2 Week Vacation in UK

[LOTL]

Originally Posted by Malkav

If you want to call home a lot....try one of the mvno's like Lebara, Nomi, Lyca, Vectone i have some spare sims of each of these if you want...will swap 1 for 1...there numbers are already supplied on the sim

Malkav,
Whose network are Lebara, Nomi, Lyca, and Vectone on?
Would there be a prefix that i would have to enter prior to making calls if i went the MVNO route?
If i can do Vodafone for 5p to the USA, then i might forgo the middleman stuff and deal direct with Vodafone. For the amount that we would use the phone, im thinking the simpler we keep it the better.

So with that said. I looked at Vodafones website and came up with the following.
On the Vodafone Simply Pay as you go plan, calls cost 20p a minute and texts are 10p - to anyone, any time, anywhere in the UK.
They then mention that i would need to add the International Pay as you go perk by either calling 36888 from my mobile or text INTERNATIONAL to 2345.
They also offer a free SIM, but it appears it might only be for people from the UK or people with an existing number.

I see this happening in the following sequence.
1. Order the Motorola V197 and UK charger from Ebay.
2. Order the Vodafone SIM from Ebay (or possibly get a free one from Vodafone)
3. Upon arrival in the UK, top up my SIM at a yet to be determined location in Bristol. (airport should have a place im assuming?)
4. Once topped up, i can text INTERNATIONAL from my phone to get the 5p rate for calls to the US. (or is there a better way to do this?)

I couldnt find out what the cost would be for texts sent to the US, or what the rate would be for incoming calls or texts from the US.

[MATHA531]

Originally Posted by LOTL

Malkav,
Whose network are Lebara, Nomi, Lyca, and Vectone on?
Would there be a prefix that i would have to enter prior to making calls if i went the MVNO route?
If i can do Vodafone for 5p to the USA, then i might forgo the middleman stuff and deal direct with Vodafone. For the amount that we would use the phone, im thinking the simpler we keep it the better.

So with that said. I looked at Vodafones website and came up with the following.
On the Vodafone Simply Pay as you go plan, calls cost 20p a minute and texts are 10p - to anyone, any time, anywhere in the UK.
They then mention that i would need to add the International Pay as you go perk by either calling 36888 from my mobile or text INTERNATIONAL to 2345.
They also offer a free SIM, but it appears it might only be for people from the UK or people with an existing number.

I see this happening in the following sequence.
1. Order the Motorola V197 and UK charger from Ebay.
2. Order the Vodafone SIM from Ebay (or possibly get a free one from Vodafone)
3. Upon arrival in the UK, top up my SIM at a yet to be determined location in Bristol. (airport should have a place im assuming?)
4. Once topped up, i can text INTERNATIONAL from my phone to get the 5p rate for calls to the US. (or is there a better way to do this?)

I couldnt find out what the cost would be for texts sent to the US, or what the rate would be for incoming calls or texts from the US.

Incoming texts will be free...I think, but am not sure, outgoing texts while in the UK are 35p at most (although they might be less)...the vodafone sim card comes I believe with £1 of credit, enough to make the text message international to activate vodafone international with the low cost to the USA (I'm sure the price for texting to the USA is somewhere on the web site)....the vodafone sim card comes with a card the size of a credit card for topping up...pop into most any convenience store, drug store (boots, superdrug), grocery store (tesco, sainsbury), present the card and state boldly in your best American accent, "Please top up for 10 pounds (or whatever you wish, you can do as little as 5 pounds)"...the cashier runs the card through his terminal, you pluck down the 10 quid (or in many of the places whip out your US credit card which will work even though it doesn't have a chip and pin setup) and voila, done finished, topped up. Nothing could be simpler! (Without the swipe card, it's a tad more complicated, the cashier gives you a receipt with instructions and a 16 digit number, you follow the directions, enter the 16 digit number and you've topped up!)....the motorola probably comes with a dual voltage charger...all you will need is an adapter plug not a converter but check to see that it says input 110-240 volts; almost all do today but the motorola model has been around for a little while, not that that has anything to do with its ability to serve as a phone......

BTW they will post a free sim card to any UK address including your hotel but as you said you want to be all set up and if you wait you won't know your number in advance...it's probably worth the $5 or whatever it is just ot be able to tell people your number (it will be a UK cell phone number starting with 07,,,in giving people your number, they might not understand the system, tell them they will have to dial 011 44 7... omitting the lead zero...for you to call back to the USA on the phone you use the + key...on gsm phones the + serves in place of the international prefix so you would dial +1 212 555 1212 to call the number 1 212 555 1212 in the USA...you can call toll free numbers (800,866,877...) the same way but before the call is completed you will hear a pleasant enough female voice reminding you, "the number you have dialed is not toll free if called from outside the United States. If answered, you will be billed at international direct dial rates. If you do not wish to be charged, please hang up now." (I hate that announcement) but for 5p, it's no big deal. Incidentally, on many of these plans, you are charged by the second not rounded up to the next highest minute...don't know if this applies to the vodafone international plan ...I think that's it....your problem has been solverd expediteously eh.

Ah ha, found it for you...24p per text message to the USA, free to receive!

