Cell phone in UK -- totally confused

Does your US carrier offer an international plan? We use Verizon in the US, and for shorter trips used to just budget to pay the ten bucks a day our “TravelPass” (Verizon lingo) costs while we are overseas. We can call within the UK and Europe, call the US, use WiFi, etc. etc. and it is actually pretty seamless. And much easier than figuring out all of the confusing SIM card/eSIM card madness. So… we opted to throw a little money at the problem, and it went away.

A few years ago (about a month pre-COVID) we were on a longer stay here and walked into a Vodaphone store to check options. Ten minutes later we were out the door with a UK SIM (not an eSIM, which I realise is your preference). For something like 15 quid we got a month of unlimited service - and just switched out the SIM cards when we got home.

Anyway, all that was maybe not helpful, exactly, but I do think it might be worth it to just pay for an international plan from your US service provider for a trip of about 2 weeks.

Who is your US carrier?

As for calls to the US, look into Skype or Google Voice. They are wifi based but cost pennies to call.

This is what I did recently but in reverse - i.e. with a UK phone travelling to the US.

Bought and installed an eSIm from https://www.getnomad.app/ (create an account and install the app on your phone) Activate the eSIm when you arrive in the UK.

Keep your US phone number for calls, likely not cheap but how many calls are you likely to make? Not many.

In addition to TravelPass on Verizon ($10/day, if you use it), there is a monthly plan for $100 which would be cheaper for every day usage on a 16-day trip. They also have added an "Unlimited Ultimate" plan that includes international call/text/data. Advertised at $65/month, although I got it for less with various discounts (and we travel 2-3 times/year, so the extra $ works out).

But I am also one of those people who are willing to pay a bit more for the convenience and not having to put too much work into something as basic as travel connectivity. It's just not that huge of a travel-related expense to not bake it into overall trip costs. IHMO.

I do have Verizon so I could use their plan, but at $160 it's kind of pricey, especially compared to a roughly $13 UK plan.

Calls to the US would be for my wife to call her 101-year-old mother's landline, so Skype/Zoom wouldn't do. I'm not familiar with Google Voice but can look into it.

She could indeed activate Verizon's Travel Pass if needed to call her mother. The $10/day fee would be the biggest charge, I think, since it only costs 1/2cent per minute to call the UK from the US, so I'm guessing the reverse would be comparable. In fact I may have read last year that there's no charge to call the US while on the Travel Pass though I'm not sure of that.

Assuming the not-included voice calls (those 084, etc. numbers) are not too expensive -- or maybe nothing I'd encounter anyway -- my biggest issue is how to ensure that I get an eSIM when I enroll in a plan. I've read a lot of detail on carriers' websites and cannot pin that down. I can get a 30-day plan, and I can get an eSIM -- but I can't verify that I'll get both together. I've spent time with a few customer support chatbots and can say with confidence that the carriers are not using AI yet, or if they are, we've got no worry about AI taking over the world. :-)

Calls to the US would be for my wife to call her 101-year-old mother's landline, so Skype/Zoom wouldn't do. I'm not familiar with Google Voice but can look into it.

I use Skype to call landlines in the US all the time. The cost is about 2 cents/minute. (You're confusing Skype with WhatsApp.)

Zoom has nothing to do with calls. That's for videoconferencing.

Some plans have a list of exclusions and/or extra charges, such as: "Numbers starting 084, 087, 09, 118 -- The call cost will be our Access Charge plus the Service Charge of the company being called. 25p per minute + Service Charge" --- I have no idea what those numbers refer to or how much is a service charge.

You should not be calling these numbers. In the UK, these would be companies that charge you per minute for some type of ”service”. Think of the ”psychic hot line” and other ”services” advertised on late night television in the U.S.

Many plans don't address charges for US calls. (Or if they address it, it's hidden in a layer I can't readily find.)

Will you need to call the U.S. while you are on vacation? I rarely do.

Bought and installed an eSIm from https://www.getnomad.app/ (create an account and install the app on your phone) Activate the eSIm when you arrive in the UK.

