On Cell Phones

To save you the same trouble I had getting functional cell phone service in here in England, here's what I know and found out about cell phones in the UK.

There are some services out there that allow you to rent an "international" phone, or you can buy a phone and service in England, but you may actually be able to bring your own cell phone if it meets a few requirements.

GSM vs. CDMA
First, it has to be a GSM phone. Verizon and Sprint/Nextel are CDMA phone services, while AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM. There's a difference between the two technologies that you can study if you're interested, but for practical purposes, GSM phones have a little plastic chip, called a SIM card, in the back of the phone behind the battery.

I'll get into the SIM cards more later, but right now the important thing is that to use your cell phone in England, it first has to be GSM. Next, it has to be able to operate on the bandwidth frequencies used in England.

Bandwidth Frequencies
Most cell phones operate on one or two different frequencies, allowing you to get good coverage in the States. If your phone is "tri-band" or "quad-band," it will operate on three or four different frequencies, and the provider will likely specify that in the product description online, labeling it as an international phone. Because the frequencies used by cell phones in the US are not the same as what's used in England, you'll need to have at least a tri-band phone to use it here.

If your phone is tri- or quad-band, look at the frequencies it can use, just to double check whether they're the ones used in England, 900 and 1800. If your phone can handle both of those, you're set to use the services of any provider in England. If your phone only has one of those numbers listed, you can still use it, you'll just need to choose a provider that works primarily on that bandwidth.

Choosing a Cell Phone Provider
The providers I've heard about the most over here are T-Mobile (UK), Orange, and Vodaphone. O2 is supposed to be very popular as well, but maybe not in East Anglia where I am. T-Mobile and Orange operate primarily on the 1800 frequency, and Vodaphone operates on 900. (No idea for O2.) Even if you don't purchase your service directly through one of these companies, you'll most likely be using one of their networks; the smaller guys make deals to use the existing networks because they can't afford to put up the infrastructure of their own. Since the smaller companies don't always make it clear which network they use for your service, you might as well get your service directly from T-Mobile, Orange, or Vodaphone, so you know what frequency your service will be before you buy.

Coverage, of course, is another issue. You won't find a totally honest coverage map online; everyone claims to get service everywhere, but of course in the countryside you'll have dead zones in some areas. If you want to be sure to get the right service for your area, when you reach your destination in England, look for an option in your phone (in the settings menu) for "network selection" to "search services" or labeled something similar to that. That will pull up a list of networks available in your area, so you can go out and purchase one of those services.

SIM Cards and Unlocking Your Phone
When you purchase a UK cell phone (mobile phone) service, really what you're buying is a SIM card, a little piece of plastic with a chip in it that contains data about your service plan. SIM cards represent, in my opinion, the genius of GSM. I really like having a SIM card because it separates the phone and the service attached to it, cutting out some dependence on the service provider. For example, if I get a new GSM phone, all I have to do to switch service from my old phone to the new one is to pull out the chip and put it in the new phone. Ta dah! I can also save data onto the SIM card, so contact numbers and other data can move to the new phone as well. For CDMA services, unless things have changed recently, I'd have to go into a store or use a different phone to call the service provider and get them to activate service on the new phone for me. CDMA carriers have to be personally involved in their customers' phone decisions, because the phone is inseparable from the service.

Separating the phone from the service in GSM also means you can use different services in the same phone by switching out the SIM cards. New SIM card, new service, same cell phone. The only catch is that most cell phone providers really don't want you do switch out of their service, so if you buy a phone from them, they lock it so it only reads their SIM card. There are places online where you can buy an unlock code for your phone, but if you've had an account with your provider for a certain amount of time (90 days is pretty standard), your provider is legally obligated to provide you an unlock code upon request, for free. Look up their conditions, request an unlock code per their instructions (usually you call or send an email), and they'll send you a code and instructions for unlocking your phone. Then any SIM card will work in it!

When to Buy
Unless you plan to be in England for longer than a few months, you probably want to get a prepaid service, buying minutes as you need them instead of agreeing to a contract and paying a monthly fee.

If you look online, you'll find several places willing to sell you a prepaid SIM card for UK service. Aimed at travelers, these sites will accept a US billing address and ship your SIM to you so you can have everything in place before you leave. Don't buy it. I strongly recommend purchasing your UK service after you get to the UK. Two main reasons:

1. Service and SIM card costs. Pay-as-you-go (prepaid) phone services are much more common here in the UK than in the States. This means that there is much more competition, so ultimately it's less expensive to get them. You can get SIM cards here absolutely free, only paying for minutes to put on them, while these online places only give you a pittance of minutes for the price you pay. The rest of the cost can sometimes go towards side benefits, like free incoming calls (which might be worth it to you) or slightly lower per-minute rates, but often UK services have side benefits too, so mostly you're just paying for the convenience of having the SIM card sent to you before you leave the country.

Note: If you're concerned about having cell phone use during your journey and until you secure UK service, check out your current provider's website and look at information for international roaming. Usually there's a free service feature you can add to your account (over the phone or online) that allows you to use your phone, at international roaming rates, while you're abroad. These rates will be horrendous, of course, but at least you will have service until you can get a UK SIM card.

2. Fixed vs. variable exchange rate. Getting a SIM card and service through one of these online places forces you to exchange your dollars for pounds through them at their fixed rates. For example, at Cellular Abroad you have to pay $19 for 5 pounds of talk time credit. Not even when the dollar was at its weakest this year was the exchange rate 4:1! If you buy a UK service and pay directly in pounds, your bank or credit card company handles the exchange from pounds to dollars, and their rates will vary as the standard exchange rate varies.

The only downside of purchasing a UK pay-as-you-go service that I've noticed is that I can't buy more minutes online, since I won't be here long enough to have a UK billing address. But prepaid phones are so common here that I can top up my minutes at the cash register of almost any store or at any ATM, so that hasn't been much of an inconvenience at all.

Enjoy Your New Service
After doing all that research and prep-work, you should be able to reap your reward and have good cell phone coverage. Now you have no excuse not to call your mother and tell her all about your travels!

For a quick review, here are the steps (in order) for getting all set to use your cell phone in England:

1. Check if your phone is GSM and tri- or quad-band. If it's CDMA, you'll have to rent or buy a new phone and service. If it's GSM but doesn't carry multiple bandwidths, see if you're due for an upgrade; maybe you could get one for free.

2. Add international roaming, or whatever your provider calls it, to your account, so you can use your phone if needed before you purchase a UK service. To be safe, do this a month before you leave in case it becomes effective only at the start of the next (monthly) billing cycle.

3. Unlock your phone. Allow for at least a day for your service provider to send you the unlock code, and then maybe another day or two for troubleshooting in the rare case it doesn't work.

4. When you arrive in England, select a service provider based on what's available in your area and what frequencies your phone can handle.

5. Buy the new SIM card and minutes, pop it in, and you're set! Keep the SIM card for your old service somewhere safe for your return to the States.