Help Heading to the UK - need a little help :)

[Crono7x]

Ladies and gents,

I have a droid incredible 2 and I will be heading to the UK at the end of the month. I already got an unlock code from verizon, I am just confused as to what I need to do now.

I heard that it is a lot cheaper to just buy a sim card when I arrive, is this true?

Also, what are the charges for using my phone while overseas? I plan on using it for GPS/getting around, and maybe finding a place to eat. I do not plan on making a lot of calls or texts. How does the billing/price work out?

Thank you all for the help! I have been a lurker for quite a while, love this forum :thumbup:

 

[alpha0990]

Mobile phones, Mobile Broadband & SIMs from Three
u can buy a sim for any company for as little as 69 pence. if uve got an address here u can get more than one sim free by ordering them online. for u the three outfit is prob best. aft topping up u can buy an add-on such as 2gigs of data for a fiver and valid for 30 days; for

 

[Crono7x]

What's doe? 2 gigs would be a months worth for me haha

Are you close to the airport by chance? Or near the US embassy?

 

[alpha0990]

that was a typo; meant for. lol. no i'm about a 100 miles from london. if u r going to a hotel u might b able to have the free sim cards delivered there. or just buy one for about a dollar.

 

[alpha0990]

download the three app from the market. when u r over here try a cup of tea, fish n chips, then go to a pub (a bar) and sample a pint of bitter. look for women wearing short skirts and high heels ... lol

 

[amarryat]

Ladies and gents,

I have a droid incredible 2 and I will be heading to the UK at the end of the month. I already got an unlock code from verizon, I am just confused as to what I need to do now.

I heard that it is a lot cheaper to just buy a sim card when I arrive, is this true?

Also, what are the charges for using my phone while overseas? I plan on using it for GPS/getting around, and maybe finding a place to eat. I do not plan on making a lot of calls or texts. How does the billing/price work out?

Thank you all for the help! I have been a lurker for quite a while, love this forum :thumbup:

I did this in January. Once I got in to London, I found an Orange store in the mall. Got a SIM card there with 10 pounds on it - it was pay as you go where you "top up". They have different plans based on what you want to do and they're named after animals iirc. One of the options was every time you top up with 10 more pounds, you get an hour or so of free international calls. I wasn't an expert on what was the best way to get a data plan, but I think there are options where you can add data more economically. I was there for a week and probably had to top up a few times because I ran out of data. There are a bunch of other mobile providers there as well, I just happened to select Orange because it had lots of options.

 

[CFW]

My wife and I traveled to Ireland last year for 2 weeks with our VZ Dinc2's, activated the global capabilities with VZ. Just with light data use, GPS, Google Maps, light email use, no voice calls, for both phones, the bill racked up to over $700. VZ wireless current rates per phone (as of today) are $125.00 Monthly Access: 300MB ($.005/KB or $5.12/MB after allowance). Monitor your data usage here stateside and then add in some extra as you will probably open up Google Maps more than you would during normal use stateside and then calculate $5.12 per MB above 300MB. All carriers that provide international data roaming have similar rates and even if you are European roaming into the USA you pay similar rates. Definitely the way to go is to purchase the local SIM card and top off as needed. Since we make this trip every year and plan to do so into the future we will probably purchase a (local in Ireland) pay as you go smartphone on our next trip. When you research the local SIM card look for a company that is partnered with a Provider or provides it themselves even that will also give you access to free wifi in spots that you may have to pay for. Example, in Ireland, Meteor (wireless company) has a partnership with Eircom (Ireland's Telephone Company), Eircom has many wifi hotspots throughout Ireland where none other exists, if you are an Eircom customer or a Meteor customer you gain free access other wise you pay dearly, so that is an extra added bonus. I'm sure in the UK those partnerships exist as I see BT (British Telecom) also having a partnership with Eircom in Ireland when I have scanned for wifi hotspots. Being able to use wifi hotspots when you can will also decrease the amount of time and money invested in topoffs. Any research you can do to speed up the process before you arrive will lessen your frustration, location of stores in relation to your travel route, store hours etc.

 

[blackepoxy]

If going abroad you could check menu> settings> wireless & networks> mobile networks> check the box that shows deny data roaming access to not rack up those charges...

 

[RBEmerson]

FWIW, we were in Germany and Switzerland two weeks ago. I enabled International Calling and Data options (call 611 and do it at least one day before leaving). You get the international stuff turned on effective at 00:00 on the first day you want service and then call to have it turned off at 23:59 on the day you return. My DINC2 locked onto Vodaphone while we were still taxiing to the gate at Frankfurt. The only scary thing is that for the first 24 hours VZW both knows and doesn't know you're on a pre-paid plan - within a few minutes to a few hours of connecting, you'll probably get a "you've spent over $50 in data roaming" text message. Of course, I called the VZW toll-free US number +19085594899 and said... "W T F ! ? !" And found out that everything is cool. Expect to see "you are roaming and it may be spendy" warning messages any time you connect to the local phone net and/or leave a WiFi connection. If you know your international plan is in place and running, hit OK.

As soon as you can after clearing US Customs (HINT: DO NOT USE YOUR CELL PHONE IN CUSTOMS!!!), call VZW (611) to cancel your international options. And then call *22899 to update your DINC2 - this does a reset as part of the process. Nothing is hurt in the process.