Mobile phone's

[Groovee]

I read somewhere (could have been anywhere) that people recommended buying PAYG mobiles in the states and topping them up than taking your own mobile over there. Dh is a contract phone but mine is PAYG so think it would be better just to get the ones in america but dh disagree's any words of wisdom?

 

[sandshal]

We purchased 2 Tracfones before our last trip over the net and had them sent to my sisters house in Houston. They were $19.99 each with 60 units of credit (which was more than adequate for the holiday) they worked absolutely brilliantly and were never out of service even in the parks. You can also buy them in Walmart when you get there. Personally, I'd recommend them.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Yep, have two Tracphones for day to day use whilst in the states, very usefull if we go to different parts of the World or even different parts of Orlando.

 

[buryboy]

Someone told me that Uk mobiles are no good at all in the USA ?

Is this correct ?

If you were to buy say a Tracphone , are they just for use calling another Tracphone ? Or are they just for phoning the rest of the USA ? Or can you phone home and/or UK mobiles on them , and if so , what are the rates ?

Many thanks

 

[Groovee]

Someone told me that Uk mobiles are no good at all in the USA ?

Is this correct ?

You need to ensure that your phone is triband and then contact your provider and make arrangements for the roaming if you wish to use your phone over there. I let t-mobile know when I went to NY last year and I had to set up roaming to find the provider over there. My concern this time is that I have no one to top up my mobile like I did last year if I run out.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Someone told me that Uk mobiles are no good at all in the USA ?

Is this correct ?

If you were to buy say a Tracphone , are they just for use calling another Tracphone ? Or are they just for phoning the rest of the USA ? Or can you phone home and/or UK mobiles on them , and if so , what are the rates ?

Many thanks

It's (surprise, surprise <grin>) not a simple answer.
If you have a quad band phone, that phone will include the two radio frequencies used in Europe and the two used in the uSA.
This would mean you can use you UK mobile over in the States, however, you do have to get your provider to unlock it for worldwide roaming. Secondly the cost of the call both from whoever is phoning you from the UK for the part where it leave the UK shore and the whole of your call to the UK are borne by you and this can be costly.

A Tracfone is given a local telephone number and you can call anywhere in the US and receive anywhere from the US on it. I think you can get internatioanl calls to and from it for a further fee.

The third option I think, is to use your triband/quadband phone and purchase a local PAYG sim card again with a different number.

 

[spencem]

I got two Tracphones last year when we were over and they were fine, but when I tried to re-activate them Friday with a new airtime voucher they would not work. Spoke to a robot woman in India who is posting two new SIM cards to the villa for me FOC. Not sure what the problem is as they should just work with a new number having been idle for over 60 days, no point in asking the robot as there was no way she was going 'off script'.

 

[squitty]

Hi

As long as you have a tri or quad band phone you will have no problems using it over in the USA. You will have to set up international roaming with your service provider. We use ours for texting back home, not making phone calls. Have a look on your serivce providers website for calling-texting charges.

Tracfones are great, we own a couple of these and have used them on many a trip, with no problems. You can even ring the UK on these if you use a calling card in conjunction with it. Still works out cheaper doing it this way than using your UK moblie phone.

I have never tried to reactivate the tracfone from the UK we always wait till we get there.

 

[londondude]

Hi make sure your mobile is unlocked and that it is tri or quad band phone you will have no problems using it over in the USA. what i did was to buy a pay as you go sim card(t-mobile) off ebay from the usa cost about $7 which isnt that bad, but dont buy it no more that a few weeks before travel, then just go to walmart and buy a top up ....