Prepaid UK SIM

[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?

[andy]

6 months, and an incoming call is good enough; I don't know about incoming sms though

[Bossman]

Actually ordinary GPRS usage also does it. If you can access GPRS on your sim(most UK prepaid sims are GPRS active), then you can just log into GPRS and out. On my Virgin - UK sim it costs me less than 10p and that will take care of the "chargable activity" needed every 12 months.

[MATHA531]

Originally Posted by andy

6 months, and an incoming call is good enough; I don't know about incoming sms though

Andy, I'm not sure an incoming call is good enough and it is not a chargeable event (especially if it isn't answered)...I tried that with Mobile World (note a problem with Mobile World is it doesn't allow roaming so I was unable to send a sms, at the end of 90 days, it deactivated....I did try calling into voice mail there (presumablythe call is forwarded to voice mail) and it didn't work) (not that it was a big deal...there was less than 80p lefr in the account and since they don't charge for the sim card getting a new one is not a problem (nobody ever calls me via the direct phone number no matter what it is, generally it is through call forwarding or voicestick).....

but GPRS is a good idea...I downloaded a ring tone for 9p and did that did the trick.

[powerlifter]

With Vodaphone I send a SMS every 90 days and keeps the sim active,

[skins07]

Originally Posted by skins07

Continuing this saga of trying to register/activate a T-Mobile UK PAYG SIM from the US, here is what I have concluded. It cannot be done without first activating it in the UK (unless I have an expired SIM card). I obtained a top up voucher and had it applied to the phone number by calling T-Mobile UK. That worked, but the SIM would still not activate here in the US. A chargeable call must first be made with the SIM in the UK. Thanks to all who suggested possible solutions.

All that planning for nothing. I'm in the UK, turn on my unlocked quad band phone with a prepay T-Mobile UK SIM and... nothing. No network found, SIM unable to register. The same with my wife's unlocked RAZR.

I stopped in a nearby Carphone Warehouse and the chap tries the SIM cards in his phone. Also nothing. We then tried his O2 card in my phones, they could also not find any network. HOWEVER, when inserting a Vodaphone UK SIM, the phones immediately found the Voadafone network. Does this make sense in terms of which frequencies are being recognized/utilized?

The problem with using a Vodafone SIM is the cost. My T-Mobile US account would be cheaper for calls and GPRS.

If anyone has suggestions as to why the prepaid T-Mobile UK SIMs don't work, I'd be happy to hear them. If I have a chance, I'll stop at a T-Mobile UK store. I saw Orange mentioned in this thread and will see if I can get a prepaid Orange SIM. Any other suggestions?

[andy]

It sounds like the T-mobile SIMs have expired. What did they say when you called them before, as they should have been able to check the numbers?

I'd persuade them to give you new SIMs, and transfer the credit off your present ones.

As for networks, I don't quite understand what you had happen at the shop. O2 and Vodafone were first of all on 900 MHz, with 1800 added later. Orange and T-mobile only on 1800.

[skins07]

Originally Posted by andy

It sounds like the T-mobile SIMs have expired. What did they say when you called them before, as they should have been able to check the numbers?

I'd persuade them to give you new SIMs, and transfer the credit off your present ones.

As for networks, I don't quite understand what you had happen at the shop. O2 and Vodafone were first of all on 900 MHz, with 1800 added later. Orange and T-mobile only on 1800.

I don't believe they are expired. Yesterday was a bank holiday and the T-Mobile store was closed. I've reverted to roaming and Skype. Thank god for Skype.

[Ukap]

I am going to the United Kingdom for work for 2 months. I have an unlocked phone that will work in Europe including UK.

I know my best deal is to buy a SIM when I arrive in UK. Could anyone advise me on the best deals they have seen.

Also - I will be giving my UK cell number out to my work associates in the USA. I will be able to receive their calls for free. However, what is the best value plan/company for my friends in the USA to use when dialing a UK cell phone number?

[MATHA531]

Originally Posted by Ukap

I am going to the United Kingdom for work for 2 months. I have an unlocked phone that will work in Europe including UK.

I know my best deal is to buy a SIM when I arrive in UK. Could anyone advise me on the best deals they have seen.

Also - I will be giving my UK cell number out to my work associates in the USA. I will be able to receive their calls for free. However, what is the best value plan/company for my friends in the USA to use when dialing a UK cell phone number?

There have been answers to this in other threads but I'll give you some suggestions. Rates in the UK to the USA can be a bargain and are easy to acquire and of course in most of the country English is widely spoken.

Start with Mobile World, available at Carphone Warehouse stores only. Sim card is free but you pay for air time. Thus for £10 you get a free sim card and £10 worth of call credit. Calls to both the USA and Canada cost 5p/minute....you get all the "perks" of a local sim namely a UK number and free reception of calls while in the UK. Calls to other UK networks aren't too expensive as well as calls to UK landlines. Disadvantage of Mobile World is limited shelf life (90 day requirement for at least one phone call) and since it doesn't allow roaming, you can't get around that from outside the country. But since the sim is free, if you use up most of the call credit, it's no big deal (unless you feel it's a pain to inform people of your new number) as all you need do is buy new airtime with a new free sim next time you visit. (BTW calls to the USA and Canada between 1900 and 2100 have a 50% surcharge and cost 7.5 p/minute).

Orange has announced Orange Abroad....they charge £1 for the sim cardon the web; don't know how expensive they would be if bought at an Orange store in London. Also feature 5p/minute calls to the USA and Canada with the usual perks. Available at all Orange stores and one would presume any mobile phone store carrying Orange (Carphone Warehouse, phones4u, the link)

T Mobile UK....they were advertising free sim cards on their web site and before I visited London last January, they sent a free sim card to my hotel...do not come with any airtime but a quick visit to any chemist, electronics store and whatever with the swipe card and is easy to fund. Did price it out as £5 for a sim card at a T Mobile UK store.....they have a bundle which you purchase via text message or call to customer service of £2 for 50 minute of call time to the USA and Canada; this seems to be billed in 1 second intervals...validity is 60 days but one would suppose you simply buy another bundle (terms and conditions mention something to the effect only 6 bundles are allowed at one time but I haven't figured out exactly what that means)...

Both Orange and T Mobile UK have reuirements that a billable action take place every 180 days but since they allow roaming you can meet that by downloading a ringtone as I did for 9p (or sending a text message) from the USA to keep sim cards active.

There may be others...O2 UK had a bundle that reduced price of calls to USA to 15p/minute...Virgin Mobile charges 20p/minute for calls to the USA although if you make lots of domestic calls in the UK, a 5 minute call to the USA will reduce domestic rate ot landlines on Virgin Mobile to 5p/minute. Vodafone, although it has a nice program called Vodafone Passport which is somewhat helpful if you are roaming within Europe, charges an arm and a leg, about a quid or even more per minute for calls to the USA so they are not a viable alternative.

There are plenty of choices and with the right choice, calls to the USA along with free reception of calls are very easy when visiting the UK!