Cell Phone Use in London

If your phone is a quad-band GSM device - which the iPhone is and, apparently, your phone is - then it will work in Europe.

Make sure AT&T have enabled "international roaming", basically each of you phone customer service and ask them to set up your phone to work in Europe. Make sure you ask what the rates are to call and recieve and the iPhone people should ask how much data calls are as they may not want to pay the high rates.

Hey Cindy. W're with AT&T as well, but if you have a phone with a replaceable SIM card, I would call AT&T to get it unlocked (takes about 10 mins), and get an Orange (or other) SIM card. They work great -

AND - no worries about 3,000.00USD international data roaming charges from the iPhones.

There are some very cheap Pay as You Go (PAYG) deals from this retailer eg handset plus £10 call time for £15. Shops all over the UK and you walk out the store ready to go.

Remember we do not pay to receive calls on UK phones. You will also find the call rates much lower than roaming rates, just tell the salesperson how you plan to use the phone and they will help you pick a suitable provider.

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/pay-as-you-go/by-price?start=0&perPageModels=10&min=-2147483648&max=20

We always take cheap handsets with us when we go away, leaving our usual ones at home. Then it's no big deal if we do lose them when away.

Cindy,

In your circumstances, you have a couple of options.

You could certainly travel with unlocked phones and buy PAYG SIM cards when you arrive in the U.K. However, in the case of your husband and son's I-Phones, unlocking is discouraged (this practise has been termed "jailbreak" by some). The U.K. Cell networks (Orange,O2,Vodaphone,Virgin,etc.) have different plans, so you may want to check their websites to get some idea on which plan would be most suitable.

If you're just planning to use the Phones occasionally to keep in touch, roaming with AT&T is probably the least complicated option. However, a few points to note.

If you decide on roaming, it's extremely important that your husband and son disable the data portion of their I-Phones. The data roaming charges in Europe are horrendous! Also, I'd suggest using text messaging rather than voice to keep in touch. My provider only charges 60-cents per text sent, and received texts are free. I believe the AT&T charges are similar.

You could also buy inexpensive PAYG Phones when you arrive in the U.K. however since you already have quad-band GSM phones that wouldn't be the option I'd choose.

One other VERY IMPORTANT point. If you decide to travel with your "home phones", BE SURE to tell everyone NOT to call you while you're in Europe, as the calls will be very expensive. Also, it's not fun to get receive a call at 02:00 from some moron that "forgot" you were in Europe and didn't bother checking the time.

Happy travels!

Hi Cindy,

My husband and I have AT&T and we used them while in Europe. I just checked ahead of time with the carrier to make sure we had international roaming which we did.

We just used them to call ahead and confirm reservations for our B&B's when we couldn't find a payphone. But in your case if you get lost its a good idea to have them. I think in the end our bill for the international calls was $10.

I agree with Ken let everyone you know, via mass text or email that you will be in Europe and for how long. We let everyone know the dates we were gone, and well my husband who has some not so bright friends still called us at 3:00 am. We also received texts while we were there, so I just emailed AT&T and they disabled it for the remainder of our trip!

Have a great trip!

My wife and I had T-Mobile cell phones when we went to London last Fall. I made sure we had international roaming enabled before we went. We didn't use them at all except for one time when we were separated one early evening, and I had to go meet her to help her get back to our apartment by herself. I was so glad we had phones, without them I'd never have been able to meet up with her. Sure, it was 99 cents a minute for each of us, but it sure beat the stress and wasted time it would have taken to find her without the phone.

If people do call you when you're overseas, answer the call rather than letting it go to voicemail. On my T-Mobile line letting the call go to voicemail incurs two minutes of phone charges - one minute for your phone to ring, and another minute when your phone forwards the call back to your US-based voicemail. If you just answer and talk fast you can keep the charges under a minute (or two).