going abroad

janey70

hi my daughter is going to turkey next week she has a blackberry on contract from orange but when she rang them they seemed to want a lot of money for package ,ive looked but couldnt quite understand it .
could she put a pay as u go sim card in her phone with credit on it and use it that way abroad so she doesnt run up a bill ?

grumbler

She can - if it is Orange sim or the phone is not locked to Orange.
However, if she doesn't switch the mobile internet off in he handset, the credit will not last long as Orange charge £8/Mb.

janey70

Thanks do u no wot the rates are for texts from payg abroad and calls ?

grumbler

th csts r th same fr PAYG nd pa mnthl

http://www.orange.co.uk/roaming/turkey/

NiftyDigits

janey70 wrote: »

hi my daughter is going to turkey next week she has a blackberry on contract from orange but when she rang them they seemed to want a lot of money for package ,ive looked but couldnt quite understand it .
could she put a pay as u go sim card in her phone with credit on it and use it that way abroad so she doesnt run up a bill ?

First step is to unlock the Blackberry. You can do so for 99p via eBay providers. Example here.

Then you can use a suitable PAYG SIM with the phone.
If she expects to use Facebook, YouTube etc, she can forget about it. For BBM, WhatsApp, email she'll be fine.
Cheapest options for using BBM abroad will be GiffGaff, Tesco or T-Mobile.
GiffGaff PAYG will cost you £13 for the month, for no more than 10MB per day.
Tesco £15 for a one month capped contract will offer you the same.
You can use Instant Messaging all day long on 10MB.
T-Mobile PAYG charges a maximum of £4 per day for unlimited Blackberry service.

Forget about using Orange in Turkey.

If you are confused, just ask.

Richard_T_

If you read through this forums, and other mobile phone user forums, Turkey is one of the destinations where people return from to find huge mobile phone billss, often running into the thousands.

I would strongly recomend that you do the following:
Remove the sim and rely on wifi only, or:

if its not already unlocked get the phone unlocked and get a UK pay as you go sim card, if you want to top up abroad you may need to set up toppping up over the phone with a credit card while still in the UK, as some providers only let you do the first top up with a card while in the UK, once abroad you can do further top ups with your card.
Dont add a huge amount of credit to your sim card, as another option is a local sim, which may come with data etc already included.

NFH

Why are all the suggestions to use a UK SIM card? She is going to Turkey, not the UK, so she should get a Turkish SIM card, not a UK one. See:

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/turkey.html
http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/Turkey

NiftyDigits

NFH wrote: »

Why are all the suggestions to use a UK SIM card? She is going to Turkey, not the UK, so she should get a Turkish SIM card, not a UK one. See:

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/turkey.html
http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/Turkey

Because a UK SIM solution is cheaper for BIS and it will also be set up before she leaves.

NiftyDigits

Neglected to add, that if you choose GiffGaff, the unlock code is free

janey70

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Neglected to add, that if you choose GiffGaff, the unlock code is free

thanks for all your help giffgaff seems a good idea where can i get a sim card quickly and will i have time to do all this before wednesday?

janey70

ive ordered the giffgaff sim but cant do anything with phone yet as daughter is at work so will have to try and do it 2moz or monday :0/