I checked that link -- good prices but I can only find "data only" plans for the UK. I'll need data, calls, and text. I might be missing it but I couldn't find voice & text included.

Giffgaff claims they can get you an eSIM, and they give you calls as well as data.

giffgaff is usually a good bet and their eSim purchase process seems straightforward. No free minutes to the US with them it seems though. You would need to add a little credit. £5 might cover that?

https://www.giffgaff.com/sim-only-deals/pay-as-you-go

Lyca has 100 free minutes to the US as part of their pay as you go plans.

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

Vodafone seems quite comparable to others here -

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/sim-only/pay-as-you-go-sim

To get international calling you'll need to buy an "Extra".

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/extras

Hope this gives you something to consider. I'll take a look at the thread later, see if you want to discuss some more.

Giffgaff claims they can get you an eSIM, and they give you calls as well as data.

Thanks, I have looked at giffgaff and they have very cheap plans -- 10GBP for 20GB data and unlimited calls & text. I was confused by their exclusions -- they're the one I referred to in my original post with "Numbers starting 084,"etc. Also I've never heard of them, whereas I have of the other carriers.

Is giffgaff a reputable company?

EDIT

Thanks GerryM -- I made the reply above before seeing your post. I'll check the links.

At first I thought the Lyca plans were a real bargain at 5GBP. However the fine print says "Offer Price for 3 Months" which I guess means you're charged for 3 months, although 15GBP/month is still cheap. However it also says the sale prices expired 31/07 so it becomes 30 if that's correct.

Their UK Plan Smart looks good -- 5GB for £5, 1000 calls & text, 100 free international minutes. Assuming I can specify eSIM, which the page implies though I haven't gone through the order process yet, this could be the winner.

Thanks for the links. I'm still checking the others.

EDIT
The giffgaff plan looks good too, a bit more but still cheap. Is there any reason to prefer one company over the other?

Also, I used Vodaphone in the UK about 20 years ago -- bought a flip-phone there (before the smartphone days) with a plan and it did well. My impression is that Vodaphone may be preferable to the other two companies -- is that true?

I went to England last year and bought an Orange Holiday 30GB card and was very pleased. The current cost is 39.99 Euros, but they have a 12GB option for 15.99 Euros. Here's a link:
https://travel.orange.com/en/buy-a-sim/offers/united-kingdom

Your calls outside of the UK will be limited to 30 - 120 minutes, depending on the option you choose. However, I found that to be more than what I needed, especially because I could use WhatsApp or Skype, and I mostly just texted anyway. The email with the eSIM had very clear instructions on how to install and activate it.

I have used Verizon's $10 day international service before and it is easy, but so expensive! I recommend Orange Holiday.

I'm not sure I would want to be buying a product for the UK from a French company charged in a currency neither for here or your home country.

Yes, Orange is a defunct brand here. EE is the company that that formerly included Orange and T-Mobile in the UK.

At first I thought the Lyca plans were a real bargain at 5GBP. However the fine print says "Offer Price for 3 Months" which I guess means you're charged for 3 months, although 15GBP/month is still cheap. However it also says the sale prices expired 31/07 so it becomes 30 if that's correct.

I think you'd be good for three months at the low price. Just cancel it when you're back home to make sure it doesn't debit your card again. I was able to go right through to entering my card details on this purchase at £6.50 -

https://www.lycamobile.co.uk/en/bundle/uk-plan-super-extra/

There's a tier of UK mobile phone providers -

Lyca and Lebara - low price - I'd expect less support from a low price operator, but your mileage may vary.

giffgaff - mid price - well respected in the sim-only field. Lots use them.

Three, EE, Vodafone, O2 - Network providers. May or may not be a little more expensive. Big brands with stores in the high street. Still may have some deals.

All the other operators run on one of these four networks. You can find out which with a bit of Googling. 4G is by and large pretty good on all the networks these days so it doesn't make much difference. You can Google for coverage maps of these networks if you want to drill down.

