Prepaid UK SIM

[tdeville]

I also have an unlocked T-Mobile quad-band phone (voice and data plan) and visit the UK each year. My conclusion is that searching for for a prepaid UK GPRS plan that costs substantially less than using T-Mobile's international roaming GPRS rates is about like King Arthur searching for the Holy Grail.

Last year I stopped in an Orange store and bought a SIM card for £5 plus £20 of phone time. I picked Orange after checking PrePaidGSM and because Orange has a lot of stores. I got a UK phone number and it worked fine in my T-Mobile unlocked quadband phone (Motorola V330), but no GPRS. For GPRS I put the USA T-Mobile SIM card back into the phone. To keep GPRS costs down, I found it best to use the phone to access email. Accessing a standard POP3 email on the phone uses fewer kilobytes than tethering to the phone to a laptop.

I recently checked to see if the UK Orange SIM card would still work. Back in the USA, it does still work 11 months after being purchased in the UK. It roams on Cingular's network in the USA, but making a call in the USA (with a UK SIM card) is pretty expensive, £1.30. I believe that the SIM card will expire after one year, unless it is recharged, so I will recharge it on the Orange website just before we leave this year, or get a "top-up" as soon as we arrive in the UK.

The Orange (and other UK operators) prepaid charges are fairly reasonable for voice calls made in the UK to the UK, and for calls to the USA from the UK.

It is good that you have a quadband phone because some of the UK providers (such as Orange) only use the 1800 MHz band.

If you have a laptop on your trip, you might get free WiFi a some places.

Originally Posted by skins07

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.

[MATHA531]

Just a point; nice easy way to keep the Orange card active or most any card that requires acitivity every 6 or 9 months or whatever as opposed to these sob's who take away your credit if not re-charged is simply to send one sms message...actually the eu ought to consider outlawing the theft of your credit after a fixed period of time without a re-charge..it is fair to deactivate a card for non use after a fixed period of time provided the money in the account is retrievable by re-instating the account but to simply say after 6 months without a recharge, especially if credit card recharging is banned, is very unfair.

[tdeville]

Thanks for your tip. Let me see if I understand this correctly. You have £X.xx left on your prepaid Orange SIM card. Every 6 or 9 months or whatever, you send one SMS message, and the SIM card stays active indefinitely? No need to purchase a Top-Up as long as you still have credit on the SIM card?

Originally Posted by MATHA531

Just a point; nice easy way to keep the Orange card active or most any card that requires acitivity every 6 or 9 months or whatever as opposed to these sob's who take away your credit if not re-charged is simply to send one sms message...actually the eu ought to consider outlawing the theft of your credit after a fixed period of time without a re-charge..it is fair to deactivate a card for non use after a fixed period of time provided the money in the account is retrievable by re-instating the account but to simply say after 6 months without a recharge, especially if credit card recharging is banned, is very unfair.

[Motel75]

Originally Posted by tdeville

Thanks for your tip. Let me see if I understand this correctly. You have £X.xx left on your prepaid Orange SIM card. Every 6 or 9 months or whatever, you send one SMS message, and the SIM card stays active indefinitely? No need to purchase a Top-Up as long as you still have credit on the SIM card?

That's right. A little bit better than $20 every 60 days, isn't it?