American traveling to London - which phone to take?
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In the UK, most (all?) of the mobile operators will give you access to very cheap US calls by opting into a free service. You usually send a text to a certain number to enable it. I usually pay 3-5p / min to call the US from a UK PAYG mobile, much cheaper than calling a UK landline!
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You'll notice however that some of the networks / services proudly advertise that they charge same rate for landline and mobiles in particular countries. When you look closer, you will find, funnily enough, that this is only in a country like the USA where it's not possible to tell if a number is a mobile number, or a landline number, just from looking at the number itself. Whereas most countries have a different set of dialling prefixes for area codes, for their mobiles, such as mobile numbers generally begin with "07..." for UK-based mobiles, so the number can be identified as a mobile number so there is a way to charge you more to dial mobiles in most countries but not US mobiles as they can't be easily identified.
Last edited by h15t0r1an; Aug 3, 2012 at 4:32 pm
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I am traveling to London next week and am trying to decide the cheapest way to use a cell phone to call both UK and US cells while in London.
I own both an iPhone 4 and Blackberry Storm 2. My carrier is VERIZON.
Also, what are tips regarding receiving and sending emails, and using social media apps (fbook, twitter, etc)?
I want to keep costs as cheap as possible. Thanks in advance.
I own both an iPhone 4 and Blackberry Storm 2. My carrier is VERIZON.
Also, what are tips regarding receiving and sending emails, and using social media apps (fbook, twitter, etc)?
I want to keep costs as cheap as possible. Thanks in advance.
Do your research though - there are bargains to be had on the British market at the moment. You could end up with something well worth taking home for use on future trips.