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PrePaid SIMS in UK?

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Posted by: BobDobbs67

Looking for a decent PrePaid SIM for my Nokia e71 for use within the UK.
- I'll be spending roughly 4 days a month in London.
- Need to access email - Internet not so important. (Data plan?)
- Will be texting to the Continent and making a few local calls. I heard some of them offer quite good rates to the US, though that also not priority.

T-Mo looks pretty good, but any suggestions welcome. And, are these guys legit? http://www.britishsims.com/SIMCards.html
Thanks,
BD


Posted by: a in yul

came across this;

http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/simev..._0984&WT.srch=1


valid if u have a UK address available...


Posted by: smuggler

Quote:
Originally Posted by BobDobbs67
Looking for a decent PrePaid SIM for my Nokia e71 for use within the UK.
- I'll be spending roughly 4 days a month in London.
- Need to access email - Internet not so important. (Data plan?)
- Will be texting to the Continent and making a few local calls. I heard some of them offer quite good rates to the US, though that also not priority.

T-Mo looks pretty good, but any suggestions welcome. And, are these guys legit? http://www.britishsims.com/SIMCards.html
Thanks,
BD


I have had good service with both Virgin ("piggy backs" on T-Mobile UK) and Vodafone. My sister (London) uses Orange. Her comments - "Good Service - rotten phones!" My brother in law uses T-Mobile and has not had any real problems.

I suggest that you visit the various providers' websites and check their prepaid/pay-as-you-go plans. At least one of them should offer something that will meet your particular requirements.

As for the above supplier, BritishSims, their prices seem to be a bit high. Search E-Bay for UK SIMS. There is one particular US seller who is offering Virgin Mobile UK SIMS for $5.99 as opposed to $19.45 from the above quoted supplier.

On the other hand, if your current provider allows UK roaming, you could wait until you reach the UK and buy a SIM at one of the many cell phone stores.
My wife & I are headed for the UK next month. I have a valid Vodafone SIM. My wife's phone (Rogers Canada) will roam in Britain - but just for as long as it takes me to get to a local provider's store!
My choice? Any one of TMO(UK), Virgin, Vodafone Orange.

Hope this helps.

Just remembered. "Tesco" (nationwide mainly groceries chain) seems to have a pretty good prepaid service. Google "Tesco Phones".


Posted by: BobDobbs67

Quote:
Originally Posted by smuggler
I have had good service with both Virgin ("piggy backs" on T-Mobile UK) and Vodafone. My sister (London) uses Orange. Her comments - "Good Service - rotten phones!" My brother in law uses T-Mobile and has not had any real problems.

I suggest that you visit the various providers' websites and check their prepaid/pay-as-you-go plans. At least one of them should offer something that will meet your particular requirements.

As for the above supplier, BritishSims, their prices seem to be a bit high. Search E-Bay for UK SIMS. There is one particular US seller who is offering Virgin Mobile UK SIMS for $5.99 as opposed to $19.45 from the above quoted supplier.

On the other hand, if your current provider allows UK roaming, you could wait until you reach the UK and buy a SIM at one of the many cell phone stores.
My wife & I are headed for the UK next month. I have a valid Vodafone SIM. My wife's phone (Rogers Canada) will roam in Britain - but just for as long as it takes me to get to a local provider's store!
My choice? Any one of TMO(UK), Virgin, Vodafone Orange.

Hope this helps.

Just remembered. "Tesco" (nationwide mainly groceries chain) seems to have a pretty good prepaid service. Google "Tesco Phones".

Hey thanks, that's really helpful. TMO has a pretty good offer at the moment - they've sent a free SIM card to my supplied UK address and I don't have to pay until I arrive and activate. That way if I find something better in the meantime I've lost nothing. I did look into Tesco, and it may well be a good deal, but I'd rather go with what I know.

My biggest problem is finding a provider who will accept a US credit card (without submitting statements and waiting 30 days) but I think if I just go into a TMO shop once I'm in London I can just - pay as I go. Thanks again.


Posted by: burgerwars

I bought an Orange UK unactivated pre-paid SIM off of eBay last year before going to London. I think it was about $4. I activated it before going, plus added a credit card to the account (dialing 450 reaches customer service). It worked perfectly for me. Using the SIM here in the U.S. is extremely expensive. I picked their "Camel" plan. While in the UK on this plan, calls within the U.K. were 20p a minute, with calls back to the U.S. were only 6p a minute. It worked out very well for me.

To keep the account open, there needs to be at least one transaction on it every 180 days, even if it's just a one-minute call.


Posted by: a in yul

m presently using orange uk and the speeds are somewhat slow for internet but the price seems right, unlim internet 5 GBP per week...

i haven't tried it yet on my ovation modem but will keep u posted...


Posted by: PhotoJim

Orange let me register my Canadian credit card in September 2007 without difficulty.

Each of the UK carriers seems to have advantages but here's what I can tell you, having used all of them:

O2 - probably the best coverage. Slightly expensive data and voice.
Vodafone - similar prices to O2, similar coverage. Toss-up between this and O2 as the best for coverage.
T-Mobile - decent coverage, noticeably worse in places (particularly in Scotland). London coverage quite good. Very affordable 3G data (1 pound/day).
Orange - great rates overseas if you use the Camel SIM. Decent coverage, not quite as good in London as the others but not awful. Surprisingly, somewhat better in Scotland (particularly outside Glasgow/Edinburgh) than T-Mobile but not as good as O2 & Voda.
3 - roams on Orange outside of 3G coverage areas. Great rates, limited native coverage. Terrific data rates.

I ended up using Orange to call home, and T-Mobile for data where possible. Orange was my Plan B for data (the rates were still decent). If you travel very far afield you probably want Voda or O2 though.

Fortunately it's cheap and easy to have as many of them as you want. I can even keep them active from Canada. All of them except for 3 work here, and only Vodafone seems to require yearly topups to keep it alive. The others just require me to send an SMS. (I do that on 3 when I'm in the US.)


Posted by: BobDobbs67

Thanks to all for your suggestions. Here's what I did: I got a T-Mobile SIM card for £5, then got a Top Up card, put £10 on it, and activated the account. They gave me 10 days free web browsing. So after 5 days of texting, phone calls, endless emails, web browsing, Nokia and Google Maps with data enabled, I left London with a £5.50 credit. Not bad.

When I return to London web access will cost £1 a day which is fine as I'm only there a few days a month.




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