UK mobile phones in US?

[Neonred 3,445]

Chas and I read the online manual to my new phone as to where the sim card would be - there isn't one in it.

I'm on Verizon. I'm starting to think they don't even use sim cards.

You are correct. Verizon is not a GSM service and you will not have a SIM card. For those people with GSM service, Cingular and T-Mobile, your SIM card is probably under the battery. It contains the information about your phone number and your contact list or stored phone numbers. It makes it easy to switch between phones by just moving your card into another phone.

[TracyTN 237]

Thanks Neonred! Now my fiance won't think I'm crazy (or crazier)!

[ChasUK 0]

Yup, I have a Sony K750i on O2 here in the UK. When I'm over there visiting tracy, my phone will detect Cingular and T Mobile networks, depending on where I am that day. In downtown Nashville I was connected to Cingular, back at Lebanon it would automatically change over to T Mobile.

My phone isn't SIM locked so I just need to sign up to, say, Cingular when I get there, take the SIM card out of whatever basic phone they provide and put it in my Sony. Job done.

[Reckless 0]

I moved over from UK to US and I brought my locked Orange Nokia. I unlocked the phone via an unlock website.

I then purchased a T-Mobile PAYG phone, which is GSM, and comes with a SIM card, and planted the little baby in my Nokia. It's not quite that simple as you do need to setup the GPRS and MMS settings too if you want to use the web/WAP or send MMS messages. You might also find that some phones NEED to have those settings as this is how updates via the network are sent to you.

I personally think that the US are about 5 years behind the UK in terms of technology and phones. For such a super power to be this backward is beyond me. I guess as someone said before, the UK is a consumer led society. Most people here don't even know how to text!! The only half decent phone here is the Motorola Razr and that's been out in the UK for years!!

[PlatyPius 5]

I moved over from UK to US and I brought my locked Orange Nokia. I unlocked the phone via an unlock website.

I then purchased a T-Mobile PAYG phone, which is GSM, and comes with a SIM card, and planted the little baby in my Nokia. It's not quite that simple as you do need to setup the GPRS and MMS settings too if you want to use the web/WAP or send MMS messages. You might also find that some phones NEED to have those settings as this is how updates via the network are sent to you.

I personally think that the US are about 5 years behind the UK in terms of technology and phones. For such a super power to be this backward is beyond me. I guess as someone said before, the UK is a consumer led society. Most people here don't even know how to text!! The only half decent phone here is the Motorola Razr and that's been out in the UK for years!!

The Razr has been out for years in the US, too.....I have one.

For those coming TO the US - I don't know about other providers, but with Cingular I can add Sian to my cell phone service for $10/month, which also gets her a phone. She has a pre-paid Motorola though, so I will probably try putting a SIM in it when she gets here (I have an extra).

With Cingular, calls to other Cingular phones are free. So you can likely get one of the smaller plans and share it, yet talk to each other all you want (when you're here in the US, of course).

I'll mention again too (posted it about it a month or two ago) that Cingular has a new add-on called World Connect. You can call the UK from the US on your cell phone for 6 cents/minute. That's 1 cent cheaper than my home international plan.

As for the necessity of cell phones (which was mentioned earlier).... I'm an IT Contractor, and I honestly couldn't do my job or even get a job without my cell phone. But no, I don't like being "constantly available"..... that's why cell phones have "OFF" buttons. The benefits of having a cell far outweigh any negatives though.

Anyhoo, for those with an USC SO who has Cingular, ask them to check into getting you added to their plan. A lot cheaper in the long run.

(No, I don't work for Cingular.... I've used their service for 7 years, though, after ditching several other companies)

[Miwa 0]

If you have your own phone you want to use, just get whatever free phone cingular wants to give you, take the SIM out and stick it in your own phone (trusting your phone is unlocked).

If your phone isn't quad-band, likely it doesn't have the 850 band for cingular, and you'll be hating life. Depending where you are at, you may not have any 1900 coverage at all (or you'll be lucky and you do have coverage, but i wouldn't bet on it lasting forever). T-mobile is 1900, and cingular used to use their network (but that agreement is nuked from the AT&T buy).

[Nikita2Charles 31]

Verizon only has 2 models with Sim Card, The best thing is to buy a tri-band phone and if you know some folks have it UNLOCK, IF you are buying it online some are already unlocked but if it's through one of the us phone companies you have to go to one of those phone place to get it done. Good luck

[ninamyers 0]

The system here just seems strange to me - I was looking into getting a PAYG because I don't really have that many people to call here, but as well as the charges for calls/texts, you have to pay $1 every day that you use your phone! What??! That's not PAYG, that's expensive!

And another thing that annoyed me, me and SO are on Cingular, I'm on his plan. One month we ran out of texts between us, and so everytime I texted Ed, i got charged 10c (fair enough), but then he got charged 10c to receive it (ridiculous). So even though we're on the same plan, we got charged 20c per text - how stupid!

[tom&tata 2]

The system here just seems strange to me - I was looking into getting a PAYG because I don't really have that many people to call here, but as well as the charges for calls/texts, you have to pay $1 every day that you use your phone! What??! That's not PAYG, that's expensive!

And another thing that annoyed me, me and SO are on Cingular, I'm on his plan. One month we ran out of texts between us, and so everytime I texted Ed, i got charged 10c (fair enough), but then he got charged 10c to receive it (ridiculous). So even though we're on the same plan, we got charged 20c per text - how stupid!

I think you have 2 options for PAYG, $1 per day for every day you use the phone with 10c/min charge or 25c/min charge without the daily charge.

[Keigwyn 1]

I asked if I could just get the SIM when I got a package. Alltel do not use them. I needed a national plan with pretty much full coverage. (I work just about anywhere in the US) Living in Upper Michigan I only have the choice of Alltel and Nextel. Otherwise I get prohibitive 'roaming' charges.

[Chaz and Riggs 0]

A note for all you Brits and Americans needing to talk to their honeys when they're apart...

Using a T-Mobile family plan, with HotSpot at home enabled on the phone in the UK, we have been able to talk over 8,000 minutes a month for the past year without paying for ANY international minutes.

PM me if you want to know more details... I'm not selling anything, just think others should know this excellent loop-hole.