U.K. and Ireland - SIM Card For Blackberry in London

What are the cheapest current options for a traveler in London for a month or less to have email and calls on an unlocked US Blackberry device?
Does this include free incoming calls? What about ability to use something like SKYPE? Thanks!

Most companies offer prepaid SIMs that work in Crackberries. But beware of the really cheap SIMs from companies that don't run their own network, I tried one of them last time and it hardly ever put a call through. I generally use an Orange prepaid which works fine, but doubt that it is any better than any of the other majors.

Does this include free incoming calls? What about ability to use something like SKYPE? Thanks!

Skype on Three is free. See here (http://support.three.co.uk/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBISAPI.DLL?Command=New,Kb=Mobile,Ts=Mobile,T=Art icle,varset_cat=internetapps,varset_subcat=3585,Ca se=obj%283843%29) and here (https://support.skype.com/en-gb/category/SKYPE_ON_THREE/).

Three Pay-as-you-go plans offer a free internet allowance with each top-up (150MB? unlimited? I'm not really clear).

Mostly companies charge £5 a month for (50Mb) Blackberry service on Pay As You Go (pre-pay) and the major players in the UK are O2, T-mobile & Orange (also known as Everything Everywhere), Vodafone, all offer this. The other large mobile company is Three but I don't know enough about their offering, they do also do good data deals with their top ups depending on the amount topped up. If you go into any of the shops owned by the mobile companies listed above and say you want a sim and to buy some credit (top up) they will give you the sim for free. You will have to have de registered your BlackBerry from the network it is on in the US and re-register it on the UK network you choose. You will normally have to activate the service once you have some credit on the phone by sending a SMS text to a shortcode number.

If you are ever staying for longer T-mobile do 6 months BB service for £20 with the standard 50Mb a month data allowance.

I don't know of any UK mobile operator who charges for normal incoming calls.

If you want to use Skype then you might find it handy to buy a Three mobile that offers free Skype (some are very cheap second hand), you can check models here (http://www.three.co.uk/Portal/Skype/Order_your_free_SIMs), you could have downloaded their software (and it must be their software) onto a compatible phone but sadly it doesn't work on a BlackBerry. Otherwise on any other operator will let you use Skype but any use will come out of your data allowance.

I am currently in the UK from Canada, I got a 3 SIM card and used their blackberry service. I found it to be superior to oranges; they also offer cheap calls to US / Can / others if you dial a prefix which is included in the SIM pack instructions. Before I left home I forwarded my BB to a VOIP number which I later forwarded to the number I was assigned by 3 and had cheap inbound calls that way (compared to roaming).

For 10 pounds you get 500MB of data and 100 mins of outbound calls, plus 1000 text I believe (UK only); the BB service costs 5 pounds, so in theory you could get away with the 150MB of free data if you're careful about it. I did a little wireless hotspot stuff with my computer so have used in a week the whole 150MB plus a bit.

SIM cards are ubiquitous but are free often enough at the 3 stores; do not pay the 10 pounds at the airport vending machines.

Can't skype on BB's as far as I'm aware; you'd need an Android phone for that (or others).

My iPhone4 is out of contract so I've switched to a 3 SIM Pay as you go and have been very pleasantly surprised. I was on Orange, which had virtually no signal in many parts of central London. I have yet to go anywhere in London where the 3 signal is not strong. Also the internet is really fast in comparison with Orange - and Skype works really well without wifi.

All this is a long way of saying - check out 3. It costs me £15 per month and I get 300 minutes (incoming is free), 2000 texts and unlimited internet.

My iPhone4 is out of contract so I've switched to a 3 SIM Pay as you go and have been very pleasantly surprised. I was on Orange, which had virtually no signal in many parts of central London. I have yet to go anywhere in London where the 3 signal is not strong. Also the internet is really fast in comparison with Orange - and Skype works really well without wifi.

All this is a long way of saying - check out 3. It costs me £15 per month and I get 300 minutes (incoming is free), 2000 texts and unlimited internet.

Now that Orange and T-mobile have merged your sim from either company will get both networks so the coverage should be better. Sadly Orange customer service is appalling and I don't think that's changed since the merger.

Giffgaff is probably the best. £13 for a month with 250 minutes and (most importantly) unlimited texts and data (including all BB services). This is PAYG and no contract or anything. IF you want a sim PM me and I can send one through to you so you can have it before you arrive... You will also need a £10 top up (you get £5 free from a sim from a current user) and could activate before you get to the UK so that it works from landing...

Jumping on this thread with two related questions:

1) what's the best carrier for me if I have a week-long stay and I plan on using mostly 3G data? I don't plan on making phone calls much.

2) I also plan to visit Switzerland. Is it better to buy one SIM card in the UK and roam in Switzerland or buy a new one in Switzerland?

I use an unlocked iPhone 3GS (that use normal, not micro, SIMs).

Thanks all!

Jumping on this thread with two related questions:

1) what's the best carrier for me if I have a week-long stay and I plan on using mostly 3G data? I don't plan on making phone calls much.

2) I also plan to visit Switzerland. Is it better to buy one SIM card in the UK and roam in Switzerland or buy a new one in Switzerland?

I use an unlocked iPhone 3GS (that use normal, not micro, SIMs).

Thanks all!

I would go into a Carphone Warehouse or Phones4U, who offer many carriers, to see which would work best during your stay.

I'd think you'd be better off with a UK and Swiss SIM...UK roaming, even on prepaid, can be expensive.

Giffgaff wins. Hands down. Offers proper unlimited data, so no worry about going over limits. £10 for a month, can get sim before you arrive (pm me and I can send!).

Giffgaff wins. Hands down. Offers proper unlimited data, so no worry about going over limits. £10 for a month, can get sim before you arrive (pm me and I can send!).

The only issue that I have with GiffGaff (and this doubtless only applies to me) is the fact that they require you to buy a goodybag each month to be able to pay £3 to be able to use BlackBerry Service. That means I think that I'd be paying £8 a month (£5 for a goodybag and £3 for BB) or £96 a year, as opposed to £40 a year (£20 each 6 months) on T-Mobile. I only use the Berry for emails and not calls so I'd be paying extra for something I wouldn't be using. However £3 a month would be the cheapest BB cost in the UK and beat T-Mobile by 33p. For UK visitors it does sound good though.

Jumping on this thread with two related questions:

1) what's the best carrier for me if I have a week-long stay and I plan on using mostly 3G data? I don't plan on making phone calls much.

2) I also plan to visit Switzerland. Is it better to buy one SIM card in the UK and roam in Switzerland or buy a new one in Switzerland?

I use an unlocked iPhone 3GS (that use normal, not micro, SIMs).

Thanks all!


I'm in London right now (from the US), and I went with an O2 sim card for my iPhone 3 (AT&T just recently unlocked it, they won't unlock the 4 for another month).

The SIM card was GBP 10, and includes pretty much as much data as I'd want, tons of texts, and calls (it subtracts a very small amount, I think 20p when I use one).

I'm heading to Germany next week, and the gal at the O2 store here told me I'd be better off just picking up a new card when I get there.

The O2 service in London is fine... doesn't work from the Tube; I've seen other people who seem to be texting on the Tube and have been tempted to ask who they're with.
Oddly, the phone had great service in/around Dover. But in Oxford, it was horrible.

I've been told by several people to avoid any carphone/phone4you type stores. We went out to the Stratford Mall and there was O2, Orange, Three, etc all nearly beside or across from each other.