Buying a phone in London

Dawn, Don't consider renting a phone! Assuming you could find a location that offered rentals, it would be more expensive than buying. How would you return it at the end of the holiday? There are phone shops at Heathrow (Nokia, Vodaphone), but you might want to wait until you get into London as you'll have more choices. One point to note is that when using the phone in Croatia, you'll be "roaming" and therefore the rates will be higher. One other option you could consider is to buy an inexpensive phone from one of the travel phone firms such as Roam Simple, Cellular Abroad, Call In Europe, Telestial or Mobal. That way you'd have a working phone as soon as you step off the plane! The phones they offer are usually on a post paid basis (calls charged to a credit care - NO topping up necessary), and the rates would be consistent in most of the countries of Europe (check the websites of each of these firms for details). Happy travels!

How badly do you need a phone as soon as you land? You can buy a used/reconditioned unlocked phone plus pay as you go SIM for about 20 pounds in the used computer/phone/games shops on the Tottenham Court Road. Then pop in a local SIM in Croatia. That's probably your cheapest solution. If you prefer to have a phone and global SIM before you leave, and if you don't make many calls, the Mobal and Telestial phones work fine. I have one that I've used for nearly ten years all over the world--but then again, I make relatively few calls so its high per minute rates don't bother me.

Thank you both for your reply. Really, I don't need a phone as soon as we get to Europe, but I do need one when we get to Croatia because the places we are staying at have requested phone calls before we arrive. I'd rather just forget about the phone altogether if I could. We're flying in and out of London and will need one on our return leg in GB. Thanks again to you both for your fast response!

Dawn, One other point to mention. Most of the travel phone firms I mentioned have their rates structured into "zones". Western Europe (including the UK) is Zone 1 (cheapest rates), while Croatia is considered "Extended Europe" and is Zone 2 (slightly higher rates). I used one of the firms I mentioned for my trip last year, and was pleased with the service (the number was based on one of the UK networks). I'll be evaluating it again this year. I prefer to have a working phone as soon as I step off the plane, rather than wandering around looking for a shop, and then having to evaluate the pros & cons of the various local calling plans. I like to get touring right away, without any "distractions". Good luck with your choice.

You can buy a brand new Pay as You Go phone for about £15 or less, including £10 call time, from Carphone Warehouse. Stores in almost every town and city in the UK! http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/pay-as-you-go/deal-finder#

Dawn, you definitely should check out the prices for calls with any service you use. Roaming on a local U.K. SIM in most of Europe is relatively inexpensive. And I mean in relation to the other options. The European Union regulates roaming rates in the EU so rates don't vary much and are capped. Roaming outside the EU, as in Croatia, however, can be pricey. Check out T-Mobile U.K.'s pay-as-you-go rates: Roaming Rates. This may be one instance where rates from one of the travel phone companies are a little bit better. I did a quick check of Mobal's rates and I think they beat the ones from T-Mobile U.K. (which is my usual benchmark). In fact, the rates from T-Mobile U.S. look comparable to those available from Mobal. AT&T's rates may be similar. Having said that, getting a local SIM in Croatia might be a good choice. A U.K. SIM is the best choice for use in the U.K., though.