SIM Cards?

I am thinking about bringing my cell phone to the UK with me because I have read that you can replace something called the SIM card with a pre-paid SIM card in a European country?

Has anybody any experience with this? Can anyone tell me how much I can expect to pay for a pre-paid SIM Card?

Make sure you have a tri-band phone, otherwise it won't work here.  If it is, also make sure it is unlocked, otherwise, i'm not sure if retailers here will unlock here, though i'm not sure about that.

I have a tri-band phone in the States, but gave it to my dad to use until my annual contract is up early next year.  I then plan on having him ship it to me and so that I can use it here.

bvamin

A friend of mine did that--she had T-Mobile in the States, so it was an easy switch--she just had to buy the new SIMS card and starter package.  It worked for a while, but the converter was more than a new phone would have been...then, she forgot the converter (she had plug adapters) and plugged it straight in to the wall...talk about melt down!!

On the return trip home, she kept the UK phone, and just used her dryer outlet in the States, because it is 220v.

There's no problem doing that as long as your phone is tri-band. Most are nowadays, but older ones or cheaper ones may not be. Also, you run into the problem of charging it up. Not a problem unless you have lots of converters, but as Frances said - that can sometimes be a pain. 

We were with T-Mobile in the US and are now with T-Mobile in the UK.  No problems though we now have more phones than we need.  If you plan on doing pay as you go here then by all means bring your triband phone.  In our case we got a contract here instead of pay as you go so we got new phones anyways.   It all depends on what you want to do.  I am not sure how much a SIM card will cost by itself though.  Try emailing a company like T-Mobile UK perhaps.

Get your phone unlocked from your network before you bring it over if you can. It can be done here but it's hard to find someone to do it and they will charge you god knows what. Also even if your phone is Tri-band double and triple check it will work here before paying out anything. (My hubby was told his would, then paid to  get it unlocked and bought a sim card etc only to find out it didn't work here after all!!)  A "pay as you go" Sim card is about £10 from most networks and then you put as much money as you want onto it at a time.

You can donate your used phones at The Body Shop.  The phones are reprogrammed to dial 999 and given to women who are trying to escape domestic violence.     A worthy cause and an easy way to get rid of a phone you don't use or need!