You are correct "stifle" I should have typed six months. Some times I don't proof read my own posts properly and end up making a miss steak.

This thread has proven a good reminder to me to add credit to my account--a covered chargeable action--before my six months run out in February. Since I'll buy a PAYG plan for a March trip to the UK/Ireland and do the same for a trip planned for Scotland in July or August, I'm set for the rest of 2026.

We're back from our trip. Thanks for all the help and recommendations on UK Cell Phone Plan options. As I noted earlier in the thread, we went with GiffGaff, specifically a Rolling Monthly Plan. It worked great for our whole trip. It does include some EU roaming in the plan which my daughter will likely use during her travels. MMS (picture texts) being excluded from the plan was a new twist for us. US cell plans include them in the unlimited messaging allotment. This is easily worked around with WhatsApp, InstaGram, etc.

I cancelled the plans for my wife and I for now until we return to Europe in March or April. The fact that we can keep the same UK Phone Number when we return is great. Final note, I was able to purchase the plans, activate them, and activate 5G service from home (United States) before our trip. All in all, I am a very satisfied customer.

--Jon

P.S. I'd gladly accept MMS being an extra charge in the US if our cellular plan rates were similar to UK cellular plan rates. US cell plans are much more expensive.

Thanks for coming back with an update, glad it all worked out for you.

MMS - that’s a decade+ throwback in Europe!

I pay US$15.89 a month for Unlimited/Unlimited/Unlimited with Tello on a month to month basis. I could get cheaper but I opted for the unlimited. You can get cheap cell phone plans in the US if you shop around and also really look at the Black Friday sales. It's not as cheap as our UK Smarty plan but you can't have everything.

Might be a bit late to the conversation but I'm with ID Mobile who offer no contract options and esims. They're decent as they piggyback off the Three network and offer EU and Channel Islands roaming as standard!

EE seems to be the best network. O2 / Vodafone are pretty bad for data IME (even though 4G/5G shows).

Spusu and 1P Mobile both use the EE network, and have some very good eSim details with a rolling 30-day contract. I'm getting 50GB for �10 on 1P Mobile. Terminating the contract is simple.