[LOTL]

U da man Matha531
Wait till they get a hold of my Boston accent!
Should i be reading something more into the "present the card and state boldly in your best American accent" comment?

[MATHA531]

It was meant as a joke....don't take any of my wisecracks as anything other than my feeble efforts at humor.

[Motel75]

Late model Motos can all be charged up via USB, though you will probably have to install the driver on your computer to do it this way. Their chargers are alwys universal voltage, only a plug adapter is needed (and some Moto chargers include a UK three-pin plug and a Europlug as standard).

Incoming text is always free in Europe, no matter who the operator is. It's bizarre indeed that it costs something in the US, but I suppose the thinking was that if people were used for paying for incoming calls, they wouldn't fuss about incoming text either.

Don't let me stop you from ordering a V197/RAZR/whatever and SIM via eBay, etc., but it really is no trouble at all to locate a Vodafone shop or equivalent mobile phone store in Britain and you can have the phone paid for and working in 10 minutes. (It might be easier to do it this way if you don't feel like setting up your mobile browser, or if the browser settings on your phone are locked, because it will come preconfigured - UK networks have cheap data too, and at the festival you might find this an easy way to check the news, your e-mail, etc. - however, you can usually have the provider text the browser/MMS settings sent to you - if it doesn't do this automatically, just look at the website.)

[MATHA531]

Originally Posted by Motel75

Late model Motos can all be charged up via USB, though you will probably have to install the driver on your computer to do it this way. Their chargers are alwys universal voltage, only a plug adapter is needed (and some Moto chargers include a UK three-pin plug and a Europlug as standard).

Incoming text is always free in Europe, no matter who the operator is. It's bizarre indeed that it costs something in the US, but I suppose the thinking was that if people were used for paying for incoming calls, they wouldn't fuss about incoming text either.

Don't let me stop you from ordering a V197/RAZR/whatever and SIM via eBay, etc., but it really is no trouble at all to locate a Vodafone shop or equivalent mobile phone store in Britain and you can have the phone paid for and working in 10 minutes. (It might be easier to do it this way if you don't feel like setting up your mobile browser, or if the browser settings on your phone are locked, because it will come preconfigured - UK networks have cheap data too, and at the festival you might find this an easy way to check the news, your e-mail, etc. - however, you can usually have the provider text the browser/MMS settings sent to you - if it doesn't do this automatically, just look at the website.)

Agreed with one small exception noted. If you buy the phone from a vodafone store, chances are it will be locked. And yes, of course, phone can be unlocked yada yada yada. And I think we can agree, the difference in money is negligible so it comes down to what the OP feels is most convenient.

[Malkav]

Originally Posted by LOTL

Malkav,
Whose network are Lebara, Nomi, Lyca, and Vectone on? Lebara is on Vodafone, Nomi is also Vodafone, Lyca is orange though newer sims allow roaming onto 02? and Vectone uses t-mobile.
Would there be a prefix that i would have to enter prior to making calls if i went the MVNO route?

No...direct dial/ text right from activation.

If i can do Vodafone for 5p to the USA, then i might forgo the middleman stuff and deal direct with Vodafone. For the amount that we would use the phone, im thinking the simpler we keep it the better.

So with that said. I looked at Vodafones website and came up with the following.
On the Vodafone Simply Pay as you go plan, calls cost 20p a minute and texts are 10p - to anyone, any time, anywhere in the UK.
They then mention that i would need to add the International Pay as you go perk by either calling 36888 from my mobile or text INTERNATIONAL to 2345.

yes you would need to go into a(pref) a vodafone shop and they will sort it for you and get you onto the right plan!
They also offer a free SIM, but it appears it might only be for people from the UK or people with an existing number.

I can supply you with one for a straight swap (ie one us pre pay sim for a UK pre pay sim) pm for details

I see this happening in the following sequence.
1. Order the Motorola V197 and UK charger from Ebay.
2. Order the Vodafone SIM from Ebay (or possibly get a free one from Vodafone)
3. Upon arrival in the UK, top up my SIM at a yet to be determined location in Bristol. (airport should have a place im assuming?)
4. Once topped up, i can text INTERNATIONAL from my phone to get the 5p rate for calls to the US. (or is there a better way to do this?)see above

I couldnt find out what the cost would be for texts sent to the US, or what the rate would be for incoming calls or texts from the US.

UK only chargest for outgoing text messages....(except certain shot code premium rate numbers...tv quizes etc)

[PhotoJim]

Incoming calls are free for you too, but your US-based caller will pay 20-40 cents a minute to call a UK mobile number. The UK is on the caller-pays model.

[MATHA531]

Originally Posted by PhotoJim

Incoming calls are free for you too, but your US-based caller will pay 20-40 cents a minute to call a UK mobile number. The UK is on the caller-pays model.

There is a way to make this somewhat cheaper....a firm called localphone is offering direct dial numbers with just about any US and I believe Canadian area code your heart might desirte...they only charge $3 for the number and 99¢/month to maintain the number...,you can set the forwarding number via the web...cost to a UK mobke 12.3 cents US/minuite (to you of course), the caller pays whatever his or her ld or local carrier charges to the local number...seems to be a pretty good deal...use it myself for call forwarding......