Mobile phones

[thumpertwinkle]

Are you able/is it worthwhile buying a mobile to use back here in the UK whilst in Florida?

Can you buy the sim free type so you are able to put own sim card in back home or can one be unlocked in this country?

How would charging in the UK be?

[blott]

This thread might help? http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums/topic_23973.asp

[thumpertwinkle]

Thanks Blot.

So it is not a good idea then. I will tell my daughter to save some of her holiday money to buy a new phone when she gets home!

[KevinT]

Hi Sandra,
The cheaper Pay As You Go phones available in the States tend to be single band (1900) phones
which would not work in the UK. You can get more expensive tri and quad band ones there but these are usually sold with a contract type plan.
IMHO If the phone is to be used mostly in the UK your daughter would definitely be better buying a decent one here. You will see from the other thread that a good tri/quad band UK phone can be used in the USA in certain circumstances. [msnsmile2]

PS. UK Phone chargers nowadays tend to be universal and will work on both voltages 110v/120v and 230v/240v. ask the phone shop to confirm dual voltage. Phone might just take a little longer to charge up in the US.

[pieman790]

From my experience mobiles do not tend to have sim cards in the US so they may not work. Also they also tend not to be Triband and again will not work here in the US. Even if you buy one to use in the US only it is very expensive and you also pay to receive calls.

[neild292]

You can just buy a US sim card to go in your UK phone if you want to. I have forgotten the exact price but they are quite cheap

[LiesaAnna]

we used our daughters mobile in florida to call the insurance company, have now got the bill, and we have been charged for the return calls from the insurance company back to us!!! the cheek!!!

[pieman790]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by LiesaAnna
we used our daughters mobile in florida to call the insurance company, have now got the bill, and we have been charged for the return calls from the insurance company back to us!!! the cheek!!!
[/quote]

And i bet it was more than £1 per minute? The mobile phone companies have been charging far too much for international call for some time now.

[davy woods]

My advice would be don't buy one in the US, apart from anything else your charger for the battery will be different, I suppose you could get a transformer but its just not woth the hassle.
Dave

[pieman790]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by davy woods
My advice would be don't buy one in the US, apart from anything else your charger for the battery will be different, I suppose you could get a transformer but its just not woth the hassle.
Dave
[/quote]

We use our British chargers in the US without any problems. We have also used our US one in the UK again without any problem

[LiesaAnna]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by pieman790
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by LiesaAnna
we used our daughters mobile in florida to call the insurance company, have now got the bill, and we have been charged for the return calls from the insurance company back to us!!! the cheek!!!
[/quote]

And i bet it was more than £1 per minute? The mobile phone companies have been charging far too much for international call for some time now.
[/quote]

4 calls
£10.89 = 7 minutes
total, so not to bad, but the fact when we call them we pay that as well, my charges for doing quick calls to them were over £11, and again 4 calls to them 7 minutes
not so bad i suppose, but you cant even claim that back!! nor the prescriptions!

[blott]

Liesa, why can't you claim them back as part of your insurance claim?

Unfortunately, it's 'normal' in the US to get charged for calls to you as well as for calls you've made. It's just the way it works there.

[LiesaAnna]

because its in the "small print" aparently, you cant claim under £65 (think they say its the excess?) also lost steves glasses and they wouldnt replace them either, nor would they refund me the $52 prescriptions!! its all in the small print!! wish i had read it, you pay for what you get!!
will look into a better quality insurance next time!

[blott]

Oh right, I see... With some insurance companies, you can pay a little extra along with your premium and they will waive the excess altogether so you can claim for everything.

[LiesaAnna]

thanks Blott will remember that for next time, cos it all adds up!!

will not take a mobile next time as we dont like people calling us when on holiday! its the only one we have each year!! it would be a different matter if we were villa owners!

[Magical Dreams]

Walmart are selling Virgin mobiles at the moment from $20 including $2.50 of credit(Nokia Shorty).
Minimum Top-up is $20 every 90 days, we top ours up through the internet when at home in the UK.
so we usually have plenty of credit when we get there.

Calls to the UK are approx $0.60 per minute which is less than half of the Theme Park calling cards for the first 10 mins of the day then it drops to around $0.35 per minute after that.


The call cards in Universal worked out at around $1.39 per minute. So it soon adds up. A $20 card does not last long at all


http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3899596

[Steve and Dawn]

With calling cards it is best to buy from convenience stores etc. There is a Liquor store nest to Publix on the 27 that we use and also at Lake Buena Vista outlets, the vending machine there is good too. for $10 you get around 300 minutes, if I remember rightly, and if you are staying in a villa and using the phone there you will get all of those minutes in talk time. However, if you use them from a pay phone then a surcharge is taken from the balance so it does reduce the duration somewhat. But still good value.:)