The best mobile phone service in the UK???

How do you get the Orange Wednesday tickets?  My personal mobile is through Orange (pay as you go), is it only available to people with contracts?

I think it's available to any Orange customer, Matt. Text the word FILM to 241 and wait for the text back. It's super cool. We're moving next Wed. night, but maybe the week after the four of us could check something out! The Gerrards Cross cinema is even included! 

Do you folks use your mobile phone to call the USA?  We're moving to London in August, and we'd like to avoid getting a landline.   

What are the rates to call USA on a mobile? Do they have any special plans for frequent overseas callers? 

Does UK have "roaming" charges like here in the US?  How to the plans handle calls within Europe?  My job will require me to travel frequently throughout Europe and the Middle East.    Thanks!

They don't really have great plans from what I could see for overseas calling or for international travel, though I haven't checked it out.  The landline was so much cheaper for my calls to the States & necessary for getting a computer hookup - so I got that (didn't have a landline in the States).  I would go to the various sites (Orange, T-Mobile, O2) and check them out for that info.

Get a land line! We have cheap line rental from NTL and for just £2 a month you can call the USA anytime for just 2p a minute!

Thanks for the advice. Can you explain a little more in depth about a landline "rental".?  And what is NTL. Pardon my dumb questions!

NTL is a phone company like BT. Your line rental is your monthly charge. I cant remember what ours is I think its around £10 a month. NTL is also our ISP so we get a package deal with our phone and broadband. I know they also do cable TV packages but we we dont use cable we use SKY digital.

I know it may sound confusing but when you get here it will all make sense

Thanks!  My head is about to explode from all the information I've been learning this month!

I had the same experience as I was planning my move over here.  Just write everything down in categories and then wait until you get over here...then life will make much more sense (well, at least it did for me!).  I have a BT phone line (~£10/month) plus I use Onetel for my long-distance calls - we spend about ~£7 per month on long distance charges.  good luck!