals alas) with a brief period during the day when it becomes 7.5p/minute.....rates are good but undesirable feature is it becomes invalid after 90 days of non use and you can't get around that as it does not allow roaming but if you're not paying for the sim, I don't see that as a big deal...you can always buy another one next time you get to UK.

Currently T Mobile UK has a good deal too.....the sim card itself is not very expensive (comes with no air time) but for £2 you can buy 50 minutes of airtime to the USA and Canada which is apparently timed in 1 second intervals...this special expires after 60 days but so what...the sim card itself doe snot expire so you simply buy another 2 quid package and of course T Mobile UK allows roaming so you can send a sms to keep it active. It is a good deal.

Another okay deal, not as good as the ones mentioned, comes from Virgin Mobile.....sim card costs 10 quid but comes with quid worth of air time....calls to the USA and Canada are 20p/minute timed in 1 second intervals with a minimum of 5p per call...also if you are also making calls within the UK costs are 15p/minute for first 5 minutes of use each day and then it drops to 5p/minute and the calls to the USA and Canada count towards the determination of the 5 minute billing period....not too bad but right now I prefer the T Mobile UK plan...BTW since Virgin Mobile allows roaming and since it does not deactivate until 365 days have passed, it can be kept active by simply sending a sms message wherever you are (any billing period will do) or as I did, I downloaded a ring tone for 9p and kept the card active from outside the UK!

Malkav · 19-03-2007, 01:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by MATHA531

Well there are several plans that are very cheap to call to the USA but you'll have to get somebody more familiar with GPRS....

Vodafone is not a good option if calling from the UK to the US is one of your priorities...rates are very high.

As it stands now....there are 2 excellent plans for calling the USA. One is called Mobile World offered by Carphone Warehouse...sim card pack is free...you pay only for time...calls to the USA and Canada are 5p/minute (billed in 60 second intervals alas) with a brief period during the day when it becomes 7.5p/minute.....rates are good but undesirable feature is it becomes invalid after 90 days of non use and you can't get around that as it does not allow roaming but if you're not paying for the sim, I don't see that as a big deal...you can always buy another one next time you get to UK.

Currently T Mobile UK has a good deal too.....the sim card itself is not very expensive (comes with no air time) but for £2 you can buy 50 minutes of airtime to the USA and Canada which is apparently timed in 1 second intervals...this special expires after 60 days but so what...the sim card itself doe snot expire so you simply buy another 2 quid package and of course T Mobile UK allows roaming so you can send a sms to keep it active. It is a good deal.

Another okay deal, not as good as the ones mentioned, comes from Virgin Mobile.....sim card costs 10 quid but comes with quid worth of air time....calls to the USA and Canada are 20p/minute timed in 1 second intervals with a minimum of 5p per call...also if you are also making calls within the UK costs are 15p/minute for first 5 minutes of use each day and then it drops to 5p/minute and the calls to the USA and Canada count towards the determination of the 5 minute billing period....not too bad but right now I prefer the T Mobile UK plan...BTW since Virgin Mobile allows roaming and since it does not deactivate until 365 days have passed, it can be kept active by simply sending a sms message wherever you are (any billing period will do) or as I did, I downloaded a ring tone for 9p and kept the card active from outside the UK!

if your interested i have some spare unused uk sim cards for trade, will swap ya 1 for 1 for US prepaid sim cards, say tmobile uk for tmobile us, or mobile world uk for cingualr/ boost etc?

pm for details

skins07 · 19-03-2007, 16:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by MATHA531

Currently T Mobile UK has a good deal too.....the sim card itself is not very expensive (comes with no air time) but for £2 you can buy 50 minutes of airtime to the USA and Canada which is apparently timed in 1 second intervals...this special expires after 60 days but so what...the sim card itself doe snot expire so you simply buy another 2 quid package and of course T Mobile UK allows roaming so you can send a sms to keep it active. It is a good deal.

Where can one find the 50 minutes for £2 offer from T-Mobile? I don't see it mentioned on their website.

MATHA531 · 19-03-2007, 16:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by skins07

Where can one find the 50 minutes for £2 offer from T-Mobile? I don't see it mentioned on their website.

Take a look at http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/personal/p...the-uk/bundles

PhotoJim · 19-03-2007, 03:16

O2 is pretty good too. Spend 5 pounds and henceforth, all calls to North America are 20p (while in the UK at least). O2 seems to have the largest coverage footprint in the UK, too.

It roams in Canada, and presumably most of the US, so you can send a text message or use a bit of GPRS data to keep it active. You also get a free call to the UK every week (one minute) so that might keep it active, too, without any expenditure. You only need to do something every 180 days to keep it running.

It doesn't roam on Alltel (USA 590) but it does work on Rogers here in Canada. I haven't taken it to Cingular or T-Mobile USA coverage.

