SIM for the British Isles

Travel Mama · **SIM for the British Isles -** 09-07-2008, 06:43

My education on SIM cards is very little, but hopefully will be better VERY soon as I am traveling soon. I use an ATT phone which is unlocked for international use. Given that I am traveling the British Isles on an extended trip, I am still not clear after all the reading which company to go with. I believe I'm too late to order on line so can one buy a sim card say in Dublin? What company would be one to buy from for a good price to call around the isles and back to the US. My thought is to use text messaging to have the receiver of the text phone me. I'm not sure really the right route here and am looking for feedback.

Effendi · 09-07-2008, 08:09

British Isles is a bit vague... for example Dublin is in the Republic of Ireland (which is not "british" at all, don't ever tell them!

), while London or Belfast are in the United Kingdom, two different countries with different operators. There are also other "almost-countries" like the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man which have different operators as well, but probably you are not going there.

I think that probably 3 could be a good solution with the "3 like home" option, since it has coverage both in EIRE and UK (although not so good...). Isn't O2 doing something similar as well? I ask to our British and Irish friends for more info

Motel75 · 09-07-2008, 08:16

Or just one SIM each (or phones with SIMs, they are often very cheap) for both the Republic and for the UK if you are spending enough time in each. T-Mobile UK currently offers the cheapest prepaid rates to the US if you use the mycallworld.com service, 3p a minute (calling direct is not so cheap).

Travel Mama · **British Isles -** 09-07-2008, 19:27

I went for the geographical description, but it includes the North and the South of Eire, Wales and England.....

Travel Mama · **T-Mobile -** 09-07-2008, 19:38

Motel: I looked on T-mobile's website for mycallworld (the link www.mycallworld.com didn't take me to the right place.) and could not find, what you mention. I tried searching their site and didn't find anything . Am I missing it? I am spending 2 weeks, Eire (North and South), 1 week Wales, 2 weeks England. I thought a sim card would be better since I could use my current phone which is unlocked (it also has an alarm in it which is handy) and it was free to unlock. (Hey something free... sort of ).

Effendi: I'm not sure what you mean by 3?

Travel Mama · **Yourcallworld.com -** 09-07-2008, 19:40

Found it Motel: www.yourcallworld.com......:)

andy · 10-07-2008, 00:47

Whilst Éire is the name in Irish of both the island and the Republic of Ireland, I think that it's convention to say Ireland in English.

Some Irish and UK networks have cheap roaming in the other country, sometimes automatically, sometimes as a paid add-on option.

I'll try to write a bit more in the next couple of days, when I'm not trying out posting from a PDA for the first time

Motel75 · 10-07-2008, 04:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Travel Mama

Found it Motel: www.yourcallworld.com......:)

Yep, that's it. Memory faulty.

If you look in the archives here, there's quite a bit of discussion of it, too.

Travel Mama · **Thanks Andy -** 10-07-2008, 04:14

I'm heading out this weekend, afternoon on Sunday. Who would have known that in some of our lifetimes, we'd find ourselves, either computer/electronic literate or literate, depending upon the subject. Kind Regards......

Effendi · 10-07-2008, 09:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Travel Mama

Effendi: I'm not sure what you mean by 3?

3 Ireland
3 UK

But consider that you need a 3G phone to use this operator.

	(#1)
Travel Mama (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 5 Join Date: 09 Jul 2008 Country:	SIM for the British Isles - 09-07-2008, 06:43 My education on SIM cards is very little, but hopefully will be better VERY soon as I am traveling soon. I use an ATT phone which is unlocked for international use. Given that I am traveling the British Isles on an extended trip, I am still not clear after all the reading which company to go with. I believe I'm too late to order on line so can one buy a sim card say in Dublin? What company would be one to buy from for a good price to call around the isles and back to the US. My thought is to use text messaging to have the receiver of the text phone me. I'm not sure really the right route here and am looking for feedback.

