Phone Question

NoQuarter

Hi all

I am moving to London next week for 6-8 months. I am currently with Vodafone in a contract and there's loads to go on it so I am stuck paying that anyway.

My question is what is my best option in London to be able to contact friends and family here in Ireland? I have the phone unlocked. the roaming seems a bit steep because the data is very low so I will definitely go more than a 200mb data allowance.

What did you guys do for a phone while over there? Enter a 6 month contract? Get a new sim card and go pay as you go?!

Cheers

83ste

As a phone contract is a credit agreement, you generally can't get a bill-pay phone unless you've been a UK resident for three years, so a pre-pay SIM (or just using Skype) is probably your best option.

BrokenArrows

I didnt have any problem getting a bill phone straight away but that was a long time ago. Rules might have changed.

However you probably dont want to get locked into another contract. Just get a SIM only contract which is just a monthly contract that you can exit at any time.

I currently have one from Three which is £12.99 per month with unlimited texts, 1000 minutes and 2GB of data.

NoQuarter

BrokenArrows wrote: »

I didnt have any problem getting a bill phone straight away but that was a long time ago. Rules might have changed.

However you probably dont want to get locked into another contract. Just get a SIM only contract which is just a monthly contract that you can exit at any time.

I currently have one from Three which is £12.99 per month with unlimited texts, 1000 minutes and 2GB of data.

That sounds just the job, thanks!

YouTookMyName

3 have free roaming after your with them for a month too.

rainbow kirby

My Samsung Galaxy S2 was never locked by Meteor in Ireland, so I ended up just getting a sim-only rolling contract with 3 here. I'm on the older version of the cheap tariff - £13.99 a month for 200 minutes/200 texts/unlimited data. The free roaming includes Ireland, the US, Australia and most popular holiday destinations in Europe. I replaced the SGS2 with a Motorola Moto-G a year ago, sim-free from Amazon.

Vic_08

Check out the PAYG options as well, they are more competitive than in Ireland (imagine that) and have a lot of add-on packs that can reduce the cost to bill-pay levels.

They are also a lot less hassle than signing up for bill-pay, even sim-only rolling contracts.

theteal

Giffgaff all the way. I can't wait for my voda contract to expire next month so I can switch. I looked at 3 but similar to Ireland, all I hear are people complaining about coverage so I'll only try it if giffgaff/O2's is poor.

BrokenArrows

theteal wrote: »

Giffgaff all the way. I can't wait for my voda contract to expire next month so I can switch. I looked at 3 but similar to Ireland, all I hear are people complaining about coverage so I'll only try it if giffgaff/O2's is poor.

Ya Three can be a bit sketchy when it comes to coverage but 99 days of 100 im in London so coverage isnt a problem and the free roaming is worth it.

rainbow kirby

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Ya Three can be a bit sketchy when it comes to coverage but 99 days of 100 im in London so coverage isnt a problem and the free roaming is worth it.

The only real oddity I've noticed near me is piss poor to non-existent coverage in the Hampstead Heath area! Absolutely nothing around the overground station/South End Green/Royal Free area, and coverage not good enough to stream from Spotify while running over a decent chunk of the rest of it.

BrokenArrows

rainbow kirby wrote: »

The only real oddity I've noticed near me is piss poor to non-existent coverage in the Hampstead Heath area! Absolutely nothing around the overground station/South End Green/Royal Free area, and coverage not good enough to stream from Spotify while running over a decent chunk of the rest of it.

Ya i noticed that in Hampsted Heath too.

But apart from that i have no issues streaming spotify.

Ponster

I'd go with 3. I'm happy with their coverage and having their almost unlimited date (15Gb) available in Ireland and the USA along with a load of other countries means that you can often freely travel and take your data with you.

http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phones/Feel_At_Home

Harps

Another +1 for 3, I pay £15 for unlimited calls, texts and internet and 4gb tethering on a rolling monthly contract, also have free roaming when back in Ireland. I don't think they're doing that deal anymore but I'd definitely recommend them, coverage a bit patchy outside London but nothing too major

NoQuarter

Hi guys

I'm over here now but none of the providers will offer a rolling sim only deal without a UK bank account which I don't intend to set up as I am just here for a few months on a placement basis from my Irish company.

Anyone any ideas?

Ponster

NoQuarter wrote: »

Hi guys

I'm over here now but none of the providers will offer a rolling sim only deal without a UK bank account which I don't intend to set up as I am just here for a few months on a placement basis from my Irish company.

Anyone any ideas?

What was wrong with our original advise? Go into any supermarket (Tescos, Morrisons, Sainsburys) and buy a PAYG Three UK SIM for 1 pound.

Ireland landlines will be 2p per minute and if you top-up with 15GBP you'll get unlimited data while in the UK and Ireland.