Best Cell Phone Plan

Do you have a phone now? What does your carrier offer?

Are you looking for a new carrier, if so then T-Mobile and Google Fi both offer seamless international roaming. There are some conditions you need to meet, like using your phone in the US for 60-90 days before international travel, but both work well and are cost effective.

Do you have an existing unlocked phone? If so then there are various ways to get a SIM or eSIM for use in the UK.

Let me say something about T-Mobile in the UK. To get anything resembling data service depends on your plan. My plan, which used to give me 5G, now gives me two tin cans and a string. The service is now non-existent for data.

Do your phones take esims? Who is your current carrier? Are your phones unlocked?

We had no trouble with data or text with our T-Mobile plan when we were in England last summer. (We have the Magenta Unlimited 55+ plan.) Occasionally it took my iPhone 12 mini a bit longer to connect to the local network than my husband's iPhone 14 pro, but the only time we didn't have coverage was when we were in remote areas on the Cotswold Way. The plan includes phone calls also, but we didn't end up calling home, and used WhatsApp for calls to our British friends.

I believe the standard recommend is setting up T Mobile at home, otherwise Orange?

Frequent travelers to England often recommend Giffgaff. I plan to try it this summer. My understanding is that their SIMs and eSIMs provide data, voice and text services.

We used giffgaff cards for our trip to London/Paris in 2022. They worked well, were easy to set up and use.

I would go directly to a Vodafone, 3, O2 shop and get the best deal they have. Make sure they get your phone working in front of you. No mucking around yourself and you are unlikely to get ripped off. Works for me.

The idea of going to a bricks and mortar shop is a good one, but in my experience they're usually not very helpful with customers who have a short-term need. And they're unlikely to offer eSIM plans IME.

Well, my experiences are many, and every single Vodafone shop has been very helpful. I think it depends on how one is with them. Maybe I am just lucky. Earls Court and the west part of Oxford Street come to mind; and they are extremely busy. Having said that, my wife had a terrible experience from Orange in Lyon, and she is a native French speaker too. So I guess you never know. Amazon has a lot to offer if you want to pay a wee bit more.

Well, my experiences are many, and every single Vodafone shop has been very helpful.

Have you secured eSIM plans from them? If so maybe I'll give that idea a shot. (I don't want to fool with physical SIMs; been there, done that, won't do again.)

As a native...been with Giffgaff since it started ( 2010 ?) very reliable service and near unbeatable on value.
I run a dual sim phone ,so also have EE and on one occasion Vodaphone.

I have used Lyca Mobile and 3 Mobile 30 day SIM on my last 2 trips to England.and had excellent coverage with data left over. These carriers had data, voice and text plans. I have WiFi calling setup so I could call back to the US free of charge.

Our tour guide for the South England last year in June was Helen Kachellek and she was terrific. She was very knowledgeable and told us of the history of each area and location we were in.

I’ve had good experiences with both Vodafone and EE shops in London. Quick good service. They inserted the SIM card and set up the phone. They also taped my home SIM card to a plastic card for safe keeping. I would not hesitate to go into a shop if I needed to. I usually do my research in advance so I know what I want.

I seem to recall that giffgaff will send SIM cards overseas. So probably a good option if you need a physical SIM card and want to set it up prior to leaving home.

I’m now on an e sim only phone so for my next trip I plan to try Lycamobile. Service looks inexpensive and offers free EU roaming. If I remember correctly the service must be activated in the UK first.

https://www.lycamobile.co.uk/en/bundles/sim-only-deals/#best-value

Giffgaff now do eSims too

Well, without any more input from the OP, leaving the question wide open, then I will add to my earlier post, the BEST plan would be Google Fi, since I already have them, I land, turn on my phone and I have service, just like at home, my regular number, data costs no more than what I have at home, calls are more, but I use apps for that. So in summary, Google Fi for the win.

Thanks for your feedback re giffgaff. As a mint customer in the US, Giffgaff looks promising for my trip starting Sunday.

I have the physical SIM card giffgaff sent. But am hoping to use eSIM so I don’t have to remove my mint SIM card in iPhone SE. No biggie but just another step. Their prices look amazing for 30 days calls texts and data… under 20£ for around 15 GB data.

I think there's still an offer on with new activations,don't hold me too this 40 GB for £10

Oh, sweet!! I’ll check for promos then. Thank you Richard. Looking forward to exploring England (including York!). Have a lovely day!