can you get mobile phones on pay as you talk in the usa or can you use an english phone and put an american sim card in??? wondering as probably easier to contact friends by phone in the park than by walkie talkies if a few people in party!
can you get mobile phones on pay as you talk in the usa or can you use an english phone and put an american sim card in??? wondering as probably easier to contact friends by phone in the park than by walkie talkies if a few people in party!
tracey
You can buy a pay as you go mobile but they are more expensive in the long run than brit ones as the prepayment has an expiry date .You can do as I do and take a triband phone with you and pay a lot higher fee to use it from there per minute .Also you can buy a sim card to use providing you have an unlocked triband phone .I enquired this year and was quoted $70 for a sim card with about 30 mins of calls on it .Best bet is to do as we do and get a phone card and use the mobile for texting only unless you are in an emergency .I am so surprised that in USA phone calls on mobiles are dearer than UK ,also land line calls .USA is fast becoming far too expensive for its own good with more hidden charges than ever .
I've recently come against the same problem as you because I'm here for a few months. I dont recommend the Tracfones here...charges are astronomical. You'd be better off buying your phone in England on a triband basis and using it here. My sister used hers here and had no problem. Also some people buy those BT cards which allow you to use the phones here and be charged on your phone bill.
If you are in the parks and want to keep in touch, do what I did, go to Walmart and buy a set of walkie talkies which cost me around $15 for the two. They were excellent and had a radius of 3 miles or so. They also had 22 channels which meant I could keep in touch with my kids on Channel 1, my sis on Channel 2 and so on. It made life so much more easier.
Sprint do a telephone package for unlimited long distance calls and i really think that for the prices most villa owners charge, it would really be pretty helpful if they would take that on board and provide fully working phones for visitors. It would solve a lot of problems for holidaymakers.
i took a walkie talkie last year and found it did not work very well while we were shopping in walmart, ha ha. it is such a large store and we tend to all wander off from each other. however, i think i will invest in some which have 22 channels as described above. i do have a triband phone but thought that the pay as you go ones like what we have in england would be even cheaper in the usa, but alas it seems not to be the case.[msnwink]
tracey
Just bear in mind that UK walkie talkies are not for use in the US, just the same as US ones aren't for use in the UK. They use different frequencies, some of which are occupied by the emergency services in each counry so, using them in the wrong country could have serious consequences.
blott
We bought Walkie Talkies the first time in the states and they work fine here in the UK.
As for mobiles, When we was there last month we bought a Virgin phone for $60 (£32) which had $10 credit, expiry is 90 days and you can top up with the cards over the internet it you bring it home, it does not work in the UK but it is ideal if you are going on a semi regular basis.
I have recently found the topup cards for sale on ebay and they will actually top them up for you!
You can check your balance online at any time!
If you are wanting to keep intouch with the kids in the parks then I agree with traceya89, walkie talkies are the way to go.
We bought the COBRA ones, a bit more expensive but like I said, they DO work in the UK!
Andrew & Diane Moore
Yes, they work Pontelad but they use the emergency service frequencies and you're not meant to be using them here! Imagine if you interfered with the ambulance service communications, for instance, and put someone's life at risk.
blott
Glad I looked in here now, would have taken mine over and not even thought about that.
As you say UK will work in USA and USA will work in the UK, till the big chopper flys over your head then your in the brown sticky stuff with the Emer Services.
Peter
You can buy a US sim card from eBay. Very resonable prices. They work on a UK triband phone. I just got one for my husband for his solo trip to our villa.[msnsmile2]
We updated our phones before this trip to quad band and rang 02 to set our phones for international roaming. We were told to take off our voice mail setting and when we arrived everything worked ok even the charger. Last visit we had to buy a car charger to use.
We have pay as you go and my husband would ring me when he wanted collecting from golf course - 3 rings and I would ring back to confirm. Ecellant system and if he wanted to talk he would ring the villa. Also each time I dialled a voice would tell me that the first minute of call was free. My husband got a few of these messages but I was mean and only used it once to leave a message for our villa owners who were arriving after us.
We were advised to use text messages (49p) as opposed to £1.49 a minute calls.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks