Cellphones and Tablets
Each year, the question about phones and communication comes up. And each year, the answer is a bit different as smart phones, tablets, and US cellular providers evolve in a global marketplace. If you have a “smart phone” (an iPhone, a Galaxy, an Android phone, etc) or tablet, then there are options for you once we get to London. Depending on your carrier here, there are options here, as well.
U.S. Carrier Options
A new cell phone option in the US might be something to look into: Google Fi. This service costs what a regular US cellular and data plan costs but has the benefit of working in over 200 countries. Basically, any country you will go to as part of going on the London program is covered. Dr. Kitta has used this service recently had great success across Europe.
If you use AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint, you will most likely want to get a foreign travel plan with them. USCellular doesn’t work overseas. Why a travel plan? The two summers that I’ve not gotten one, I landed at Heathrow, and then one summer, forgotten to turn off my cellular service, while the other, I used it to make 2 texts to find students. My bill? $300.00 … for having it on for 6 hours! If I had had an international plan, I’d have paid the $30 or $40 up front and that would have been it. Even if I don’t use it, I’m getting an international plan this year just to be safe. They’re not expensive and they are really nice if you get lost or stuck somewhere and need your phone for just a minute.
These plans are not very useful while you’re traveling, frankly, and their allowances can disappear quickly, but as a back-up option, I recommend it. You may want to look into what your cell plan offers you. Having an International Plan on your phone can help you if you find yourself lost in London or at the airport. It’s a good backup plan and it’s not very expensive all things considered.
You certainly do not NEED to purchase one of these. As long as you put your phone on “Airplane Mode” and never turn that off while you’re abroad, you won’t find any additional charges on your bill. And now that we have unlimited wifi in the flats, you can use your phone over wifi at the flats, and there are a number of places in London with free wifi (Starbucks, for example).
Cellular Plans in London
Now, if you use your phone or tablet as your main camera, or you just like the idea of being able to upload pictures to FB, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat while traveling, then you might look into getting a SIM card from any of these main carriers:
- eSim.net – Newer phones with eSim technology like the iPhone 14 do not have physical SIM cards, so the options below may not work. eSim.net offers local UK phone lines with lots of internet access for fairly cheap and can be bought and set up before leaving the US so you know it works.
- GiffGaff – GiffGaff is one of the cheapest option (£10 for 15gig of data) and you can order your SIM card delivered to the US so you have it before you and you can make sure your phone is unlocked. Friends used this recently and had great service in London and throughout the UK and most of Europe. You’d want a “SIM only plan” which lets you just buy a SIM card for the one month we’ll be there.
- EE – EE is what I use currently. You want a “Pay as You Go” SIM option, and currently, 60gig of data would run £20. I’ve used O2 and Three and they have their benefits, but most recently, I used EE and got the most data for the cheapest price.
- O2 – O2 probably has the best coverage in London, and each of their SIMS also provides you with free WiFi access at spaces all over the city, including the Underground. Currently, their Pay as You Go option would cost £15 for 20 gig of data.
- Three – 3 is probably the second most popular London-related phone service, but their “All in One 20” month-long option is a really good plan.
If you want to purchase a SIM card, you can join me on the first or second day we’re there. It’s pretty easy to find a shop that sells SIM cards.
Cellphones & Tablets @ the Flats
The WiFi in our flats used to be limited; since 2015, we have gotten unlimited wifi data on up to 2 devices with our individual access cards. Since then, we’ve had very few issues with wifi, which is great. We hope this will be the norm this year, as well! This means you can use your iPad/Tablet/smart phone to make calls home over Wifi, use Skype/Facetime, WhatsApp, and all the other apps you love to use.
