Cell Phone in London to Call back to the US; most cost effective option?
 

I'll be in London the first week of November, I have international calling on my Verizon BB World edition. They are going to charge me $1/min; plus roaming I suppose. Is buying a local disposable phone there to call the US cheaper? Any thoughts?

On ATT plan we checked for a special "bundle" for one month for stepson to call from England whewn he was visiting his uncle. IIRC it was about $20 for 100 minutes, maybe? Of course we didn't warn him not to text and it ran about $.25/text so we had an extra $100 added to our bill. That also included some internet usage that was very high also.

I used a Orange (French Company) GSM disposable for short stays. Was fairly reasonable especially if you ever plan to go back, the phone is yours.

We use my World BB as an emergency call number & buy cheap phone cards from a Tabac & call with a landline. No extra plans or phones or mad searching for local SIMs. This plan always works for us & lets my wife make her daily calls to NA very affordably. We also use phone cards from NA to call Europe & China to save major $s too.

Ian

Pick up a cheap GSM phone here and buy Vodaphone SIM chips over there. Cheapest we have found.

Thanks guys. I knew the pilots had thought of this before. Buying a SIM chip there gets me a local phone number there, and you buy them with pre-paid minutes. I'm guessing buying a SIM chip there for my Verizon BB World phone won't work?

"Verizon BB World edition." sounds like a GSM phone to me. (should work, but may cost more than Joe's method)

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/inside_us.html

T-Mobile BB, Blackberry Curve, sign up for the international BB plan (extra $20/mth) and unlimited internet anywhere in the world. Calling is under $.99/min but, anytime you are in a usable hotspot, the phone converts top VOIP and calls are free, no international charges.

Without changing service, buy a cheap unlocked GSM phone on e-bay (V551 flip $50, brand new!) and then do what Dr. Phil (Joeaksa) says.

2nd the T-mobile with the UMA package (that's what they call it) but it will work on any wifi signal that you can access. Otherwise a cheap GSM phone and sim cards from there.

I'm switching to an IPhone with AT&T a few days after I return when my Verizon contract expires. I'll look into a cheap US GSM phone and SIM card there. I'll be going back 3-4 times this year, plus probably several countries in the EU.

Airfare Business Class is $4,900 versus Coach on the same flight of $750. Glad I'm not paying it, and I'm worried about a few extra bucks for phone calls...

The good things about the cheap GSM phone with local card

1. Lost/Stolen - who cares!
2. You still can get calls on your regular phone. See the number, call back.

Hugh,

Go to almost any mall or shopping center and you will find loads of phone shops. We use Vodaphone as it works everywhere and a good signal, but there are various options.

Buying a used cell phone over here, try to make sure the charger is 110/220 to make it easier to charge there. If its not usually hotels will have a 110v outlet in the sink area.

Joe

Yup. $10 Razr, unlock it for free, pay-as-you-go SIMs and top-up cards freely available the other end. International roaming is useful for getting messages, but you don't want to start *talking* on it at $1 a minute...

And/or use Vonage, either take the box and a POTS handset with you or get the USB software that loads onto a laptop. $5 a month extra for a local virtual number, the sensible plan includes unlimited US<->UK dialling, voicemail/call forwarding etc.

Only wrinkles with making Vonage calls to a UK number from a US-registered phone physically present in another country is that you have to dial as though you're in the US, and your caller ID looks like an international call - oh, and 911 would be rather confused....

Hugh,

Another thing. Set up a Skype account and use that to communicate with the friends and family while over there. Quality is as good as your internet connection and almost free. We use it extensively anytime overseas.

Sounds like Joe has the most practical solution...
Drop us a line when you are here...

Happy to meet up for a beer or two.

Yep, int'l calls are totally free online. :)

Don't do the iPhone! If you do get the iphone make sure that you turn off the automatic updating and other internet usage unless you are on wifi. You won't like the bill if you leave the data hogging "features" on.

Yep, I know about turning off the roaming feature. I'll look into a cheap GSM phone and skype.

Joe has the right idea, get Skype and a cheap headset,, you can even use your webcam if you like,

Hugh, before you switch carriers, you may want to check out Verizon's HTC Touch Pro2 and/or the HTC Imagio. --Both have more than 2x the pixel count of the iPhone (great for web content) and are WM. The Imagio also has FM and TV reception.