Cell phone in England and Scotland....EGADS.. need help and advice.

Don't rent a phone. Buy one, either here or there, that you can use again. You might be able to buy one that will replace your existing phone at home and also use it on your trip.

I haven't bought a phone for overseas use for a while so can't recommend the best deal. But, I can recommend one phone that I use myself as my regular phone at home: the Moto E4. There are several versions of this phone. The one I bought is the US unlocked version (model number Xt1768) meaning you can almost certainly use it on your carrier at home...but buy a UK SIM for it to use while you are overseas. Retail price is about $130 USD from online stores like B&H Photo Video. Best Buy and other US retailers may also carry it - but make sure to get the XT1768 version not a locked version for a specific carrier.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1342873-REG/moto_01150nartl_moto_e_16gb_black.html

The Moto E4 is a 5" Android smart phone - considered a "budget" smart phone but actually quite nice and capable for what it is. It will certainly work more than adequately as a "travel" phone and may replace your existing phone quite well. But, I have no idea what kind of phone you have now or what you expect in a phone. The worst part about the phone is the camera in my opinion - pretty average and slow. If you need a phone with a good camera, look elsewhere and expect to pay more.

I don't know about getting one in England but my google phone worked great!

At the risk of being overwhelmed with helpful information, you can research this on the "Tips and Trip Reports" area of this forum under "Technology."

In the UK the retailer Carphone Warehouse has been around for years and is popular. See https://www.carphonewarehouse.com/ They have a toll-free number so you can call them from the USA and find out what they can offer you, and where they have a shop near your hotel in London.

We have been in England for 9 days now and 4 of us are using our North American plan cell phones with a UK SIM card. We went to a TESCO superstore straight from the airport - jet lagged and all - and they put them in for us and got it running. Easy peasy. You will have a different number but everything else is working great, ie. email and iChat. Make sure before you leave that if you have an iPhone it is unlocked - that may be your bigger challenge!!

I bought one of these:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/272960062916?chn=ps&var=572164514052&adgroupid=51456967435&rlsatarget=pla-400778366313&abcId=1130086&adtype=pla&merchantid=9808864&googleloc=9045772&device=c&campaignid=1029031571&crdt=0
For a neighbour that wanted a cheap smartphone and he likes it. BTW they're not "cell" phones over here, they're called mobile phones.

Interesting that your company doesn’t have and international roaming agreement in the UK. Most companies do; with Vodafone or Orange. I seldom make calls using my phone overseas. Rather, I use messenger, Facetime, or similar when connected to my hotel’s WiFi.

Do you have a I-Phone? Smart phone? I only use Wi-Fi when travelling, I disable all data on my phone- and use the free App called Viber- works great and its free! You can either video chat, text, or audio talk - both parties need to have the App- but if you both have Apple I- Phones you can always use Facetime on WiFi

Happy Travels✨💫

jaimeelsabio:

Interesting that your company doesn’t have and international roaming agreement in the UK. Most companies do; with Vodafone or Orange. I seldom make calls using my phone overseas. Rather, I use messenger, Facetime, or similar when connected to my hotel’s WiFi.

Actually, a good number of US mobile companies seem not to have international roaming plans. Although the "big four" companies Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile all do, there are dozens of "MVNOs" (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) that resell service on the big four and do not have international roaming. I recently switched to Sprint; prior to them, neither of my recent mobile companies offered international roaming plans.

I find mobile data essential overseas mostly for on-foot and public transit navigation (Google Maps). I would be fine making calls and checking email on WiFi otherwise, but SIM cards are so cheap now, it's silly not to have one, giving how much time Google Maps saves me vs. the old days fumbling with paper maps and bus schedules.

You can always use WiFi on your phone, even if there is no international plan for you phone. If your hotel offers free WiFi you can download apps for many phones to enable you to make free calls via WiFi.

If you feel comfortable listing your general type of phone, it would be easier to make suggestions.

