vB Easy Archive - Best Prepaid SIM Card for Someone Visiting London

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Best Prepaid SIM Card for Someone Visiting London
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Posted by: terryrocks

Hi everyone.
I have an unlocked iphone and I plan on traveling to London for a couple of days. I was wondering if anyone could recommend which prepaid sim card would be the best to get - which has the lowest rates to make calls with in the U.K. and to the U.S. Also do any of these prepay sim cards also offer EDGE internet service so that i can surf the internet on my iphone while i'm on the go?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Terry

Posted by: lozza

Without a doubt t-mobile. 15p/min within the UK, 3p/min back to the US via YCW (http://www.yourcallworld.com/)

They also cap browsing at £1/day or £2.50 for a 5 day pass. Although it states that there is a 40MB fair use I've sometimes gone way past this (like 900MB or so in a day!) - as long as you don't do that everyday you should be OK.

I'm not sure they have EDGE for your iphone. I have used the service on 3G and 2.5G (Standard GPRS) only.

Posted by: terryrocks

Thank u so much loza. Tmobiles 5 day plan sounds perfect and the other company's rates are great. I wish tmobiles international rates were better

Posted by: lozza

You still use your t-mobile phone with yourcallworld, so it's not that much of a problem. Just means you have to dial the ycw number first. Although i didn't believe it at first another poster has confirmed it is a total of 3p/min from the t-mobile airtime balance (i.e there's no 15p/min on top)

Posted by: gp2050

Umm, are you serious? 6 cents a minute for calls to Canada? No 15p on top? That's ridiculous; so on T-Mobile, it's cheaper to call Canada than it is to call the UK? Could you not just use yourcallworld, call something like Yak (http://yak.ca/rates/rateslookup.asp...ID=3&Language=E) and pay 5 cents a minute to make a call back to the UK? It would come out to 6.5p.

Posted by: lozza

You could i'd think, but you'd then have to dial 3 sets of numbers and i don't know what the voice delay would like, since there'd be multiple atlantic trips.

The 15p/min rate to the uk isn't so bad either since it includes cell phones, which during the day cost more than that to call from a bt landline. Remember that it's a caller pays model over here and the wireless subscriber pays nothing for incoming calls.

Posted by: JEFFJAGUAR

The ycw price is absolutely correct and it works...and it's no big deal, I simply programmed my phone with the 077 number for ycw and for some of my contacts, I programmed 077...pp0012125551212 and it absolutely works as advertised...call quality is excellent too! And yes, it's 3p/minute with no other charge to call the 077 number!

Posted by: jgoodm

Quote:

Originally Posted by lozza

Without a doubt t-mobile. 15p/min within the UK, 3p/min back to the US via YCW (http://www.yourcallworld.com/)

They also cap browsing at £1/day or £2.50 for a 5 day pass. Although it states that there is a 40MB fair use I've sometimes gone way past this (like 900MB or so in a day!) - as long as you don't do that everyday you should be OK.

I'm not sure they have EDGE for your iphone. I have used the service on 3G and 2.5G (Standard GPRS) only.

Hi, I can't seem to find the data plan on the T-Mobile website that you are describing. Can you point me to the right place? This sounds like a great option. Thanks.

Posted by: Louis4127

Quote:

Originally Posted by lozza

Great! And could you tell me if a Canadian can just walk into a store and buy a SIM card and a Pay as you card without having an UK home address ?

I'm planning a trip to UK in may.

Many thanks.

Posted by: lozza

Data plan is here - http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobi.../pay-as-you-go/

Web n Walk 5 day pass - £2.50

You should be able to buy a sim by just walking in and paying cash. I don't know how much they are - they are free from their website, but delivery to UK address only.

Posted by: jgoodm

Great, thanks.

Can anyone recommend a good place to buy European Sims in the US that won't rip me off?

I need Sims from: UK, Netherlands, and Italy.

Thanks,

J.

Posted by: mrcamp

ebay.uk. I have always bought my UK sims and topups from there.

Most of the other online shops will rip you off big time! Some of them even sell UK sim cards that are given away for free in the UK for up to $39.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgoodm

Can anyone recommend a good place to buy European Sims in the US that won't rip me off?

I need Sims from: UK, Netherlands, and Italy.

Thanks,

J.

Posted by: JEFFJAGUAR

If you're in the USA, take a look at....

www.tinyurl.com/6ebvao

T Mobile UK sim card for $2.49 plus postage of $3.99

I also have a web merchant in Liverpool the UK who I use from time to time for accessories for my cell phones with UK plugs whose prices are not bad....but they charge £6.50 to ship to the USA (not complaining, that is pretty much the going rate they pay)...who sell all UK sim cards for prices such as 89p....I picked up a T Mobile UK sim card from them about two weeks ago for 89p as I needed a few other things which they had good prices on.....if you send me a private message, I'll give you their web site.

