• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Going to Edinburgh and London in September - should I use Verizon cell phone plan?

glenmore

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2005
Messages
350
Reaction score
65
Points
388
Have been reading through the forums here but am still a bit confused.

Is it ok to take my iphone 7 and iphone 7 plus and use Verizon $10/day plan for use in Edinburgh and London?

Just want the phone mainly for photos, texting and calls within the UK (if there is a change of plans for car pickup, or question for hotel, etc.)

Thanks for any help you can give me.
 

Deb from NC

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
Messages
1,506
Reaction score
109
Points
423
Location
Clemmons, NC
Have been reading through the forums here but am still a bit confused.

Is it ok to take my iphone 7 and iphone 7 plus and use Verizon $10/day plan for use in Edinburgh and London?

Just want the phone mainly for photos, texting and calls within the UK (if there is a change of plans for car pickup, or question for hotel, etc.)

Thanks for any help you can give me.

We just got back from England and used a Verizon plan that gave us 100 minutes of cell phone use, 100 texts ( but texts between iPhones weren't counted against you)
and 1 gig of data ( I think) for $ 40 for 1 month. We were in England 2 weeks and went $ 25 over on the data, but it was still less expensive for us than their $10 a day plan. You might want to ask them about it...depending on how much you plan to use your phone it might be a better deal for you.
 

Glynda

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Messages
3,781
Reaction score
2,552
Points
599
Location
Charleston, SC
Resorts Owned
Bluegreen Points Lodge Alley Inn.
Brewster Green (two weeks).
We just got back from England Monday. I have the Verizon $10 per day plan and it didn't work well for me. I was told that I would get a notice when the 24 hours began and 1 hour before it expired. But I never got a notice that it began. Then, thinking I had not used it, I would get a notice that it would expire in 1 hour! It seems that when I turned on my phone and signed in to free hotel wifi, my iPhone would start pulling something or another during the seconds before I could connect to the wifi. Had I received a starting notice, I would have used the phone liberally during that 24 hour period! I ended up paying for about 7 days. Apparently I didn't understand how to set up the phone so that I could use free wifi and not cellular. Sigh.
 

glenmore

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2005
Messages
350
Reaction score
65
Points
388
Appreciate the replies!
 

Tamino

newbie
Joined
Oct 22, 2014
Messages
56
Reaction score
22
Points
18
Location
Paris, France
The T Mobile plan of free data and $0.20 per minute calls to the US works very well. I may not be the only one who thinks that $10 per day is outrageous. Consider purchasing an inexpensive pre paid SIM such as those offered by Lebara. You will be able to keep in contact and make local for a lot less overall expense.
 

LisaH

TUG Lifetime Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
3,963
Reaction score
656
Points
598
Location
SF Bay Area, CA
Yep. T-mobile rocks. We switched from AT&T to T-Mobile last year just for international travel.
 

VacationForever

TUG Review Crew
TUG Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2010
Messages
16,196
Reaction score
10,607
Points
1,048
Location
Somewhere Out There
We just got back from England Monday. I have the Verizon $10 per day plan and it didn't work well for me. I was told that I would get a notice when the 24 hours began and 1 hour before it expired. But I never got a notice that it began. Then, thinking I had not used it, I would get a notice that it would expire in 1 hour! It seems that when I turned on my phone and signed in to free hotel wifi, my iPhone would start pulling something or another during the seconds before I could connect to the wifi. Had I received a starting notice, I would have used the phone liberally during that 24 hour period! I ended up paying for about 7 days. Apparently I didn't understand how to set up the phone so that I could use free wifi and not cellular. Sigh.

I learned it the hard way too. In future, step one, turn off data roaming, step 2, turn on airplane mode. I had turned on airplane mode but could not turn data roaming off after that. It is the data roaming that is on that makes the network think that your phone is using the network and Verizon will charge $10 per day.
 

Glynda

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Messages
3,781
Reaction score
2,552
Points
599
Location
Charleston, SC
Resorts Owned
Bluegreen Points Lodge Alley Inn.
Brewster Green (two weeks).
I learned it the hard way too. In future, step one, turn off data roaming, step 2, turn on airplane mode. I had turned on airplane mode but could not turn data roaming off after that. It is the data roaming that is on that makes the network think that your phone is using the network and Verizon will charge $10 per day.

Thanks! It was a three week trip and I figured it out after the first week in London! I thought about complaining to Verizon because I did not get a notice that my 24 hours had begun and I assume that they could easily see that I had not made calls, texts and the data was limited. But alas, I didn't. I just paid and learned my lesson. I would add to your steps that in order to use free wifi, after turning on Airplane Mode you then have to go to settings and turn wifi on individually. Our teenaged granddaughter learned on the trip too that using the paid Celebrity ship's wifi required her to go back to Safari and log out of it. Just turning off her phone or turning on Airplane Mode did not log her out and she lost a lot of her minutes. She's cute; she said, "Isn't free Wifi a basic human right?"
 

glenmore

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2005
Messages
350
Reaction score
65
Points
388
So, is the advice to buy a inexpensive unlocked phone on eBay and buy a SIM card in Edinburgh??


