phoning home from overseas.

Yes, they have inexpensive basic phones for about £30 that include some credit, and you can top up with more credit if you are making more calls. These cheap phones will only do texting and calling - no Internet. Of course, you can buy Internet-capable phones for more money. If you still have the phone you used a few years ago, you should be able to re-use it by buying a new SIM card (unused SIM cards expire).

To get an idea of models and prices, here's a link for Carphone Warehouse, a chain of phone stores in England, showing phones in price order (least expensive first): http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/pay-as-you-go/deal-finder?intcmp=PAYG_ViewAll_211113

You'd have to add a SIM to one of these phones; here are some of the ones available: http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/sims/pay-as-you-go/pay-as-you-go-sims

What I would do is just bring your old England phone with you, go to the store, explain what you need the phone for, and have them sell you the least expensive setup that meets your needs. They can test quickly to see if your old phone will still work.

If you know your postal code (get it from your hotel's address on the website), you can find the nearest Carphone Warehouse with this link: http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/store-locator/

I've seen basic phones as cheap as £5, but you have to buy £10 credit. Check the international rates though, can be pricey.

"Check the international rates though, can be pricey."

Mike J is right - I missed that part of your post, that you're planning to use the phones to call home. So, before you buy any SIM, double check the rates for calling the US (or wherever home is for you).

Sometimes there are specials. A friend has a T-Mobile UK SIM, and he has gotten deals (they call them "boosters") where he texted a code to a certain number; this cost £5, but gave him £10 of credit for calls to the US. So, ask about what the current best deal is for your needs; just as in the US, the deals in England change all the time (for instance, I see it's now £7.50 for 120 minutes to the US/Canada - or 6.25 pence per minute - which I think is dirt cheap!).

rates of 3c per min to US landlines and mobiles are common, giffgaff and lebara.
The cheapest phones that the big 4 providers sell, EE sometimes as low as £3.99, tie you to poor rates ..they soon get their money back.
Best answer is a SIM free phone , argos is often cheapest on the high street, carphone warehouse not far behind, £15 is a likley price

Hi maureenw:

I am not sure if this suggestion will work for you but if you are bringing a laptop I would recommend that you spend $40 to get a Magic Jack device which will let you make up to 90 minutes of free calls to the USA each day. I was in Scotland, England, and Turkey for one month, and I stayed in contact with my company using Magic Jack. Of course you will need an internet connection which was either by free wifi at places such as Starbucks or at the hotel, or but direct ethernet connection that was free at a dorm where I was staying. In addition to the laptop (or you can use a rent a computer at a cyber cafe) you will need the Magic Jack and a telephone. It looks pretty weird to see an actual phone connected to my laptop but if I can speak for over an hour for free it is worth it. The clarity of sound was great; you could not tell that you were making a call via voice over internet - it sounded like a land line call to your neighbor next door.

Yes. There are many shops which offer cheap phones. Some as cheap as £10 and pay as you go SIMs usually come free with these.

Thanks for all the help, now I'm sure we'll be o.k.! Maureen.W.

Thanks for all the help, now I'm sure we'll be o.k.! Maureen.W.

along those same lines - I'd like to use my own phone since I have all these Rick downloads on it. Do I have to be careful about what SIM card I buy? I have a Samsung 2g and another really old Samsung I haven't used in 5 years. Both are unlocked.

along those same lines - I'd like to use my own phone since I have all these Rick downloads on it. Do I have to be careful about what SIM card I buy? I have a Samsung 2g and another really old Samsung I haven't used in 5 years. Both are unlocked.

along those same lines - I'd like to use my own phone since I have all these Rick downloads on it. Do I have to be careful about what SIM card I buy? I have a Samsung 2g and another really old Samsung I haven't used in 5 years. Both are unlocked. I wanted to call home periodically too, but mainly to confirm hotel reservations and buy advance tickets here and there.

along those same lines - I'd like to use my own phone since I have all these Rick downloads on it. Do I have to be careful about what SIM card I buy? I have a Samsung 2g and another really old Samsung I haven't used in 5 years. Both are unlocked. I wanted to call home periodically too, but mainly to confirm hotel reservations and buy advance tickets here and there.

"Do I have to be careful about what SIM card I buy?"

You just have to check the rates for the kinds of calls you are planning to make. Are you calling land lines within the UK? Within the EU? Mobile phones within England? Within the EU? Calling back to the US? Calling other countries? Texting to the UK, the EU, the US, other countries? Each of these can have a different price, and sometimes you have to do something (like the boosters I mentioned) to get a better deal. It's also common to have a special lower rate to call or text other mobiles on the same network (very handy if you're using the phones to keep in touch with someone else on the trip).

If you want to research current deals, here's the UK page of Prepaid GSM - just follow the "prepaid offer - click here" links: http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/uk.php

Without having looked at the offers, I can say Lebara often has good deals in other countries, so I'd start with them if all you need is a SIM card.