Hello everyone! I was just wondering what previous ICPers have done about using their mobiles abroad Did you buy a new sim or a new phone? Or did you just use your UK mobile and use the internet instead? Been looking on the Orange website and they are mentioning Tri-Band... I'm not very good with technology.... Help would be appreciated lol! Thanks in advance!!! x
My phone is a tri-band, so I used it the first couple of days. But, it's REALLLY expensive to do that! Most people just bought a cheap PAYG from Walmart and used that - ususlly the T-mobile one (what I had, and it will still work when I visit if I add credit, and keep some on, but it only lasts a year/90 days depending on the type - sorry that's so confusing!) or an AT&T one. One thing to remember though is that they work in minutes there, rather than actual credit (although T-mobile tells you both), so a text may use half a minute of credit. They also charge to recieve incoming calls (although it is less than a UK mobile!) Some of them won't call abroad either. T-mobile's did. I used to phone home, and then they would call me back. A 15 minute conversation would be about $7, which wasn't too bad, and useful when I couldn't get on skype! It's really useful to keep in touch with everyone over there if you all have US phones, much cheaper than UK ones! xx
I'm due an upgrade this Friday so I think I'll ask them for a tri-band one! And then maybe just buy a sim when I'm over there. That's crazy that they charge in minutes, I'm confused enough already lol! I'm a chatterbox, gonna find restricting the phone calls home hard! x
Most phones these days are tri band anyway - its good to have a tri band phone for the first couple of days because you may not immediately have a chance to go and buy an american 'cell phone' I can't remember which network I was on but I bought a phone in Walmart (basic nokia thing) which came with 300 minutes... and it was about $30. When you top it up you buy minutes rather than money so a 300 minute card was like $15 or whatever... I cant remember the exact amounts. The one I had (which may well have been the t-mobile one) then charged me 1 minute for 1 minute of US calls, it charged me 1/2 minute for a text and 1/2 minute to recieve a text (to the UK or USA) and then something like 3 minutes for every 1 minute to the UK calling time... if that makes sense. I can't remember the exact amounts but it gives you an idea. Soooo... the summing up of this post is that I would recommend you take a compatible UK phone for emergencies and the first couple of days (but it is UBER expensive to call the UK on a day to day basis!) and then buy a cheap PAYG in walmart for the rest of the time. ;D
Ok you guys got confusing ones!!! We found this one best....The AT&T basic one from Walmart, was about $25 and came with $10 of credit. It worked in money. You get charged $1 of your credit per day for using the phone, and you get charged to send and recieve calls and texts. But you get free calls to and from anyone else thats at&t!!! so you only pay the $1 day (for days u use ur phone!) And then we found out int he last week u can add a text bundle, it was something like 200 texts for $5 1000 texts for $10 or unlimited for $20! would have been well worth it in the beginning!!! Theres also a great phone card sold in one of the pharmacies that gives u like400 mins for $20, and thats 400 mins to uk landline or mobiles!! was fab!!! Love love x
Calling cards confused me! I would buy $25 of credit to top up, but they would tell me how many minutes I had left. I kow it charged me 10c to send a text, and it was free to recieve them (on T-mobile) - and calls to other T-mobiles were free They were sold out of the AT&T one when I was there, why I went with T-mobile! Oh, and it cost me $20, and included $5 of credit! xx
Yummy offers a good sim card - i asked about it when they rang me before Christmas, its like a dollar a day or somethin and u just put it into your own mobile! Could be worth a wee look! Rob x