Posted by: ukap

I have a T mobile UK sim for when I visit UK next week. I registered online & used my parents address in the UK. I now live in the USA and my credit cards are all USA cards. It will not let me top up with any of my cards (inc. Amex).
Do you know any way I can top up using a USA credit card? If I call customer service will they allow me to top up over the phone? I want to get some credit on the card before I leave the USA.

Failing that I can ask parents to top up for me in the UK. I have the swipe top up card here. Do I have to mail it to them or can they go into a store and give them my number to top it up.

Posted by: embguy

Have anyone purchased SIM card from Telestial.com?

They have an international roaming SIM card called Passport Lite SIM Card for $19 with $20 airtime included. Free incoming calls and free incoming text in UK.

My daughter is going to Sweden for a soccer tournament this summer. Her team also stops over at London for a few days before heading to Sweden. My wife is going with her. But she is not good at getting SIM card locally. That is the reason why I am setting this up before they leave Canada. We have two unlocked Razr V3 phones (Rogers in Canada) that we used in Hong Kong last year.

Telestial.com also has another SIM card called Passport SIM Card. It costs $39 with only $10 airtime. But the free incoming calls and free incoming text for both Sweden and UK. The cost for the outgoing charge is lower than the Lite version.

Any other suggestions.

Posted by: gp2050

I'm going over to the UK on exchange in January for 6 months and I'm super pumped. What would be a good sim for someone who
-Will not be using the cell phone to call back to Canada (I got an unlimited skype subscription)
-Will not be using data
-will only be using text/phone, and not even that much
-Will be travelling a lot around Europe, so would like the best roaming rates possible. Or should I just get a new sim for each country?

I'm under 24, so I'll be getting Blyk, probably, but I might go over the 43 minutes.

Also, can someone reccomend a really cheap GSM phone that will also work back home in Canada? Or a place to get really cheap phones?

Posted by: Frontierjustice

Quote:

Originally Posted by gp2050

1. I'm going to the UK in January for 6 months. What would be a good sim?
2. Or should I just get a new sim for each country?
3. Also, a really cheap GSM phone that will also work back home in Canada? Or a place to get really cheap phones?

Okeh -
1. I liked "Lebara" but there were possibilities at T-Mobile and Vodaphone - depends on what appeals to you. With 6 months, you can get organised!
2. It depends ...
3. I'd look for a Samsung A437 on a Craigs' list ... you should be able to get it for $10 - $20. You can unlock it for free following instructions here on HowardForums. (You could get a new or refurbed phone as well for a few dollars more.) The T-Mobile branded Motorola V195 is $30 online ; works in the US for 10-cents a minute and roams in Canada at 79-cents a minute. Sometime after the 90 day mark, buy a refill and get an unlock code from T-Mobile for free. Motorola sells the V197 unlocked for $100, too.

I've been admiring the "CarphoneWarehouse" web site and I'd visit one of their stores. They sell about a dozen SIM cards.
Regards

Posted by: mickliq

I'll also be going over to the UK for a few days in a few weeks. Have always had access to a pay monthly SIM through various UK clients but now "on my own" so will have to go the pay as you go route until I can establish a UK address for pay monthly.

Does the T-Mobile Web n Walk include email access? It only mentions Browsing, though my experience is often that "data is data" unless they mean WAP browsing only.

Posted by: psionandy

web n walk includes web, email and downloads on phone...

but NOT VOIP, streaming media, modem use, or IM

Posted by: mickliq

Thanks psionandy!

I wouldn't mind the emergency tethering ability, but otherwise that's pretty good for occassional traveller to the UK.

Posted by: mickliq

Simple as pie to get it all set up. I had the web n walk 5 day plan running in 10 minutes.

By the way...I'm tethered!

Posted by: psionandy

Sshhhh..., don't thell them

It does work, but if they notice then they may have the right to charge you for the bandwidth.

Posted by: mickliq

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Blackjack: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.11))

I didn't realise it was fair use as opposed to blocked ports.

Kinda hard for them to charge on a prepaid SIM unless you keep a large balance...anyway it's nice to know it's there "just in case"

Posted by: darrenphone

I would say a sim card from mobile world.. you get the same amout of credit as well as low tariff..

Posted by: pacpac

09SIM is OK, no charge for incoming calls, incl. Europe.