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Topic: Mobile phones  (Read 1589 times)

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Mobile phones
« on: May 28, 2017, 10:48:52 PM »
My wife and I will be moving to the U.K. in three weeks. One question I have is what to do with our mobile phone service. We both have iPhones and no contracts. Can you just get a new SIM card and use same phone? Where does one find such? Any advice is appreciated.

Joe


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Re: Mobile phones
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2017, 10:52:38 PM »
I just use a month to month SIM plan on my unlocked phone through Three. You can get a SIM at pretty much any cell phone carrier shop and pick out a monthly data, text and calling plan until you want to look into getting a contract. (I don't ever plan on getting another contract. )

I pay £20 for 12g of data, 3000 texts and 300 calling minutes. It's way more than I use.

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Re: Mobile phones
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2017, 10:56:50 PM »
Thanks much. So, credit checks aren't an issue. Ours is excellent here, but does it carry over there?
« Last Edit: May 28, 2017, 11:03:32 PM by JoeFromNJ »


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Re: Mobile phones
« Reply #3 on: May 29, 2017, 03:52:01 AM »
Thanks much. So, credit checks aren't an issue. Ours is excellent here, but does it carry over there?
I've been told that your credit rating does not transfer. I've been forewarned to be prepared to be a cash buyer for everything, especially for initial moving expenses like buying furniture, a car, etc.  I'm only sharing what I've been told so happy to be corrected.

IPhones are multiband and so will work with any provider just by changing the simm card. I used 3 network on my two trips over. You can get a variety of simm cards from various U.K. providers with various pay as you go plans on Amazon.com.

I now use TruPhone with their international simm. You get a number in up to 3 countries. One in your country of residence and up to two others in different countries. This allows me to keep a U.K. number 24/7/365 living in the USA. Based in London so surely would work the other way. Handy if you'll be talking to family and friends back in the States as it's a local call for them. Worth looking into in my opinion. You can get various plans with data, texting, call minutes and even set an automatic top up if you don't want tied down to a contract.



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Re: Mobile phones
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2017, 08:53:44 AM »
Thanks much. So, credit checks aren't an issue. Ours is excellent here, but does it carry over there?
Yes, credit checks are an issue. Your credit will not transfer and you will be starting from scratch. That is why I use a month to month SIM plan. I got the sim card for free and I just top up at the beginning of every month.

It is easier to get a contract on a phone with no credit though but you need to have a UK bank account and a job for several months first.

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Re: Mobile phones
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2017, 09:46:57 AM »
My wife and I will be moving to the U.K. in three weeks. One question I have is what to do with our mobile phone service. We both have iPhones and no contracts. Can you just get a new SIM card and use same phone? Where does one find such? Any advice is appreciated.

Joe

We had iPhones in the USA, unlocked and no contracts, and when we moved over last year simply walked into a local O2 store where they replaced the SIM cards and we pay £25/month for the 2 phones, unlimited text and voice, 1GB of data and if within wifi can make calls and texts as if you were in the UK. (Nice when out of country).  I'm sure there are bound to be cheaper plans but this suits us nicely. We had been out the country for 29 years but I don't recall them running a credit check before signing us up.
Dual USC/UKC living in the UK since May 2016


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Re: Mobile phones
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2017, 01:16:27 PM »
Thanks, all, for your replies. Anyone have experience with Freedom Pop? They have good deals and no credit check plans. £7 a month and unlimited talk and text with 2.25 gig data. Seems pretty good. Ideally I'd like to have the SIM cards sent to where we will be staying so we will be ready to go when we arrive. I hope that could work anyway.



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Re: Mobile phones
« Reply #7 on: May 29, 2017, 01:18:31 PM »
Thanks, all, for your replies. Anyone have experience with Freedom Pop? They have good deals and no credit check plans. £7 a month and unlimited talk and text with 2.25 gig data. Seems pretty good. Ideally I'd like to have the SIM cards sent to where we will be staying so we will be ready to go when we arrive. I hope that could work anyway.
Honestly, it depends on where you live how good your mobile service will be. At my current house my husband has 3 and gets almost no mobile service. I have EE and generally have something. Even when we had The same carrier he got worse service. I think it was his actual phone.

The smaller companies don't always have good service, a friend did Lyca-something or other and it was bad. 
« Last Edit: May 29, 2017, 01:22:07 PM by lyonaria »
The usual. American girl meets British guy. They fall into like, then into love. Then there was the big decision. The American traveled across the pond to join the Brit. And life was never the same again.


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Re: Mobile phones
« Reply #8 on: May 29, 2017, 01:20:58 PM »
We will be in Warwickshire but I guess you can't predict from the name of an area. They say they have service there, though. Thanks for the heads up.


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Re: Mobile phones
« Reply #9 on: May 29, 2017, 01:26:21 PM »
We will be in Warwickshire but I guess you can't predict from the name of an area. They say they have service there, though. Thanks for the heads up.

If you can try talking to your neighbours about what ones are good, it would be worth it. Or maybe try two different ones for a month?

The big three (EE, 3, and crap... It uses a lot if red) usually get decent reception. But the others piggyback off of their towers. Knowing which carriers have towers in your area is useful.
The usual. American girl meets British guy. They fall into like, then into love. Then there was the big decision. The American traveled across the pond to join the Brit. And life was never the same again.


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Re: Mobile phones
« Reply #10 on: May 29, 2017, 01:27:45 PM »
Good advice! Thanks.


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Re: Mobile phones
« Reply #11 on: May 29, 2017, 01:29:30 PM »

The big three (EE, 3, and crap... It uses a lot if red) usually get decent reception. But the others piggyback off of their towers. Knowing which carriers have towers in your area is useful.

Virgin? Vodafone?


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Re: Mobile phones
« Reply #12 on: May 29, 2017, 01:33:13 PM »
Virgin? Vodafone?

Vodafone! I could remember Virgin. 🙂
The usual. American girl meets British guy. They fall into like, then into love. Then there was the big decision. The American traveled across the pond to join the Brit. And life was never the same again.


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Re: Mobile phones
« Reply #13 on: May 29, 2017, 05:35:45 PM »
Hi,

I've posted this link about checking your mobile handset prior to arriving in the UK - or any other country to see if your handset will work and on which country network provider. This is due to different handsets of the same phone having different actual internal setups for different network bands

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=89461.0

Depending on the version of the iPhone you have, it 'might' not work with the UK's '3' network for instance. If you find that you *really* wanted a SIM only deal from '3', then you'd have to get another compatible handset.

There are places which will do SIM free handsets to buy outright i.e no subsidy and of course, iPhones are the most expensive devices! there are 'some' discounts available now though if it's iPhones you *must* have !

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!
« Last Edit: May 29, 2017, 05:38:17 PM by Dennis the Menace!! »


Re: Mobile phones
« Reply #14 on: May 29, 2017, 05:52:21 PM »
Firstly you need to check whether your phones are unlocked but if so they will work here, no problem.
When my wife visited here for a few months I got her a giffgaff sim. They use the O2 network but are pay monthly and very cheap. All done online https://www.giffgaff.com


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