Mobiles/international roaming.. quick query

Need to be contactable on my (UK) mobile during my next trip to the US.. and contactable from both the UK and the US.
What number do I tell people to dial?
My guess was +44 7xxx xxx xxx, but Orange CS rep said +1 7xxx xxx xxx.

Clues?

Your guess is right and the Orange rep is talking from an orifice not normally associated with speech!

Best wishes

David

Gracias senor!

Orange will use the Cingular network here in the states. Which I discovered by accident.

Last time I was in the UK, I had my phone unlocked and bought an Orange SIM card for while I was there. I didn't want to pay the roaming charges for just using my Cingular SIM card.

Ironically, when I came back, I decided to move UK people in my address book to my UK SIM card (since I'll only use the numbers while in the UK). So I put the card in, and after about 5 minutes, it connected to Cingular.

In the US you can dail numbers as they appear with no country code - and to dial home ot the UK you need +44.

If someone dials you however from the US then THEY need the +44 and people in the UK calling you do not!!

Seems weird but its the wacky world of mobile phones.

Als be awars that sme US services dont much like UK services and you may have to use "manual" network selection to be able to call and/or text out!!

As has been discussed above - check with yoru current supplier as to who is the partner fr it in the US. And if you need to keep the cost down then buy a local PAYG Sim - I have friends in a band who probaly have 8 sims - all local to keep the cost down!!

Have fun!!!

I've only used mine for sending text messages while away in the US - but I've never had to do anthing other than opening my phone book, select recipient and hit send. And they do arrive!

Originally posted by MarkJ
In the US you can dail numbers as they appear with no country code - and to dial home ot the UK you need +44.

If someone dials you however from the US then THEY need the +44 and people in the UK calling you do not!!

Seems weird but its the wacky world of mobile phones.

Als be awars that sme US services dont much like UK services and you may have to use "manual" network selection to be able to call and/or text out!!

As has been discussed above - check with yoru current supplier as to who is the partner fr it in the US. And if you need to keep the cost down then buy a local PAYG Sim - I have friends in a band who probaly have 8 sims - all local to keep the cost down!!

Have fun!!!

A friend of mine tours with David Copperfield. I think he has about a dozen SIM's from various countries. It is a nightmare trying to get ahold of him! I mainly travel between the US and UK... and most people know which country I'm in... so the two SIM's works just fine for me. And the Orange PAYG is nice becaues you can topup from the US before you go and have a working phone upon landing at LHR (although I'm sure there's a topup station in LHR somewhere).

A friend of mine tours with David Copperfield. I think he has about a dozen SIM's from various countries. It is a nightmare trying to get ahold of him!

I use my UK VF just about all over the world and generally have no problems but As its used mailly for SMS I have a second phone unlocked and place a SIM card for the country im in and use this to reply... people can still get me and I can reply at 80% cheaper costs !!

If you go to the USA a lot T-mobile TO GO is excellent one off $100 dollars a year gives you access.

(virgin mobile USA is good but cant send SMS to UK and dont use SIM cards)

Some UK networks let you call straight from the phone, others require the +44 prefix

OK, we're not very technically minded and we like to keep things simple so we normally buy a phone card to ring home whilst we are in the USA, but reading this thread has made us wonder about using our mobile.
We are off to Florida soon.
Is it easy to buy a local PAYG SIM?
How much would it cost?
How much does it cost to ring UK numbers?
Thanks in advance.

[Scrooge]

Just out of interest,what about the reverse,bringing a US phone to the UK..Cingular want 99 cent a min to use one of theirs there.Is there a cheaper way to do it?

[fozzyo]

When we were in Sydney I bought a Vodafone SIM - the first store I saw. It was fantastic, loads of local calls to friends and stuff and calling home - aus$20 seemed to last me for every calling the UK.

I would really recommend doing it if you want to call locally / home. Only thing is you don't have the same number, but just ensure you can dial into your voicemail remotely with a PIN and pick them up every day or so if you want.

Dave - I'd say the same for you, pick up a SIM card when your over here.

