Work colleague going to EU - need advice.

[snaimon]

Originally Posted by petkow

You're right on that. I suppose he will need to fork out on at least 2 handsets... which will be the most expensive element.

Where did you see £15?? (presume on the Carphonewarehouse site?)

Indeed, Carphonewarehouse. And you had to ADD £10 of airtime.

200 min should do; mainly thought of in case of emergency or if they are separated for some reason. You know how teenagers are.

We may be regrouping a bit on the handsets. Either he'll check out Ebay or look at local shops, if one can be found, selling GSM phones. Phone would have to be UNLOCKED from the start. I can of course test that. Luckily he does have some time and great advice from this forum! He can always count on the Vodaphone £30 offer as a price reference.

Here you can pick up a prepaid package (phone and SIM) rather cheaply -- well under the £30 at some stores like Target. Trouble is most of the inexpensive handsets are only 850/1900 --worthless in EU.

I think they will have better things to do than hunt down a closeout phone offer when in London.

Thanks, all.

Stan

[KPO'M]

Originally Posted by snaimon

I think they will have better things to do than hunt down a closeout phone offer when in London.

Thanks, all.

Stan

Teenagers, Oxford Street, and London? I think they'll do just fine! Dad can go buy the phones while the teens check out the shops. The basement of Carphone Warehouse has a lot of cheap closeout handsets - just pick up 3 cheap ones, and, at least for now, it's still possible in the UK to buy phones and SIMs with minimal hassle (no passports, etc.).

I've usually found Vodafone to be the priciest of the UK providers, but it's worth checking. Orange (part of France Telecom), O2 (part of Telefonica), and T-Mobile are the other main UK providers. Virgin and Carphonewarehouse are two major MVNOs. Check out each of their UK websites and see what they have in "pay as you go" plans.

[petkow]

Originally Posted by KPO'M

I've usually found Vodafone to be the priciest of the UK providers...

You're right! I only suggested them because of their good roaming options (Passport).

For better value, I would recommend T-Mobile "Mates rates". With this you can call any other T-Mobile user at any time for only 5p/min. With these plans, it is also possible to make calls back to the US (and other countries) for only 3p/min via a 07755 access code.