Traveling to England and Ireland - Phones?

[AndyfromVA]

I'm a novice traveler and I'm hoping some experienced folks can help me out.

I'll be traveling to England and Ireland in September and I'm confused about using a cell phone.

I know I can't use my T-Mobile clamshell phone because it doesn't contain the two European frequency bands.

I've been told to buy a cheap pay-as-you-go phone in England and buy a second one in Ireland.

Do I have to buy two phones? Or when I go to Ireland can I just buy a new sim card and put it in the phone I bought in England?

 

[sntaylor]

I'm not completely sure, but depending on how long you will be here, and where exactly you are going(northern Ireland or southern?) But you could probably pick up cheap pay and go and depending on what your planning to use it for, keep that one phone or when in Ireland if you get the same network the sim should probably work. But I'm sure someone else who has experienced it, will be better placed to tell for sure!

 

[mikedt]

I'm a novice traveler and I'm hoping some experienced folks can help me out.

I'll be traveling to England and Ireland in September and I'm confused about using a cell phone.

I know I can't use my T-Mobile clamshell phone because it doesn't contain the two European frequency bands.

Are you coming from the United States? If it's from the US, there's a good chance it'll be locked as well, and is unlawful to try and unlock it AFAIK.

I've been told to buy a cheap pay-as-you-go phone in England and buy a second one in Ireland.

Do I have to buy two phones? Or when I go to Ireland can I just buy a new sim card and put it in the phone I bought in England?

You can buy a cheap pre-paid phone in England or Ireland from a carrier, but it will probably be SIM-locked. If you buy an unlocked one, that should work anywhere in the EU, then just buy a pre-paid SIM for whatever country you're in. If you buy a second hand phone, be careful about where you buy it, because it could become IMEI blacklisted, reported stolen or missing.

When I travelled to England recently from China, my phone is unlocked, and I just bought a pre-paid SIM, one that offered cheap international calls.

 

[SiempreTuna]

As explained above, the key is the unlocked bit.

A single, unlocked GSM phone should be fine for the UK and Eire. If you're after something that just does calls, then you can get one like this for as little

 

[Hadron]

If you buy a cheap PAYG from a shop chain called Carphone Warehouse it will be unlocked.

If you buy it from a network it will be locked to that network. From other third parties, you should check before paying.