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Sign up with GooglePrepaid cellular in London
- Thread starter kaspaas
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Virgin Mobile UK is the cheapest but it runs on 1800MHz so coverage isn't brilliant. Direct calls back to SA also very low!
O2 (was Cellnet years ago) best coverage and reasonable prices.
Some stores like Tesco have their own VNP (virtual network provider) SIM packs available in store.
All networks use a credit card style card linked to your cell number that you hand over to get your credit "topped up" they don't do recharge in the UK!
Pre-pay is also generically called "pay as you go"
Only Virgin & T-Mobile offer free voicemail retrieval all other networks you'll pay your normal call rate to hear someone grumble and hang up!
O2 (was Cellnet years ago) best coverage and reasonable prices.
Some stores like Tesco have their own VNP (virtual network provider) SIM packs available in store.
All networks use a credit card style card linked to your cell number that you hand over to get your credit "topped up" they don't do recharge in the UK!
Pre-pay is also generically called "pay as you go"
Only Virgin & T-Mobile offer free voicemail retrieval all other networks you'll pay your normal call rate to hear someone grumble and hang up!
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I have always used O2 for pre-paid , because as long as you top up once a month, you get free sms's or free calls.
checkout http://shop.o2.co.uk/tariffs/Pay_and_Go.
checkout http://shop.o2.co.uk/tariffs/Pay_and_Go.
Their service is good too. Not to be confused with Virgin Mobile SA. Different kettle of fish.
Virgin Mobile U.K, U.S, Australia, France all operate the same way as in South Africa.
As a virtual network, piggy backing on a real network operator, although they chose to be a virtual network to an already virtual network here, probably being the main reason why they are not on par with their other operations. But at the end of the day, in the Uk they use T-Mobile and offer as good a service as thier host network.
As a virtual network, piggy backing on a real network operator, although they chose to be a virtual network to an already virtual network here, probably being the main reason why they are not on par with their other operations. But at the end of the day, in the Uk they use T-Mobile and offer as good a service as thier host network.
Another thing with Virgin UK is they very rarely kill inactive SIM cards. So if you are going to and from the UK once a year or so, then you can keep your UK cell number.
With O2 you'd need to leave the UK with a few pounds credit left on your SIM so you can send a text to yourself once every 90 days to ensure the SIM remains active!
O2 has 3G for sure but I really can't recall if Virgin UK has 3G services because I've not been back to the UK this year.
O2 SIM cards have (SIM Toolkit) facilities to send a text to get the correct settings for your handset.
With O2 you'd need to leave the UK with a few pounds credit left on your SIM so you can send a text to yourself once every 90 days to ensure the SIM remains active!
O2 has 3G for sure but I really can't recall if Virgin UK has 3G services because I've not been back to the UK this year.
O2 SIM cards have (SIM Toolkit) facilities to send a text to get the correct settings for your handset.
Just a bit of feedback:
It was interesting to note that nobody seemed to care about advising Vodafone.
When I arrived in London, T-Mobile had a special on for their pre-paid. 5-Pounds for a SIM, loaded with 5-Pounds credit. Best of all, as much as you could use data for free for 10 days (subject to a reasonable usage policy of 40MB per day average) Thereafter the same, but at 1-pound per day.
Fantastic service, no hiccups.
It was interesting to note that nobody seemed to care about advising Vodafone.
When I arrived in London, T-Mobile had a special on for their pre-paid. 5-Pounds for a SIM, loaded with 5-Pounds credit. Best of all, as much as you could use data for free for 10 days (subject to a reasonable usage policy of 40MB per day average) Thereafter the same, but at 1-pound per day.
Fantastic service, no hiccups.