	(#1)
skins07 (Offline) Junior Member Amateur Member Posts: 11 Join Date: 18 Mar 2007 Country:	Prepaid UK SIM - 18-03-2007, 19:53 This may have been asked and answered, but I'd like some suggestions. I'll be in the UK in May 2007. I have an unlocked quad-band phone and use T-Mobile (phone and data) in the US. Roaming in the UK is US $0.99/min and $0.015/KB for data. What are my options for buying a prepaid UK SIM that offers less expensive calls to the U.S. and also offers GPRS? Should I buy the card before I go or when I am in the UK? And finally, how does one add money to these cards while traveling? Thanks in advance for any help.

	(#2)
powerlifter (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 174 Join Date: 06 Jan 2005 Country:	18-03-2007, 23:33 I have a vodaphone sim card. I have the passport option on the card. You can wait and buy in the UK, sometimes it is free. You can call CS and give them your U S credit card number, but you must give them a UK address. this all of 15 min. to complete. If you want to buy before hand use this company they maild to me here in the US. www.freedom-mobiles.co.uk/ They are very good and shipping is free. [size=1]Prepaid cards, Moldova Tempo, Kyrg Republic BiTel, India Hutch, Bulgaria Mtel, Vodafone, UK. Etisalat. UAE. Afghan Wireless, Afghanistan. Three, UK. T-mobile post-paid. Phones Gsm Iphone6+

	(#4)
BBg1 (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 2 Join Date: 07 Jan 2007 Country:	28-03-2007, 03:15 i know studentjetpacks.com offer a pack with SIM cards and other very handy stuff in..if your coming to london, they also give you an Oyster travel card! Though says for students, anyone can use them, and they specialise in providing the most economic jetPacks for the traveller. Just checked the site for you and they say the sim is activated, so you can get your number before you come to the uk - its with Orange call abroad, costing ONLY 5pence to call the USA from you mobile to moble/landline! wow! Cehck out www.studentjetpacks.com/jetpacks Dont forget your umbrella when you come to the UK!!

	(#6)
MATHA531 (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Specialist Posts: 869 Join Date: 15 Oct 2004 Country:	19-03-2007, 00:04 Well there are several plans that are very cheap to call to the USA but you'll have to get somebody more familiar with GPRS.... Vodafone is not a good option if calling from the UK to the US is one of your priorities...rates are very high. As it stands now....there are 2 excellent plans for calling the USA. One is called Mobile World offered by Carphone Warehouse...sim card pack is free...you pay only for time...calls to the USA and Canada are 5p/minute (billed in 60 second intervals alas) with a brief period during the day when it becomes 7.5p/minute.....rates are good but undesirable feature is it becomes invalid after 90 days of non use and you can't get around that as it does not allow roaming but if you're not paying for the sim, I don't see that as a big deal...you can always buy another one next time you get to UK. Currently T Mobile UK has a good deal too.....the sim card itself is not very expensive (comes with no air time) but for £2 you can buy 50 minutes of airtime to the USA and Canada which is apparently timed in 1 second intervals...this special expires after 60 days but so what...the sim card itself doe snot expire so you simply buy another 2 quid package and of course T Mobile UK allows roaming so you can send a sms to keep it active. It is a good deal. Another okay deal, not as good as the ones mentioned, comes from Virgin Mobile.....sim card costs 10 quid but comes with quid worth of air time....calls to the USA and Canada are 20p/minute timed in 1 second intervals with a minimum of 5p per call...also if you are also making calls within the UK costs are 15p/minute for first 5 minutes of use each day and then it drops to 5p/minute and the calls to the USA and Canada count towards the determination of the 5 minute billing period....not too bad but right now I prefer the T Mobile UK plan...BTW since Virgin Mobile allows roaming and since it does not deactivate until 365 days have passed, it can be kept active by simply sending a sms message wherever you are (any billing period will do) or as I did, I downloaded a ring tone for 9p and kept the card active from outside the UK!

	(#10)
PhotoJim (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 389 Join Date: 10 Dec 2006 Location: Regina, SK, CA Country:	19-03-2007, 03:16 O2 is pretty good too. Spend 5 pounds and henceforth, all calls to North America are 20p (while in the UK at least). O2 seems to have the largest coverage footprint in the UK, too. It roams in Canada, and presumably most of the US, so you can send a text message or use a bit of GPRS data to keep it active. You also get a free call to the UK every week (one minute) so that might keep it active, too, without any expenditure. You only need to do something every 180 days to keep it running. It doesn't roam on Alltel (USA 590) but it does work on Rogers here in Canada. I haven't taken it to Cingular or T-Mobile USA coverage. CA: SaskTel, Wind postpaid; Rogers, Bell postpaid iPad flex plans; US: T-Mobile postpaid data, prepaid voice; PureTalk (AT&T MVNO) prepaid voice/data; AT&T prepaid iPad plan Hardware: Too much but notably iPhone 5, iPad Mini Retina LTE, Moto G LTE (N.A. version), iPhone 4. All unlocked.