Mat xxx

Originally posted by jetwet1
Just out of interest,what about the reverse,bringing a US phone to the UK..Cingular want 99 cent a min to use one of theirs there.Is there a cheaper way to do it?

That is what I do.

I have Cingular service here in the states. When I go to the UK, I pop in a Orange PAYG card. It is considerably cheaper, and it was only something like 20p to text to the states on it. Comperable to the 25cents it costs me to text US->UK.

I did have to have my phone unlocked in the UK at some side of the road chinese man with a wooden cart, but it does work, and does save me a lot of money.

As for Tim's question about bringing a UK phone to the US. Be careful as we do not have a lot of PAYG companies here. Cingular and T-Mobile are the only GSM carriers. Cingular just introduced a new PAYG plan, but I am not sure if you can just buy the SIM or if you have to buy the phone too. Cingular's GoPhone Information may help you on that, plus you could always contact Cingular tech support as they are very good. Here is a coverage map for GoPhone (Cingular's PAYG service)

GoPhone requires a dual-band 850Mhz/1900Mhz GSM phone, which I'm sure you'll have as the UK's networks are so much more advanced than ours.

According to the Cingular website, calls from the US to UK are $1.49/min to landlines and $1.68/min to mobiles. However, there is also an option if you call frequently that is an extra $3.99/mon that dropps the rates to $0.06/min landline $0.25/min mobile. That's called Cingular World Connect, but I don't know if it's available on PAYG or not.

[img]http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/cell-phone-service/images/maps/payasyougo.gif[/img]

milehigh mentioned good experience with T-Mobile, but I will caution you that their coverage is not the best. I live in upstate New York, near Syracuse, and the service is absolute garbage with very low reception. Perhaps it is better in Florida. My buddy that tours with Copperfield uses T-Mobile and he said he loves it when he's out of the US, but has been very dissapointed with it in the States.

[Scrooge]

Thanks Mike,after checking out the website I was pretty sure I was going to go with Cingular after 16 years with Verizon I have had enough of them...Now which phone ?????

Originally posted by jetwet1
Thanks Mike,after checking out the website I was pretty sure I was going to go with Cingular after 16 years with Verizon I have had enough of them...Now which phone ?????

You looking for top of the line, "ooooooo look at his phone"? or just basic "get 'er done" phone?

[ChuckC]

Originally posted by jetwet1
Just out of interest,what about the reverse,bringing a US phone to the UK..Cingular want 99 cent a min to use one of theirs there.Is there a cheaper way to do it?

Dave,

Took my Cingular Motorola GPS phone with me to "Chuck Day" and after selecting the network manually, it worked like a charm; I think I was charged about $.25/min IIRC. Cingular rep here had offered that for about $5 a month I would be charged $.05/min IIRC. I thought that was not such a great deal unless I was spending a lot of time on the phone to the UK.

Chuck-

[mcmbenjamin]

Chuck and other Cingular customers:

This suggest the charge is $1.29 a min. They also have different rate for ex- ATT customers. I was an ATT customer but all my friends got Verizon so I switched to be 'in.'

Benjamin

For those of you in the US who want to buy a UK sim then just go to the main supplier web sites

http://www.orange.co.uk
http://www.vodafone.co.uk
http://www.tmobile.co.uk

There is alsorts of information on each web site and you can easilyl buy a sim card from a number of stores - vodafone is even doing them free at the moment!!!

The call costs are then shown on the web site.

Then - if you need to get your US cell fone "unlocked" ( most UK phones are unlocked these days) then you will need to go to an independent electrical shop - in London there are thousands of these - and it will cost around £20!!

Alternatively - if you need a new cellphone then its worth buying one over here with a PAYG sim and then you can just insert your US sim when you get home!!

There are big moves afoot at the moment with the European Commission to try and get roaming costs reduced because we have a rigth issue when we go to Europe with call costs - even receiving calls in Europe costs us - so if you are going to Europe its worth buying country based sims too - they are only ever £5-£10!!!