having a mobile visiting USA

Lib572

18 yrls Son going to USA for 6mths. He's thinking of getting a tribeca phone so he can use it over there but I think his charges to make and receive call will be huge. Any guidance pls????? Thanks in hope!!

MissG_2

Check this.

http://travelabroad.o2-uktech.com/location.php

select contract and usa from the drop downs and will list the charges on o2.

Could be worth trying cheap call home cards purchased from the usa.

hope this helps

gizmoleeds

For 6 months he would easily be better off buying a US phone. As he is thinking of buying a tri-band phone anyway, I suggest he buys it in the US as sim-card only packages and pay as you go aren't easy to find there and brings it back, unlocks it and shoves in a UK sim (o2 free one would be good).

It will probably need to be a pay as you go deal though (as getting a contract is'nt an option without a permanent address and would usually be 12mths anyway). T-mobile and virgin I believe do PAYG in the US but they may not be GSM phones (read this thread for an explantion of the difference between UK and US mobiles: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=828656#post828656 and why he mustn't get a non-GSM phone

gkf

Just a warning, my daughter spent a few months in the USA and we bought her a Virgin pay as you go phone out there. We were shocked to find out that when you receive calls, it comes off your talk time!! Texts I think were free, but her money vanished when a friend phoned her. We couldn't figure out where the money was going until we read the small print. I would recommend USA PAYG phone for texts within the USA and buy phone card from Walmart to phone home to UK. UK phone cards from the post office are fantastic value to phone the USA, it costs pence for calls, really good bargain. Hope this helps.

gizmoleeds

gkf wrote:

Just a warning, my daughter spent a few months in the USA and we bought her a Virgin pay as you go phone out there. We were shocked to find out that when you receive calls, it comes off your talk time!! Texts I think were free, but her money vanished when a friend phoned her. We couldn't figure out where the money was going until we read the small print. I would recommend USA PAYG phone for texts within the USA and buy phone card from Walmart to phone home to UK. UK phone cards from the post office are fantastic value to phone the USA, it costs pence for calls, really good bargain. Hope this helps.

See the thread I linked to above - all US networks charge for receiving calls (and we moan about "rip-off Britain" :rotfl:)

knuckledragger

I was in the US a couple of weeks ago. Walmart do cheap PAYG Nokia 1100s with inclusive credit. That might be useful for keeping in touch with others stateside.