SIM cards

Gayle, to begin with, it would help to know which Cell network you're with, and what type of phone you're using? Some phones in the U.S. are ONLY dual-band, so whether they're unlocked or not, they WON'T work in Europe! ¶ One other option you might consider is to use a SIM from one of the travel phone firms such as Roam Simple, Call In Europe, Cellular Abroad, Telestial or Mobal. A few of them use plans based in the U.K. While the costs may be a bit higher than using an "English SIM", most of these are postpaid, which means that you'll never have to worry about running out of minutes, or having to "top-up". The charges are simply billed to a credit card. ¶ If you do decide to buy a SIM there, you won't have any trouble finding them as Cell Phone shops are ubiquitous! You could go to a Car Phone Warehouse, or one of the Cell network shops - O2, Orange, Vodaphone, T-Mobile, etc. Check their websites for information on their rate plans. Happy travels!

Go to www.phonescoop.com and click on phones to find your phone. It will list the bands your phone has. American bands are 850/1900 Europe is 900/1800. You want to have at least one of the Europe bands. Hope this helps.

Gayle, all the UK carriers have pay-as-you-go SIMs that are essentially free (for the SIMs themselves). What you pay for is the actual use. You "top up" your account in increments of £5 and use the money you've put on the account to buy packages of minutes, text messages, data, or a combination thereof. The major carriers in the UK are Three, Vodafone, T-Mobile, and Orange. They all have stores all over London, or you can go to a Car Phone Warehouse store, which will carry all three. You can also get SIMs at shops in the airports and train stations as well as just about any newsstand. If your pay-as-you-go account runs low, you can top up in stores, online with your credit card, or with cash at most convenience stores and supermarkets [INVALID] the person who sells you the SIM will happily tell you how. I have no idea how you'd use an international calling card, but I bought international minutes on my Vodafone UK SIM that let me call back to the US for 2 pence a minute, so you can probably find a deal that's just as affordable as a calling card. Alternatively, if you have a smartphone with Internet access, you can buy credit on Skype and call back to the US that way, although to do that, you'll have to find wifi. (That's not hard to do [INVALID] just look for a Starbucks or McDonald's for free wifi.)

To correct a typo: I got international calling for 25p a minute. Still very affordable.