Andrew H: Thank you! You understand my dilemma: how to contact my sister when I am on my own and not near a WiFi access, and how to have access to google maps so I don't get lost !!!! I have Metro..and supposedly my phone will take a Sim card. Aristo LG. I freaked out when I was searching "UK" Sims and saw stated that you had a choice of 2 types: one for "calls only" for phones...the other "data only" for tablets ????? Since then, I could find no precise info stating that a UK Sim for a phone will definitely enable my cell phone to make and receive calls as well as offer me internet access, google maps etc. I have googled for "phone stores" near where I will be staying and written them in my travel notebook.

Can you enlighten me so I can be prepared and not start my once in a lifetime trip with a headache? !!!!!!! ;)

Thankyou

I have Metro..and supposedly my phone will take a Sim card. Aristo LG. I freaked out when I was searching "UK" Sims and saw stated that you had a choice of 2 types: one for "calls only" for phones...the other "data only" for tablets ?????

OK - you mean, you have MetroPCS and an LG Aristo - this phone?

https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone/lg-aristo

MetroPCS is owned by T-Mobile and operates on their network - which means, it has a SIM card (all GSM phones on T-Mobile do), so you can most definitely remove the MetroPCS SIM and install a UK SIM card in it physically.

But - is your phone unlocked? MetroPCS/T-Mobile may have locked your phone - but if you have paid it off, it should be eligible to be unlocked. If locked, the phone will not even turn on with a UK SIM in it, until you type in the correct unlock code.

From the specs of this phone, I see it's really not a good overseas phone for data. It may not work on any data network faster than the very slow 2G "Edge" networks in Europe, that many consider too slow to be useful (even though it works on fast LTE networks in the US; different frequencies are used in Europe and your phone may not have all of them).

But it should work for voice (calls), at least - it has the frequencies for that. But to contact you, your sister will have to dial a UK phone number (with a UK SIM, you'll temporarily have a UK phone number). Is that OK? Figure out what that would cost her to call you. And when you get a UK SIM, get one that allows some calling to international non-EU numbers like US phone numbers. Some SIM card mobile plans offer those. All of these other services people mention for communicating may not work well unless your phone is on WiFi, because of the slow data - but regular voice calls and texts should be OK, as long as you and your sister are OK with international calls between you.

Don't worry about what kind of SIM you need now - just go to a UK mobile store when you get there and tell them what you need. (With this phone, sounds like you'd want a voice SIM more than data.) But you MUST make sure your phone is unlocked, before you leave the US! At worst, stop at MetroPCS store and ask them. They may help you unlock the phone - but what this means is, they'll give you an unlock code that you need to keep to use ONCE when you insert a SIM card in the UK - the first time, you'll need to type in that unlock code with the UK SIM when you turn the phone on. After that, it won't be locked anymore. There's some uncertainty here, because you won't know for sure that the code will work to unlock the phone until you plug in that SIM in the UK.

By the way: one option you'd have that isn't cheap but would be fairly easy would be to switch to T-Mobile for a month. (Because T-Mobile has a decent international roaming plan, you'd be able to call your sister or receive her calls for 20 cents/minute - and free texting. And free data if your phone can connect to at least the slow data networks in the UK.) Because MetroPCS is owned by T-Mobile, it should be a smooth switch. Just go to a T-Mobile store and they can do it. But expect to pay $25 just for a SIM, perhaps an activation fee...and maybe a termination fee with MetroPCS (or need to pay off your phone if not paid off).

But once you are on T-Mobile, your phone should work smoothly (at least for voice calls) in the UK. No SIM to mess with, and you still have your US phone number. When you get home from the UK, go to a MetroPCS store and switch back to them.

For the amount it would cost you to switch to T-Mobile, though, you could almost buy a new phone like my Moto E4 - completely unlocked and would work in the UK pretty well with a SIM. But that's a little more complicated I know...

Thank you yet again. I shall stumble through this. Will unlock my phone, get to a store in London and go from there. If worse comes to worse I will send up smoke signals to my sister and carry a map with notations...and ask a lot of questions!

At worst, if you can't get your phone to work, you can still use it on WiFI anywhere in the world. So find a place with free WiFi while you are trying to get ahold of your sister and check your email - and ask MetroPCS if they support WiFi Calling so you could use the phone to make calls for free on WiFi.

yep....phone is now unlocked, and I can use wifi. ;)