Travel Technology - Mobile Phones in UK

We're moving from the US to the UK, and I'm trying to figure out what to do with our phones. We're on T-Mobile, and my wife has a Dash. I have a Blackberry Curve that's my US phone. I'm not sure if the Dash is locked or not. I'd like to get her phone unlocked and use a sim card only plan in the UK. I'd also like to use my US BB and put a sim card only plan on that one as well. Will this work? I'd really hate to shell out a hundred pounds for a phone over there.

Thanks. :)

Are you in the right UK? Cause several hundred for a prepaid phone in the UK seems awfuly steep, unless of course you are looking for a top of the line phone.

That said, both phones can be unlocked. T-mobile US should be able to provide an unlock code for the Curve, and the Dash is pretty simple to unlock yourself, or you could just get a prepaid version similar to the Dash for 100 pounds:

http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/show/handset/orange_spv_e610/detail/pay_as_you_go

You can even get an HTC Touch on prepaid for 150:

http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/show/handset/htc_touch_white/detail/pay_as_you_go

That said; even if you do unlock the Curve, you won't get Blackberry email on it without a Blackberry plan.

We're moving from the US to the UK, and I'm trying to figure out what to do with our phones. We're on T-Mobile, and my wife has a Dash. I have a Blackberry Curve that's my US phone. I'm not sure if the Dash is locked or not. I'd like to get her phone unlocked and use a sim card only plan in the UK. I'd also like to use my US BB and put a sim card only plan on that one as well. Will this work? I'd really hate to shell out a hundred pounds for a phone over there.

Thanks. :)

You can walk into any phone shop in the UK and walk out with a Pay as you Go SIM without needing to buy a phone.

Best to get your phone unlocked before you go, but if you don't, have a look around any main street and there will be a shop that can unlock it for you.

I'm assuming that you will use the BB for your company mail. You are probably better to get a SIM only monthly plan since it will work out better for the data costs and your company will easily be able to set it up.

Thanks. I figured that I could unlock the Dash and use it over there.

The BB is my US work phone, but I'm not going to use it as my primary since I'll have a work phone in the UK. My current assignment has a strict non-personal use policy, so for the first time in 10 years I will need a personal cell phone.

I may spring for an iPhone for me. :p

Before you completely ditch your US Tmobile plan, download and install the opera browser on your unit and this e-mail client:

http://www.logicprobe.org/proj/logicmail

Data plans are really cheap in the UK, but you still pay a premium for Blackberry service. With the Opera browser and this imap client you can pretty much use your Blackberry on a regular data plan. You won't have push e-mail, but you can program your phone to "pull" the e-mail fairly regularly and nearly duplicate the Blackberry experience at a fraction of the price.