About to go to USA for holiday - anticipate using the phone a bit more than
on previous visits to call ahead to book hotels - should I buy a SIM card
over there (the phone is Tri-band).

If I do - will it mean I can't get calls from home on my usual number?

Is it the most cost effective way of making calls over there? (Peter Parry -
any views?)

"John" wrote in message
...
About to go to USA for holiday - anticipate using the phone a bit more
than on previous visits to call ahead to book hotels - should I buy a SIM
card over there (the phone is Tri-band).

If I do - will it mean I can't get calls from home on my usual number?

Is it the most cost effective way of making calls over there? (Peter
Parry - any views?)


I would say almost certainly yes it will be cheaper to call from a US based
SIM card.

US mobile providers charge for inbound calls, but you would get that with a
UK based one roaming there anyway, and a UK roaming inbound call charge is
likely to be much higher.

You could divert your calls to the new number, but you will need the new
number in order to do this (Maybe you could get someone else to do this once
you have the number as I don't think you can do this while roaming) or you
could have a voice message on your UK answerphone, giving details of the new
number, including the fact you are in another time zone, so don't call me
when it is 3AM my time! - This is what I did on mine when I was in New
Zealand for a month.

The other way to do it is via VoIP, if you have an internet connection where
you are going. (uk.telecom.voip)

I had all my landline calls routing over the internet to NZ when I was
there, I could then make calls to the UK at local rates (Free with the
provider I was using at the time)

--

Sparks...

On 2007-01-24 21:38:45 +0000, "John" said:

About to go to USA for holiday - anticipate using the phone a bit more than
on previous visits to call ahead to book hotels - should I buy a SIM card
over there (the phone is Tri-band).

No real point for a short time.

If you are going to an area where Cingular has coverage then you should be
in good shape anyway, other networks may or may not have roaming agreements
with your UK provider.



If I do - will it mean I can't get calls from home on my usual number?

It would.



Is it the most cost effective way of making calls over there? (Peter Parry -
any views?)

Mobiles are generally not too bad any more, depending on your tariff.

Within the U.S. prices are no longer as high as they were

Other options are direct dial or getting someone from the UK to call
you back if you call home.

Watch out for hotel phone rates which may be high.
A BT calling card is another option, but probably not worth it just for
a holiday.

If you are taking your mobile, make sure to contact the mobile operator
and ask them to lift
both international and possibly N America call barring.

This may appear twice but 1st post doesnt seem to have taken:

http://www.uk2abroad.com/destinations/



On Jan 24, 9:38 pm, "John" wrote:
About to go to USA for holiday - anticipate using the phone a bit more than
on previous visits to call ahead to book hotels - should I buy a SIM card
over there (the phone is Tri-band).

If I do - will it mean I can't get calls from home on my usual number?

Is it the most cost effective way of making calls over there? (Peter Parry -
any views?)

"John" wrote in message
...
About to go to USA for holiday - anticipate using the phone a bit more
than on previous visits to call ahead to book hotels - should I buy a SIM
card over there (the phone is Tri-band).

If I do - will it mean I can't get calls from home on my usual number?

Is it the most cost effective way of making calls over there? (Peter
Parry - any views?)

Best deal we could find was for T-mobile cards on fleabay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USA-America-T-...QQcmdZViewItem

At £12.99 and it *includes" $30 dollars call credit, it seems a pretty good
deal.

We used them last year in the US with no problems. Would happily do so
again.

HTH

Tim

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 21:38:45 GMT, John wrote:

About to go to USA for holiday - anticipate using the phone a bit more than
on previous visits to call ahead to book hotels - should I buy a SIM card
over there (the phone is Tri-band).

Yes.

If I do - will it mean I can't get calls from home on my usual number?

You will still be able to get calls from home when your home SIM is in the
phone. If you are lucky enough to have a phone with two SIM slots it will
work fine on both numbers at the same time. Otherwise, no, obviously if
your SIM is not in the phone then it will not work.

Is it the most cost effective way of making calls over there? (Peter Parry -
any views?)

Simple answer yes it is. If you get a calling card for a cheap long
distance supplier the combination of card + local SIM is the cheapest way
to make international calls. It is very expensive to make calls while
roaming.

FWIW I simply have several handsets. I had one left over when I upgraded to
a new phone, so I use that for foreign SIMs so I can still receive work
related calls on my usual phone.

Is it the most cost effective way of making calls over there? (Peter Parry -
any views?)Simple answer yes it is. If you get a callingcardfor a cheap long
distance supplier the combination ofcard+ localSIMis the cheapest way
to make international calls. It is very expensive to make calls whileroaming.

Try also some global solutions like travelsim (http://
travelsimshop.com). In many countries you can call much much cheaper
without buying tons of local sim cards for each country.