Phones?

[Michelle2010]

We are travelling to Disney as a group of six adults and are expecting go in different directions around WDW quite a lot. However we would like to be able to keep in touch, for instance to arrange to meet up.

Assuming it would be very expensive to take our own mobiles we are considering buying cheap pay as you go mobiles with some credit in the US (probably 4 between us). Has anyone done this? If so, can you tell me how easy it was, how much it cost and recommend any companies? (We are thinking about having the phones sent to the hotel for when we arrive).

Any other suggestions would be appreciated too, many thanks

 

[bombhead444]

We are planning on doing the same as you for our visit in november.
I have read some other threads and the net10 through walmart seems a popular choice.
For $30 you get a phone that comes with 300 minutes upon activation.
There are other deals out there but this is a good start.
They are only available through internet.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10714716

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Yep,
go into Target or wal mart and pick up some pAYG phones

 

[iluvtot]

We are planning on doing the same as you for our visit in november.
I have read some other threads and the net10 through walmart seems a popular choice.
For $30 you get a phone that comes with 300 minutes upon activation.
There are other deals out there but this is a good start.
They are only available through internet.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10714716

We bought these last month. I ordered them online to be at OKW when we arrived. I had a bit of a problem using my card (different delivery address), so paid through paypal.
It does say only available online, but we saw them in Walmart on the shelf; so you could just go in and buy them when you get there.

Jules x

 

[wayneg]

When we went with friends a few years back we pre arranged times and only used text (on our UK phones) if we were going to be late or change anything. Only cost £2-3 for texts over the 3 weeks, certainly not worth buying anything over there.
Out of parks, where you staying? many hotels have free local calls to call each other.

 

[Pegasus928]

We bought 3 of the Net10 LG400 off ebay from a U.S. seller.

They cost us $36 each - that was the total including shipping. The cost in Walmart is $39 each.
They were brand new in the box and come with 300 free minutes and were delivered within a week. We will charge them up just before we leave so they are good to go when we arrive.

I've just had a look at the sellers items and he has some for sale now - they have gone up in price though and it would now cost the same as it would to buy direct from Walmart, although you would have the advantage of having them before you go.

 

[Type A Tim]

What about walkie talkies? I've got a pair of them that I'm planning to bring to WDW next summer. No cost to use, should be straightforward/simple. Anyone done that before?

Tim

 

[Michelle2010]

Thanks for the advice everyone

Now we just need to work out whether we will be better off using our mobiles (with international packages) or buying PAYG phones - I guess it depends how much we want to talk to each other!

 

[Pegasus928]

What about walkie talkies? I've got a pair of them that I'm planning to bring to WDW next summer. No cost to use, should be straightforward/simple. Anyone done that before?

Tim

They will work if you bought them in the US but not sure they will if you bought them in the UK to take over there.
We bought a pair a few years ago and used them up until last year. Even though there are hundreds of channels to choose from we always ended up with constant chatter and people pratting about so could never reach the other members of our party when we needed to. We decided there and then that we won't bother in future and go down the mobile phone route.
We also noticed that these wouldn't work back home in the UK. Not sure why but I am assuming the same would be true the other way around.

 

[wayneg]

Not sure why but I am assuming the same would be true the other way around.

UK ones work in US but work on an illegal frequency for US.

 

[Type A Tim]

UK ones work in US but work on an illegal frequency for US.

Hmm... does that mean I'm likely to get hauled off to jail if hypothetically one were to use UK walkie talkies in US?

Tim

 

[lin85prest]

I think your cheapest option is to use your UK phone for texting each other, we always do that, and it never costs very much at all.

 

[wayneg]

Hmm... does that mean I'm likely to get hauled off to jail if hypothetically one were to use UK walkie talkies in US?

