Making/Receiving calls to/from the UK while in the USA

expeditionist

Hi guys

I'm stuck and would appreciate some advice.

What's the cheapest way to make/receive calls to/from the UK from a mobile phone while in the USA?

I've found the USA Go-SIM (http://www.gosim.com/index.php?page=usa) and the USA Jolt SIM (http://www.oneroam.co.uk/sim-cards.aspx?igs=1&m=14&mi=95) which both allow users to make / receive calls for 18 pence a minute, but that seems very expensive in comparison to other global SIM destinations and each of the SIM cards expire if not used for 30 days which is no good for me because I'll be making several trips to the USA over the next 12 months with more than 30 days in between.

I looked at buying a local USA SIM on eBay from AT&T USA or T-Mobile USA but all their prepaid plans seem to have high surcharges for international long distance calls to the UK.

Am I missing something obvious - 6.5 million British nationals visit the USA every year - surely there's a better solution for Brits using mobiles in the USA?

Thanks for your help...........

redux

Preliminary info in case you don't know - they use different frequency bands, so you'd take a tri- or quadband from here, or get a cheap one locally. And they charge for both outgoing and incoming calls, but are the same cost to call to them as to landlines (and getting a number local to where you'll be is a favour to locals ringing you).

On the time for the credit to stay valid, American SIMs tend to earn longer periods for larger top-ups, and the call rate drops as well. If you add $100 to T-mobile, for example, it's valid for a year and the rate is 10 cents a minute.

compare them at http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/usa.html

The Tuyo brand has cheap int'l calls itself, but otherwise with the rest of the SIMs you'd use some kind of callthrough access, a separate calling card or similar account, costing from only a couple of cents a minute on top of the local call. There are loads to choose from, but I'd probably start with a Betamax VoIP brand (maybe DialNow) and a Bizon calling card and see how it goes.

For people calling you, you can advise them on cheap calls providers (see MSE Callchecker), or you could set up cheap diversion from a UK number from a range of mostly VoIP providers

expeditionist

Hi redux

Thanks for your reply.

I have an unlocked Nokia 6020 which is triband so that should be ok I hope.

I think I'm going to get a T-Moble GoPhone PAYG SIM off e-Bay then as you suggest.

Interestingly, the t-mobile site says that all refills last for 90 days, even the $10 ones, but there are lots of other web sites that say only 30 days - would prefer to top up with US$10 rather than US$100 - see here: http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/Default.aspx?plancategory=4

I'm wondering if you have any direct experience of credit expiring?

Additionally, the t-mobile site quotes rates at 10c per minute but that's not for international calls - calls to the UK are $1.60 per minute per the website: http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/prepaidrates.aspx - so I would need to find an access number as you suggest? Haven't looked into that yet.

However, I'm a bit confused - would I be charged US$1.60 to receive calls from the UK - that wouldn't work.

It's all a bit confusing!

Thanks again...........

expeditionist

Thread continues with conclusions for the cheapest way to use a mobile in the USA found here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=14600645#post14600645