If you're still bargain hunting, https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/compare/sim_only_deals/

and https://www.moneysupermarket.com/mobile-phones/sim-only/ are decent UK price comparison sites. You're looking for "pay as you go" in your case, though this seems to be on the way out in favour of one month rolling contracts, which you can probably cancel penalty free in your case.

Thanks very much for all your responses; they've been very helpful.

I'm leaning towards the Vodaphone pay-as-you-go £10 plan, normally 8GB data but special offer now for 27GB -- way more than I'll need. Includes unlimited minutes and texts. Add-on calls to USA £6.15 for 100 minutes. Fully cancellable through their app.

I'm holding off for the moment because I read somewhere that some carriers require activation within 30 days of ordering or the deal is off. I'm not quite within that time period.

One more issue just arose. I was under the impression that international texts were free, but it seems that's not true. I found a Vodaphone add-on offering 100 international texts (way more than I would use) for £5. I didn't see this elsewhere but I suppose the other carriers also charge for international texts.

Thanks again.

My bet if you're budget conscious would be Lyca or giffgaff with a few quid credit to cover texts, or calls in the case of giffgaff. Just remember to cancel it quick smart as soon as you're done with it.

Vodafone is good too. You have the benefit of their stores on many high streets where you can go in and have someone make it work if there's a problem. I'd imagine Lyca keep their overheads low by having limited customer support overseas as cheaply as possible. I had my phone from work on Vodafone for quite a few years and it was always good for 4G. I think the other networks may have levelled up in London these days.

Lyca is on the EE network and giffgaff is on O2.

I use my carrier's international plan (Verizon) primarily because I want my normal phone number to work fine without having to give people back home my new, temporary number. It really isn't that expensive in the grand scheme of vacation budgets.

That is some of the lowest pricing I've seen from Vodafone I think. The UK's a very competitive market, which keeps the prices down.

You're getting a month in the UK for basically an equivalent cost to one day roaming from a US-based carrier, give or take. Lots of people don't care about having a number people can call these days. Whatsapp has taken a lot of the market for voice and SMS in Europe.

Yes, all these prices are good. Compared to what my Verizon would cost I'm just quibbling over a few dollars.

I like the idea of access to a physical store. In 2018 I bought a phone and plan in Italy, and had trouble getting started. The local store got it working -- after 2 hours, and with the translation assistance of a couple bilingual tourists. (I speak rudimentary Italian but not adequate for anything complicated.)

Thanks again all.

I have a dinosaur of a phone that doesn't use eSIM but hopefully the apps Vodafone, Lyca and giffgaff supply make it fairly painless these days. As long as you wait until you'll definitely be in reach of your network's cell tower at arrivals before you register the SIM it should be plain sailing from there.

There's good deals on unlimited data too. Those price comparison sites have filters. Might be worth checking out if you'd use a lot of data if it was available.

I use my carrier's international plan (Verizon) primarily because I want my normal phone number to work fine without having to give people back home my new, temporary number.

Again: getting an overseas SIM doesn't lead to loss of your home phone number if you have a modern dual-SIM phone and you do things properly.

getting an overseas SIM doesn't lead to loss of your home phone number
if you have a modern dual-SIM phone....

Good to know. But if you use your home SIM, aren't you going to incur an International charge anyway?

"But if you use your home SIM, aren't you going to incur an International charge anyway?"

It depends what you do with it. If you have a dual SIM phone you can switch data to the local SIM, and keep your home SIM active. You only pay if you make outgoing voice calls (or answer an incoming call) or send text messages using your home SIM. The reason people might want to do that is if they need to receive text messages (which is free) on their home SIM, particularly for two factor authentication for banking etc.

I have a foolish question but I ask it because of my paranoia about technology (developed from 25 years in IT):

I assume that getting a UK number and temporarily deactivating my Verizon eSIM will not affect anything else on the phone -- contacts, apps and app configuration, etc. Correct?

Correct. The software/data/setup on your device should remain intact.

I did have an instance where switching the physical SIM card resulted in needing to log in to apps again. Be sure that you know passwords, etc for critical apps/services just in case. That can happen for other reasons, too, though.

