Mobile phone use in Orlando

[redz]

Hi all,
Would anybody know about mobile phone use in Orlando, i will be there on Thursday! and have a lot of people i need to contact whilst there, (were getting married at the wedding pavilion on the 10th) so need to contact the officiant, guests, courthouse for liscence etc,
So would it be better for me to buy a (pay as you go type) sim card locally so saving the expensive "roaming" charges, or are mobile calls expensive anyway over there so not worth the hassle?
A friend went to Spain last month and did this and reckoned he saved a packet , would it be the same for the US?
Cheers in advance,
REDZ

 

[paulfoel]

Hi all,
Would anybody know about mobile phone use in Orlando, i will be there on Thursday! and have a lot of people i need to contact whilst there, (were getting married at the wedding pavilion on the 10th) so need to contact the officiant, guests, courthouse for liscence etc,
So would it be better for me to buy a (pay as you go type) sim card locally so saving the expensive "roaming" charges, or are mobile calls expensive anyway over there so not worth the hassle?
A friend went to Spain last month and did this and reckoned he saved a packet , would it be the same for the US?
Cheers in advance,
REDZ

You could always buy a phonecard if you've got access to a landline whilst over there....

Have a look at http://www.1st4phonecards.com/ (note, I've got no connection at all to them !!!)

Its very cheap to use from villa/hotel phone - only trouble is theres a 99c surcharge for using a payphone which is a PITA.

 

[redz]

thanks for that, we normally do get a phone card whilst over there for calling home etc, from a landline, but was wondering about mobile calls whilst out and about in the parks for calling each other if we split up and the likes!
anybody????

 

[Claire L]

thanks for that, we normally do get a phone card whilst over there for calling home etc, from a landline, but was wondering about mobile calls whilst out and about in the parks for calling each other if we split up and the likes!
anybody????

If you use a UK phone in the US to call a UK phone in the US you will be charged an International rate as it has to go via the UK as that is where the phone is registered, and the person receiving also has an International charge applied for receiving the call! Minimum for just a two second call in 2004 was £1 and for each minute thereafter about 40p.

Texts are a cheaper way of staying in contact but there can sometimes be a delay of a considerable time!

Claire

 

[UKVermonter]

On our last trip to WDW my Stepson lived on his mobile phone texting and calling his girlfriend back in UK, well on about day 2 he ran out of credit and I really didn't want to start using my credit card to put time on his phone because if I did he would just use it even more. So we went to the Florida Mall and in Radio Shack we bought a pay as you go phone for $30 and it even had $10 credit on it so he had it for the rest of the 2 weeks we was there, I think it was about 5 cents a text for him to text his GF, the problem is we have 11 numbers in our mobile phone number and the U.S. only has 10 so you can't buy a card to put credit on your phone, we found this out when my Stepson bought a card at Walgreens and it would not work, we took it back and explained the problem and they did refund his money. So this might be a less expensive solution if you have a way to the Florida Mall.

 

[paulfoel]

On our last trip to WDW my Stepson lived on his mobile phone texting and calling his girlfriend back in UK, well on about day 2 he ran out of credit and I really didn't want to start using my credit card to put time on his phone because if I did he would just use it even more. So we went to the Florida Mall and in Radio Shack we bought a pay as you go phone for $30 and it even had $10 credit on it so he had it for the rest of the 2 weeks we was there, I think it was about 5 cents a text for him to text his GF, the problem is we have 11 numbers in our mobile phone number and the U.S. only has 10 so you can't buy a card to put credit on your phone, we found this out when my Stepson bought a card at Walgreens and it would not work, we took it back and explained the problem and they did refund his money. So this might be a less expensive solution if you have a way to the Florida Mall.

Will a US PAYG sim work in a UK tri-band mobile ?

 

[Goofyish]

If the phone is 'locked' to a UK service provided then the US sim card will probably not work.

 

[redz]

If the phone is 'locked' to a UK service provided then the US sim card will probably not work.

My phone isnt locked to any server, so it will work yeah? i use Orange here in the uk, but not "locked" to that server,
i take it the sim cards are the same shape/size as in the uk, should just be a case of swapping them over?
Anyone done it?
REDZ

 

[gbrchill]

An unlocked UK GSM phone should work over in the US with a US sim, provided that the phone is capable of operating on the correct frequencies for the US GSM service provide the sim comes from.

Not all phones are capable of operating on the frequencies used in the US.
If you have a quad band phone then you should be OK.

Chris.