Good phone tariff for SMS to USA

Hello,

Now that my better half has arrived in the UK, we are starting to look for phone tariffs. Does any one know of a good UK phone tariff for sending texts to the USA please?  Or would it be better to get a phone with a decent data bundle and send messages through Facebook/Yahoo/MSN/etc?

As a recommendation, it is worth looking at O2 international favourites if you make a lot of calls to or from USA.  It is so much more convenient than using phone cards - no dialing 37 numbers to get through!

Thanks,

Alan.

Not sure about SMS but lebara do cheap calls to the US for 1p/min.

If you're looking for unlimited data, giffgaff are £10/month unlimited web, texts, and 250 mins. They also run on the O2 network.

Hi

International texts will soon start to rack up the costs - from vague memory they'll be like 12p per text sent from the UK. Keep in mind the costs from sending from the US to add to the final real cost of using this method of communication.

I'd suggest it's much better to try and find a phone plan which includes data and of course, handsets that can indeed run programs like messengers facebook etc.

I use 'yourcallworld.com' to top up £10 of credit with them, and the local access number is included in my mobile plan free minutes and then it's just 1p/min to call the US. There are other similar sorts of deals as well. I get unlimited data inclusive so I do run ebuddy/whatsapp for program related communications.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

If you can't manage without data Giffgaff looks good. Orange has the PAYGo "camel" sim with 10p a minute calls to the US, and fairly decent rates for data.

Otherwise you could try using Skype messaging, iMessage or AIM using your Internet at home, and free wifi when out. Skype has proved a lifesaver for me over the last 4 years on assignment!

I use whatsapp with my Family, really easy to use and never lets us down! Free to download also!