Tim

I have no idea of the seriousness of the offence or what you could interfere with but do some Googling, a few pages to get you started here I just found.

http://www.amherst.co.uk/walkietalkie/walkie-talkie-international-issues.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMR446

http://ask.metafilter.com/77015/Walkie-Talkie-UK-and-US

 

[Tony Toon]

We bought net10 phones and they do the job fine. No frills and very frustrating for texting as it proved very easy to accidentally delete the text being composed. But using it as a basic phone (whatever next?) it is a reasonably inexpensive way of keeping in touch. Our friendly instore Walmart salesman even set it up, connected, for us to take away, although perhaps I should say that we made the purchase in Bradenton away from the tourist areas and the store was relatively quiet compared with the mayhem in the Orlando stores.

We had used walkie talkies prior to buying the phones but as said previously there is a lot of unwanted traffic which makes communication difficult.

 

[Pegasus928]

We bought net10 phones and they do the job fine. No frills and very frustrating for texting as it proved very easy to accidentally delete the text being composed. But using it as a basic phone (whatever next?) it is a reasonably inexpensive way of keeping in touch.

That's exactly what we were thinking. With 300 minutes available on each phone we will be talking as opposed to texting. It will be quicker and easier, plus we can make sure the message has got through and everyone knows the plan

One of our group is also new to Florida and will be driving some days. At least he knows that if he gets seperated from us he can give us a call without getting in too much of a panic

 

[iluvtot]

We bought net10 phones and they do the job fine. No frills and very frustrating for texting as it proved very easy to accidentally delete the text being composed. But using it as a basic phone (whatever next?) it is a reasonably inexpensive way of keeping in touch. Our friendly instore Walmart salesman even set it up, connected, for us to take away, although perhaps I should say that we made the purchase in Bradenton away from the tourist areas and the store was relatively quiet compared with the mayhem in the Orlando stores.

We took them to Walmart (with the receipt) to ask them to set them up, and they refused! Actually wasn't too difficult in the end, just time consuming, and it's recommended they are charged for at least 5 hours at first. We did get some odd texts, (one said "I haven't forgot the money you owe me"!!), which worried DD's a bit, but we just ignored them. I didn't know if it was some scam that if you phoned the no back you lost your credit
One other benefit I forgot to mention is that you can call home to a landline, (not a mobile); so also kept in touch with mums while we were away. We had some credit left (it only lasts 60 days) but SIL flies out this week, so she will take them so she can keep in touch.


Jules x

 

[popsynic]

I think your cheapest option is to use your UK phone for texting each other, we always do that, and it never costs very much at all.

You can use your UK phone to text in the US and its basically 4 texts for every 1

If you are on a pay monthly plan in the UK, then a text in the US is basically equal to 4 normal texts, or if on pay as you go, then the same cost as 4 texts.

Do remember though that you need to have a TRi band or QUAD band phone, and also bear in mind to be careful about accidentally calling or even receiving UK calls/texts while in US, else it could easily end up costing more than you think.

 

[popsynic]

If you have a T Mobile pay as you go phone or monthly contract, you can also just buy a couple of US T MOBILE PAY AS YOU GO Sim cards for about $10 each in the US (or even before you go from places like Ebay), and put these in your own phones. You get about 30 free minutes, which for most people who just want to quickly plan to meet up with rest of family if they get separated is more than enough, or top up as you go in the usual way from gas stations and supermarlets or even using the phone.

remember they need to be tri or quad band phones (which most are nowadays), and make sure you keep your regular SIM card safe!!!!

 

[disneyholic family]

i bought a pay as you go phone several years ago at a Kmart (at a store in Detroit).
Mine is a Virgin Mobile USA phone (available at all the stores - kmart, target, wallmart, etc)
I've been using it on every trip since then (and DD took it with her on her trip last year).

I buy top up cards every time i'm there to top it up.

There were many different brands to choose from, i'm not sure why i picked the Virgin one at the time - i think i liked the phone they were selling best (i think it had a camera for the same price as the other companies without a camera).

The Virgin USA phones use the Sprint Mobile network, which has pretty good reception in Florida.

Bottom line, all you have to do is go into any wallmart/target/etc...and probably even wallgreens.....and buy one off the shelf....they're as cheap as can be...