Renting a cellphone in England

Sue, Renting is not the most cost effective option! As you're planning to "travel to other countries in the future", it would be a better long-term solution to buy a "travel phone". You might also have a look at the "travel phone" firms such as Call In Europe, Roam Simple, Cellular Abroad, Telestial or Mobal. They can provide phones and plans which will operate in a variety of countries in Europe with consistent rates regardless of country (ie: no roaming rates). One point to note is that the calling plans are often arranged in "zones" and using phones in eastern Europe is often a different "zone" with higher rates. Typically with the calling plans used by "travel phone" firms, the number "expires" if not used for a specific period of time. However, some offer "no expiry" numbers which you could use on subsequent trips. Be sure to have a close look at the rates, so that you have a clear idea on what these will cost. One advantage of these plans is that most are post-paid, with the charges being billed to a credit card. This offers the advantage of never having to top-up, and never "running out of minutes" in the middle of a call. However, with this type of plan it's especially important to be sure not to lose the phone, as the customer would be "on the hook" for charges until the loss is reported. Cheers!

Go to a Carphone Warehouse store for good deals on the purchase of a phone + sim card. Currently the website shows a mobile phone including sim and prepaid minutes for £12.95 and up. The phone will work across Europe in your future travels so you can use different sims as needed.

You are not really stuck with a number as the SIM card is what gives a phone in Europe (or AT&T, T Mobile in the US) it's number, you just get a new SIM card in another country and you have a new number. You just need an unlocked GSM phone which you can buy anywhere in the US or UK/Europe, make sure it is quad band if you buy it in the US. It is probably cheaper to buy then it is to rent.

Mobal isn't a good choice for the UK. The phone and sim costs $49 plus tax and shipping. Mobal charges $1.25/min for local calls; incoming calls free. The prepaid sims that come with inexpensive phones at Carphone Warehouse and other places charge 20-25p/minute (about 32-40¢) for local calls with free incoming calls.

The truth is that there's no 'best' way to do anything. In the case of a phone, it depends on how you honestly intend to use it. I have a Mobal. I've had it for years. If I'm traveling solo, my wife only has to know one number - - and she's reached me on it in europe, asia, south america, and any other number of places. She doesn't have to wait for me to find a sim card and tell her how she can reach me. She seldom calls, but when she has, it's been pretty darn important. I've have never had to go buy a card or top it up. I've never had a card expire with unused minutes. I've never had to carry a pocketfull of cards and dig around for one when I changed countries. The time savings alone are worth a bundle. My sole preparation is to step off the airplane and turn it on. In simple terms, figure out what you waking time costs per minute, then see if the time spent dorking with a phone doesn't really add a heck of a lot to the overall cost. Then toss in the cost of the card and add it to the cost per minute, then add in the inevitable left over time that's lost. The math boggles the mind. To counter the argument that a Mobal-type phone is expensive - - I was off of the north american continent for a bit over six months last year. My Mobal bill for the year was right at $375 or about two bucks day, average. Using Tex's $1.25/minute, that meant I talked for three hundred minutes. That sounds about right since I/we tend to make a couple of calls a week for about five minutes each and maybe a local call every week or so for some reason. We're not big gabbers, so it works for us.

Everyone has to go with what works for their situation. Sue has asked about a phone for two weeks in England for local calls, not 6 months traveling to various countries. £12.95 (about $21) for a phone bought in England, including 50 minutes of call time, beats Mobal's $49++ charge for the phone and $1.25/minute.

Hi Sue I think the Mobal suggestion is a good one. They have a phone on http://www.mobal.com/international-cell-phone/ that is just $49 - probably cheaper than the cost of a two week rental. As you say you want a phone that will work on your other international trips, it's a good choice. You could buy a phone in the UK, but you won't save that much money and also the SIM card will probably expire after a few months of no use, meaning it could be useless on your next trip. I hope that helps! Al

Mobal is wickedly over-priced. You can get all the same features from Roam Simple for a fraction of the cost per minute. http://www.roamsimple.com/

Roam Simple's SIM cards expire after a year, unless you pay a fee to keep the number active. A Mobal number is permanent, with no extra fees to keep your number active. All you pay for is the service you use, you can't run out of minutes, your number today will be the same five years from now. You buy the phone and SIM once, and never pay anything additional to Mobal except the price of your calls. My international phone holds two SIM cards - I use a local one (for cheaper calls in-country) and a Mobal (as an emergency contact number that never changes).

I also have a Mobal phone that I've had for years now and that serves me just fine. If you make a lot of calls, or call for extended times when you use it, it's too expensive. But, for a pay as you go phone for limited calling, it's perfect. Since Europe has lots of borders (and thus different networks) I don't want or need to have SIM cards for each country. I simply don't make that many calls. And having a permanent phione number that I can always be contacted at is important to me. I also have a very cheap Chinese phone with Sim card that I use in China. It cost me about 12 dollars for the phone and very little for minutes in China and Hong Kong. Since I tend to spend more time in China than in Europe every year, it works out fine for me. But if I were in one particular European country on a regular basis, I'd want a SIM card for that country too. As you can see, it totally depends on where you go and how you will use your phone.

No doubt some travelers find Mobal useful and aren't too concerned about the cost. However, for Sue and others who just want a cheap, simple solution to mobile service for a stay in England, Italy or most other European countries, a local pre-paid sim is usually the best option. To the point about having a number which people know how to reach, Skype To Go and Skype Online Numbers can be linked to European mobile numbers for calls which cost nothing to the caller other than domestic long distance. And for AT&T customers, roaming rates on the international plan are better than Mobal in most European countries.