Thanks for the information. As I thought, it leads to more questions
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Originally Posted by
TheMadBrewer
Thanks. I'll look through there.
Originally Posted by
TheMadBrewer
I would get an unlocked phone, if possible (you can buy them cheaply on eBay). You can buy the phone and the service separately
What about getting a locked phone (thus very cheap/free), paying someone to unlock it? It seems easy, but there must be a reason not to do it. I just can't figure out what it is! This is the most confusing part to me. They seem willing to give me a free phone, lots of minutes and an Xbox, but I can walk down the street, get it unlocked for a tenner (or in India for a tenth of that), and buy a new sim. This can't be profitable for them!
Originally Posted by
TheMadBrewer
I would do the pay as you go. The airtime does expire and the time varies with the provider. You will get a SIM card from the provider which stores the details of your phone number, etc. If you switch providers later, with an unlocked phone you just switch the SIM cards.
You may end up wanting multiple SIM cards: If you travel frequently (or for longer periods) to one country you may want to buy a local SIM card. For example, I am in Germany 3 times a year and so have a Deutsche Telekom SIM I use while there. Roaming is still very expensive -- your UK Provider will probably charge you an arm and leg to use the phone outside the UK.
So if I change SIMs, do I still have to pay UK roaming? I thought that once I removed my UK SIM and put in a foreign SIM that the UK provider stopped charging me. I thought that was the point of switching SIMs. Have I misunderstood?
Originally Posted by
TheMadBrewer
There are also "International" SIMs -- these usually have better rates than roaming but not as good as a local SIM. That makes them good for countries you don't visit often. I have one from Lichtenstein (United Mobile) but there are a bunch based on the Isle of Man which have the advantage of a UK # (Lichtenstein is country code 423 and people allways say "What???" when I give them that number
)
That sounds like a good plan, especially if I'm zooming around. I don't intend on giving my mobile number out much, so I don't mind which country code it is.
I now have more information at least to try to brave a store
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