I also had an issue years ago, after switching from a UK physical SIM (from 3 Mobile) back to my physical Verizon SIM, where the Google Messages app showed some of my US contacts as if they were international. The messages were intact (including past ones) and sending/receiving worked fine - the contact info just looked different. It was a bug in the app - Google released a fix that resolved it soon after (no changes needed by me, just patience).

I assume that getting a UK number and temporarily deactivating my Verizon eSIM will not affect anything else on the phone -- contacts, apps and app configuration, etc. Correct?

How do you plan to "deactivate" your Verizon eSIM?

Honestly, if I were you I'd simply disable data roaming on your Verizon eSIM but keep it active as the secondary SIM. But regardless, on an Android phone all your contacts etc. are associated with your Gmail account, not your phone number. I believe iPhones and their contacts and apps are similarly independent of the cell plan.

From the Verizon "Google Pixel Phones - Enable / Disable eSIM Profile" web page:

1. Settings / Network & internet.
   
2. SIMs.
3. If needed, tap the line for the eSIM (name varies; example Verizon eSIM).
4. Tap the "Use SIM switch" to turn on or off.
5. "Yes" to confirm.

That's a good point about roaming. The steps are the same as above except for step 4 which is:
-- Tap the "Roaming" switch to turn on or off. -- Maybe a little safer to do it that way, thanks.

EDIT
Verizon says "You must turn on cellular data or data roaming when you go to the TravelPass country to use Travel Pass."

That "or" has me wondering: what's the difference between cellular data and data roaming? If I turn off roaming does that include the other? I read conflicting information online (no surprise).

EDIT #2
I just checked my phone, and under the Verizon eSIM it shows two separate items, mobile data and roaming, with toggles for each. I think I'd have to turn off both to be sure Travel Pass doesn't activate.

They seem to be SIM-specific so I should be able to turn them off there and still have full access with the UK eSIM.

I just came across an oddity with Vodaphone.

Standard rates to USA (Pay as you go plan)
Calls to landlines £3.00 per minute
Calls to mobiles £3.00 per minute
Text Messages 79p per text

Crazy per minute charge, right. However below that rate chart is this add-on:

Phone calls:
Vodaphone International £0 per month (yes, it says zero)
Calls to landlines and mobiles 0.01 per minute, no limits on minutes. --
Text INTERNATIONAL to 2345

This doesn't seem right. They charge £3.00 per minute but if you apply a no-cost add-on it goes to 0.1 per minute.

Could it be a mistake?

Are you sure it's no cost?

Are you sure it's no cost?

I've checked the page multiple times. It says verbatim:

Vodaphone International £0 a month

If I could add an image here I'd insert a screen grab.

Here's a link to the page:

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/help-and-information/costs-and-charges/calling-abroad-from-the-uk

You have to specify USA and scroll down to Pay as you go.

It makes no sense but that's what it says.

Seems like a no brainer. Must just be the terms allow international calling at a penny a minute if you activate it. It maybe feeds back a little to what I talked about up thread about the market for voice being so depleted now. Usually voice minutes are given away for free by the bucketload. It must be feasible to offer penny a minute international calling these days. There must be some business reason for requiring the opt-in.

I'd be foolish not to take it even though I don't expect to have to call the US.

I'm a little concerned that if I send the text I'll find a charge to my credit card. It may be reversible but would undoubtedly be a hassle to accomplish.

Maybe I'll wait until I get there and check in a Vodophone store.

I do have Verizon so I could use their plan, but at $160 it's kind of pricey, especially compared to a roughly $13 UK plan.

Just to clarify, it wouldn't be $160. It'd be $100. Verizon has the daily international plan of $10 day, and it has a month plan of $100. So for trips 9 days or fewer, then the $10/day international plan is what you'd use; for 10 days or over, then the month plan.

I had been looking at "Pay As You Go Plus" plans on Vodafone. Pay As You Go Plus is the one month rolling contract setup, pay as you go is just where you're adding credit as you go. That's where the confusion lies. Penny a minute on PAYG if you activate with a text.

