Do Virgin UK sims work in the US?
 

I have prepaid Virgin UK sim that I'd like to keep my prepaid balance active by sending an SMS...however, when I plug the sim into into my phone, I only get SOS service only. Is it possible to use a prepaid Virgin UK sim in the states? Any tips? Thanks.

I've let mine expire, but a couple of years ago, you could only roam in the US if you had your SIM linked to a UK credit card. They would not accept my US credit card.

I guess you will have to lend your SIM to someone who travels to the UK for you to keep it active.

If you can, it won't be on Virgin. The Virigin network in the US uses Sprint's CDMA network. That type of setup doesn't use SIMs at all. You need a GSM network for that. And, of course, the frequencies are different than in the UK. So in order for this to work at all, you'd need a tri-band or quad-band world phone, and some sort of international roaming service from Virgin UK itself that would allow your SIM to work here.

There might be a couple of different reasons for your phone only being able to operate on the SOS mode.

1. Given that your phone DOES enter a service area which only allows your phone to operate in the SOS mode, this means your phone supports the American GSM frequency bands which are the 850 Mhz and the 1900 Mhz bands.

2. If this phone you are talking about was sold in American under a certain brand such as Cingular or T-Mobile, the chances are the phone is "locked" to one carrier under which the phone is branded. (Locked phone is a phone which only works for the designated carrier.) If you are trying to use your Virgin UK SIM with this phone, the phone should either reject your entry to any network or allow you on a network but only let you dial 911 (SOS mode).

3. In order for you to use your Virgin UK sim card, Virgin UK first must have a roaming contract with an American GSM carrier (Cingular or T-Mobile, etc), you must have a GSM cellphone that is UNLOCKED, and the unlocked phone supports either the 850 or 1900 MHz band.

If your Virgin UK service does not have a roaming contract with any USA carrier, your phone will not work. But I really do think they probably have a roaming service available in the states, as with most other european carriers. (Who knows what the limitations are for the prepaid services?)

If you need further help, feel free to message me. :)

I don't believe it works. The Virgin UK SIM I brought back earlier in the year never worked in the US.

does not expire
 

Actually, the Virgin UK SIMs do not have a call period expiry, like many others. At least the ones my wife and I bought several years ago work fine after more than a year, and no recharges.

I spoke to them last time in London and asked about this and they confirmed no expiry.

Hmm, I do have an unlocked quad band GSM phone which I used the SIM in the UK when I was there. Puzzled as I've read some previous posters were able to send an SMS from here using their sim to keep their prepaid balance extended.

If your Virgin Mobile SIM account is a Pay As You Go you can not roam in the USA. You have to have a Pay by Direct Debit account. See the terms on this page.

In terms of expiry for UK prepaid Virgin SIMs, I didn't have a problem after a 9 month lag in use. You can check your balance for free by dialing '789', even in the US. After I arrived in the UK, topping up was easy with the card.

The fine print says that the balance can technically be void after 6 months but I doubt they heavily enforce it.

I wrote to Virgin Mobile and they responded:

Thanks for your email to Virgin Mobile, about your roaming issue that you are having whilst in the states.

You can use your phone in the United States whilst on Pay As You Go but the coverage is very limited which is why you may be experiencing this problem.

To use the phone you are going to need to be logged on to the network T-Mobile USA, to pick up this network you may need to do a manual network selection which you'll be able to find out how to do by checking your phones manual.

Seems like you are out of luck with that Virgin UK SIM then. If the service states that you have a limited coverage in the USA on TMobile's network, that's what you'll get.

What you could do is to get a Cingular SIM and get a no-contract plan while you are here. Or you could get those cheap 50 dollar Cingular prepaid ones just for the short period of time you will be staying in the USA.

I have a Pay As You Go Virgin Mobile UK card. It works fine for me, picks up T-Mobile as the roaming carrier, I can send SMS and make and receive calls. Whenever I put in the card and first turn it on, it sends me this text: "Virgin Mobile welcomes you to the USA. Calls cost £1.40 per min to make and 80p per min to receive. Text costs 35p. For help call 789". I'd just try it somewhere else, perhaps look at the T-Mobile coverage map to see where you might have better luck.

Given that info, a quad-band phone should be fine. T-Mobile, just FYI, is exclusively 1900MHz band. The other main GSM operator, Cingular, has both 850MHz and 1900MHz depending upon area. Since your unlocked quad-band can presumably pick up all these, it may well be selecting the wrong one (Cingular), so the manual selection they mentioned to you might be the ticket.

Cingular and T-Mobile do both offer prepaid, so you could get a SIM to use in your same phone. This would make a lot of sense if you plan to do much domestic US calling.

I get the exact same result (having just turned on my GSM phone now w/Virgin SIM).
It has "T-MOBILE" at the top.

As long as you see "T-Mobile" on the top, that means you have logged onto the network and should be able to do the regular communication as you want. As for the other poster that mentioned the phone possibly attempting to enter the Cingular network therefore the OP being unable to use it, I doubt that would happen. I am sure Virgin UK SIM has the necessary data which guides the GSM network search/contact for the phone being used. (This is the way it shoul be, unless the SIM contains a special user setting that makes the default configuration useless.)