US prepaid in the Uk will it work?

Okay so my phone contract here actually ends about a month before I leave for the UK. So instead of dealing with all that I am thinking getting a cheap prepaid to use until I leave... my question is.. if i just buy a uk sim card will i be able to use the prepaid in the uk until i get a phone there? i was thinking of going through straighttalk

Hi, this is Mrs TM's husband, TM!

It depends who your current phone carrier is - Verizon and Sprint do not work in the UK because no UK carrier uses that technology (to be geeky it's CDMA, vs GSM). Also, if it is a GSM phone check which frequencies your phone supports, as certain UK carriers have certain frequency bands... if you have a quad-band phone then generally you're safe.

If you want to be completely safe, when you land, find a phone shop and spend about 
£30 on a phone with a SIM card. As a guide, my Samsung E1080 was £10 in a Tesco store and a pre-paid SIM card delivered online was free.

Hope that helps, if you're still not sure try here: http://www.studyinbritain.com/info/mobile-uk.asp

-- TM

My advice would be to get a prepaid sim in the US, run down your balance as any remaining $ will disappear after one month/3 months depending on your carrier.

Buy a prepaid sim as soon as you arrive in the UK. It is really easy to do, much easier than the US, as there are mobile phone shops on the high street and in shopping centers.

Here is a link which compares the different types of 'pay as you go' plans in the UK:
http://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/compare/sim_only_deals/

(Can you tell that I'm doing research myself for my impending move back to the UK?! I'm going to try GiffGaff when my current Orange sim credit is used up.)

Edited to add:

From memory I think US prepaid is only designed to work in the US, there weren't any options on the website for rates when overseas. Also, when powering up my iPhone in the UK, without changing out the US TMobile sim, the US sim didn't register on the UK network.

thanks this phone thing is about to drive me nuts lol

The phone i want most in the world is the Samsung Galaxy lol I am finally going to get rid of my Blackberry when I move and was hoping to get the Samsung but good grief... those prices are CRAZY in the UK... especially since everyone is saying I won't be able to get on contract there.


Here were the two options i was debating on.

1. Finding an unlock phone over here and taking it with me...
2. Doing the whole pre-paid deal and switching SIM cards once overthere at least until i get settled
3. just say screw phones all together lol (not really lol) but waiting until i get over there and pray i can get the Galaxy on contract because i don't want to pay 500 pounds for a phone lol

Is it possible to buy an unlocked Samsung in the US and bring it with you? If you can do this you can get a UK prepaid sim (cut it down if necessary, I regularly have to do that when I visit the US and want to use my iPhone). Or you might find a carrier that is prepared to put you on a contract.

Otherwise perhaps you could get your Blackberry unlocked? As you said, your contract ends one month before you move so the phone is paid for and your carrier should give you an unlock code. We did this after being with AT&T for 2 years and they were happy to give us the code, but if not you can get phones unlocked in the US/UK for a small charge.

Then, when you have the time, and money, you could look into getting the phone of your choice, on contract or prepaid, whichever suits you best.

thanks this phone thing is about to drive me nuts lol

The phone i want most in the world is the Samsung Galaxy

Which Galaxy?  Ace?  Note?  Note2?  SII?  SIII?
There are loads, and everyone I know who has one is really happy with it.  I've got the Note.

LOVE my Galaxy SIII!  I bought it here though, so I won't be a lot of help.

Which Galaxy?  Ace?  Note?  Note2?  SII?  SIII?
There are loads, and everyone I know who has one is really happy with it.  I've got the Note.

Hey I would like the S3 but if I can't afford it or decide not to pay the out right price I will get the Ace

I plan on buying an unlocked iPhone from the US and buy the sim in the UK.  I was told that it will work.  The unlocked iPhone is expensive but it gives me peace of mind.

 I'm going to assume that if u bought an unlocked galaxy phone with you that it would work in the UK but I am not sure. 

i have a unlocked nokia i bought in the US and I bought a pay as you go tmobile over here sim and it works .. I had a tmobile pay as you go us phone and the tmobile sims from over here did not work in it and the phone did not work over here , I had a nokia with contract with international on it when i visited in 2002 and it worked over here  but it was a big bill when i got home