The plan I was looking at was Pay As You Go Plus £10 per month for 27GB of data, and you add an extra for £5 per month to get you 200 free USA calling minutes. At £15 that's a pretty good deal. That what you should go for I think. It's the first plan on this page -

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/sim-only/pay-as-you-go-sim

ETA: Also worth remembering that you get 100 minute for free to the US with Lyca at only £6.50 a month. Was that 50GB of data? Site is down right now to check.

>>Verizon has a month plan of $100.

Good spot, thanks.

*>>The plan I was looking at was Pay As You Go Plus £10 per month for 27GB of data, and you add an extra for £5 per month to get you 200 free USA calling minutes. At £15 that's a pretty good deal. That what you should go for I think. *

You're right, that looks like the best bet. I'll get it the week before we leave.

There's 2 Vodaphone stores within a mile or so of where we're staying so I can get help if there's any problem.

I have a couple giffgaff questions that falls under this topic - I hope it's OK to append it here; if not, mods may feel free to notify me and/or fork off a new thread.

First, I suppose, is whether I can do the SIM swap on a Tracfone (Samsung Galaxy A03s) that has been out of service for several months (i.e., the phone number with it may have been recycled already). It is unlocked. However, I find that a lot of the guides / instructions relate to transferring your number, or getting a code from your current carrier, etc. That doesn't apply to this phone, so I wonder if giffgaff only works with phones that are currently in service. Does anyone know?

The other question, assuming that phone can be used, is whether I can buy a pay-as-you-go plan (say, 10 GBP) and maybe add a little more for calls to the USA (since they aren't included), BEFORE I leave for the UK. I'd much rather do the credit card stuff here at my computer at home than via the phone after I land. I think I can ... but it's not super clear, since again, giffgaff appears to assume you're going to do it another way.

The page that implies that maybe I can get a plan before activating the SIM is here:

https://www.giffgaff.com/help/articles/getting-started-on-giffgaff

and the relevant quote is:

Head to 'Activate my SIM' - you will be asked to top-up or buy a plan, unless you have pre-paid for a plan upfront. If you have prepaid for a plan, please make sure to log in to the same giffgaff account that you used to prepay for your plan when activating, as it will not be possible to transfer your plan to a different account at a later stage.

Thanks -

That doesn't apply to this phone, so I wonder if giffgaff only works with phones that are currently in service. Does anyone know?

No. If your phone is unlocked, the giffgaff SIM will work, unless there's something very strange about your phone.

The other question, assuming that phone can be used, is whether I can buy a pay-as-you-go plan (say, 10 GBP) and maybe add a little more for calls to the USA (since they aren't included), BEFORE I leave for the UK.

I'm no expert (being the OP with all the questions) but I'd say it's likely you can do that. The page you referred to has two methods that seem like they can be done in advance (once you've gotten a SIM).

• Use a credit/debit card, or PayPal on their website
• Set up auto top up, so it automatically tops you up when your balance drops below £3. Do this on your account under under My Payments.

The third method requires that you be there:

• Buy a giffgaff top up voucher at an off-licence/supermarket and top up by calling 43430

Don’t count on free after sales service in a Vodafone shop. I had a problem getting the hotspot feature to work. Went back to the shop where I purchased it. The clerk indicated that I would need to pay for service help but suggested that I use the chat service on the website. That worked and was quick and efficient. This was probably 2 or 3 years ago so may no longer apply.

Thanks for the warning. I was judging by the support I got from a Vodaphone store in Italy in 2018. Despite language difficulties they were very patient and helpful. It was a little different because I had bought the phone there so that probably gave them more incentive.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/esim-activated-in-uk-vs-eu

Here you go.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/esim-activated-in-uk-vs-eu

Here you go.

Thanks for the link. At one point I was going to go with Airalo but realized that all the UK plans were data only. I want a phone number for calls and text.

Overall I'll be satisfied with the Vodaphone £10 for 27gb/unlimited calls & text. It's a 30 day plan so I'm waiting a couple more weeks to order & activate it since my trip will go into early October.