	(#2)
Effendi (Offline) The great Dictator! Prepaid Prophet Posts: 2,487 Join Date: 13 Jan 2004 Location: Trieste/Trst Country:	09-07-2008, 08:09 British Isles is a bit vague... for example Dublin is in the Republic of Ireland (which is not "british" at all, don't ever tell them! ), while London or Belfast are in the United Kingdom, two different countries with different operators. There are also other "almost-countries" like the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man which have different operators as well, but probably you are not going there. I think that probably 3 could be a good solution with the "3 like home" option, since it has coverage both in EIRE and UK (although not so good...). Isn't O2 doing something similar as well? I ask to our British and Irish friends for more info Working Prepaids: IT: Wind, Vodafone IT, UNO Mobile; SM: Prima; UK: 3, Virgin; INT: TravelSIM, Truphone. Deceased Prepaids: CZ: Oskar, Eurotel; SK: Orange; DE: E-Plus, Aldi, Simyo; GE: Geocell; AM: Armentel; PL: Heyah, Plus; LT: Tele2; LV: Amigo; EE: Elisa; UA: Kyivstar; NZ: Vodafone; INT: UM, UM+, ICQSim. GSM/3G Phones: Nokia Lumia 630 dual sim

	(#3)
Motel75 (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Pioneer Posts: 573 Join Date: 15 Jun 2006 Location: Berlin Country:	09-07-2008, 08:16 Or just one SIM each (or phones with SIMs, they are often very cheap) for both the Republic and for the UK if you are spending enough time in each. T-Mobile UK currently offers the cheapest prepaid rates to the US if you use the mycallworld.com service, 3p a minute (calling direct is not so cheap). Current DE: Vodafone, Netzklub; PL: Klucz, Virgin; UK: Giffgaff, Vodafone; US: T-Mobile; CA: 7-Eleven; IT: Vodafone; UA: Kyivstar; FR: Bouygues; GR: Vodafone Former DE: Vodafone, T-Mobile, O2, Blauworld, 01051mobile, Solomo, Lycamobile, Simyo, Congstar, Fonic, Edeka Mobile, Lidl Mobile; PL: Heyah, Era, Virgin, Sami Swoi, Orange, POP, iPlus, Carrefour Mova, Telepin Mobi, Play, Lycamobile, T-Mobile; UK: Vodafone, T-Mobile, Virgin; US: T-Mobile, AT&T, Lycamobile; CZ: Vodafone, Oskar; ES: Lebara; GR: Vodafone, Wind; UA: Vodafone; IL: Orange; TR: Turkcell Last edited by Motel75; 09-07-2008 at 20:29..

	(#4)
Travel Mama (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 5 Join Date: 09 Jul 2008 Country:	British Isles - 09-07-2008, 19:27 I went for the geographical description, but it includes the North and the South of Eire, Wales and England.....

	(#5)
Travel Mama (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 5 Join Date: 09 Jul 2008 Country:	T-Mobile - 09-07-2008, 19:38 Motel: I looked on T-mobile's website for mycallworld (the link www.mycallworld.com didn't take me to the right place.) and could not find, what you mention. I tried searching their site and didn't find anything . Am I missing it? I am spending 2 weeks, Eire (North and South), 1 week Wales, 2 weeks England. I thought a sim card would be better since I could use my current phone which is unlocked (it also has an alarm in it which is handy) and it was free to unlock. (Hey something free... sort of ). Effendi: I'm not sure what you mean by 3?

	(#6)
Travel Mama (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 5 Join Date: 09 Jul 2008 Country:	Yourcallworld.com - 09-07-2008, 19:40 Found it Motel: www.yourcallworld.com......:)

	(#7)
andy (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Prophet Posts: 2,128 Join Date: 10 Dec 2004 Country:	10-07-2008, 00:47 Whilst Éire is the name in Irish of both the island and the Republic of Ireland, I think that it's convention to say Ireland in English. Some Irish and UK networks have cheap roaming in the other country, sometimes automatically, sometimes as a paid add-on option. I'll try to write a bit more in the next couple of days, when I'm not trying out posting from a PDA for the first time Last edited by andy; 10-07-2008 at 00:52..

	(#9)
Travel Mama (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 5 Join Date: 09 Jul 2008 Country:	Thanks Andy - 10-07-2008, 04:14 I'm heading out this weekend, afternoon on Sunday. Who would have known that in some of our lifetimes, we'd find ourselves, either computer/electronic literate or literate, depending upon the subject. Kind Regards......