Cell Phone Use

Check out T-Mobile. Most of their plans include free texting and data in the UK and Europe. We spent 2 weeks in the UK last June and 2 weeks in Italy in October and the only extras were several telephone calls charged at .25 a minute.

Buy a Sim when you get there
(That’s what I do, I have StraightTalk wireless too)

If your phone is newer than mine (most are!) you could get an E-Sim…

What do you use your phone for? At this point, we almost never call. We text and use the computer to send emails.

On your trip, what do you need to do? Do you plan on spending a lot of time on the 'phone making voice calls?

I'd first evaluate the use of the phone, and determine what I need. We never call.

Paul makes a good point about whether you need voice and data or just data. I have quite a few calls, mainly for work but also hotels etc, so I have a giffgaff SIM. You can pre order and they will post to you overseas. Very good value, and I have a dual SIM phone, so just keep it in there for when I'm in the UK or Europe. Good for voice and data.

If you just need data, then a travel eSIM would do the job.

What about when you need to call car rental company to send shuttle after landing?

when you need to call car rental company to send shuttle after landing?

it is not always wise to drive right after a long transatlantic flight with the possibility / likelihood of jet lag setting in.

But if you must there are counters in arrival of the majors with automatic telephones.

sisrider,
I concur with Nigel about questioning the wisdom of jumping off a transatlantic flight (overnight?) and then into a rental car with the steering wheel on the "wrong" side and proceeding into traffic flowing against the tide.
We are flying into Manchester arriving about 7 am. We are taking a hotel for the day/night before picking up the rental. I just think it is a wise expense.
I also encourage you to have phone service (not just data or only Wi-Fi phone). I have used the sim card swap system and it works great. Gifgaff has a plan where they will mail you the sim card ahead of time so you can insert it while in flight (be careful not to lose your US sim card) and activate it upon arrival. It is about $13 for plenty of data and phone. You do have to be aware that your phone number will be different.

Enjoy your trip,
Dennis

I will just say I have been a giffgaff user since thier start maybe 9 years back .
Solid service
They also do esims now

Personally, I just go find the nearest Vodafone office (not at the airport!) when I get to the UK. I always get a huge amount of free data added on for around 10 - 15 GBP, which is good for a month. I like having a phone for emergencies.

You can use the airport wi fi to call on WhatsApp or Messenger or something data based, if you need to call a hotel or something. I would take your SIM out of your phone just in case you get a huge bill for using it overseas, no matter what they say about it working there or not. HOWEVER, I tried to use the WiFi calling feature my provider gave me (using my North American phone number and SIM), and it didn't work. I don't know why.

GiffGaff looks like a good option too, but you need to pay with PayPal, not a credit card from North America.

Data is very cheap in the UK compared to the US. There's lots of competition here that drives prices down.

Many here recommend Airalo. It seems like a decent solution for the international visitor but you're still going to get the best deals using a UK provider directly without Airalo as a "broker".

As the poster above said, if you can wait, going into a bricks and mortar shop on any UK high street is going to get you a good deal that includes lots more data than you would get on a US plan or the international SIM providers. EE, O2, and Vodafone are the main players.

If you can work out the mechanics of buying and installing an eSIM from a UK provider in the US, there's the potential to sort out a good value before travelling. Might be a bit of a faff, but worth it to the deal hunter or heavy data user.

I've been on EE for years, but giffgaff come recommended. The phrase to use when searching is "pay as you go". That's a no contract deal. There's some cheap one month rolling contracts out there too, but again, maybe even more faff for someone outside the UK.

I'll include a link to a super low deal - Lebara Mobile
I found it using this respected UK price comparison site - USwitch