I have Verizon so cannot use T-mobile--correctly? Where I live, Verizon works the best
 

VacationForever

TUG Review Crew
TUG Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2010
Messages
16,196
Reaction score
10,607
Points
1,048
Location
Somewhere Out There
Thanks! It was a three week trip and I figured it out after the first week in London! I thought about complaining to Verizon because I did not get a notice that my 24 hours had begun and I assume that they could easily see that I had not made calls, texts and the data was limited. But alas, I didn't. I just paid and learned my lesson. I would add to your steps that in order to use free wifi, after turning on Airplane Mode you then have to go to settings and turn wifi on individually. Our teenaged granddaughter learned on the trip too that using the paid Celebrity ship's wifi required her to go back to Safari and log out of it. Just turning off her phone or turning on Airplane Mode did not log her out and she lost a lot of her minutes. She's cute; she said, "Isn't free Wifi a basic human right?"
Ditto. We learned it the hard way when we were on Celebrity in April and May of this year. But we do think Verizon's $10 a day is really cost effective.
 

pwrshift

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
5,529
Reaction score
29
Points
483
Location
Toronto
Resorts Owned
Marriott Manor Club - 3 weeks platinum, 2 weeks at Marriott Beachplace Towers, and 1 week at Marriott Canyon Villas
Suggest you message jme (Marty) about your trip...he was really into Scotland.

Brian
 

lorenmd

TUG Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2010
Messages
383
Reaction score
85
Points
239
Location
seattle
my daughter is there now for three months. she got a Sim card once she arrived for her Verizon iPhone and it works great. she calls me on WhatsApp mostly though and text on wifi but for other times she bought 6 GB data/month unlimited texting and they gave her a British cell phone number. was way cheaper than Verizon. it's what the universities have their students get when they do study abroad
 

glenmore

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2005
Messages
350
Reaction score
65
Points
388
I talked to Verizon today. The Travel Pass plan starts on the day you text, make a call or use wifi (out of the country) and is good for 24 hours straight. You don't get an email when you start (I was told) but should get one an hour before your 24 hours are up. Will set a reminder on phone to remind me!

Keep it in airplane mode until you want/need to use it

My husband suggested taking our Kindles for hotel wifi to surf, check email etc. That should cut out the issue of being charged during the moments connecting to hotel wifi

Will see how it goes!
 

tashamen

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2005
Messages
3,336
Reaction score
75
Points
433
Location
VT
Resorts Owned
Embarc points (former Club Intrawest), Trapp Family Lodge
Yep. T-mobile rocks. We switched from AT&T to T-Mobile last year just for international travel.

We also switched (but from US Cellular) to T-Mobile and their $60 unlimited plan for 2 lines for those 55 and over. We're going to Edinburgh next month and expect our phones will work fine.
 

JudyH

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
1,869
Reaction score
707
Points
473
Location
Near the sea.
All right folks, this is easy. Go to a local phone store, get a SIM card for your phone. All Verizon Iphones are unlocked. Have the store set up the phone. I get a one month prepaid card, with 2-4 GB of data. I mostly care about data, for google maps, trip advisor restaurants, local info. In United Kingdom, I got the Three sim card. The stores are all over. Look for them and get some addresses before you leave the US.

Now, I don't call home hardly at all, or text home. Some local sim cards don't let the 30 day prepaid plan call the US or out of the country. That's not important to me cause I have Plan B . I have a MOBAL flip phone that I bought years ago. The company is in the US. The phone has a UK sim card and can be used all over the world, except the US. They keep my CC on file and it is about $1.50 a minute to call US. I only use it for emergencies, but I leave it turned on all the time while traveling in case someone from the US tries to call me..my family has the # www.Mobal.com

Like an above caller, I could not get Verizon International to work even though I had made all the arrangements with them ahead. The bank had sent me a fraud alert and said to call them. So I had to use the MOBAL phone for this.
 

WinniWoman

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2010
Messages
10,762
Reaction score
7,057
Points
749
Location
The Weirs, New Hampshire
Resorts Owned
Innseason Pollard Brook
All right folks, this is easy. Go to a local phone store, get a SIM card for your phone. All Verizon Iphones are unlocked. Have the store set up the phone. I get a one month prepaid card, with 2-4 GB of data. I mostly care about data, for google maps, trip advisor restaurants, local info. In United Kingdom, I got the Three sim card. The stores are all over. Look for them and get some addresses before you leave the US.

Now, I don't call home hardly at all, or text home. Some local sim cards don't let the 30 day prepaid plan call the US or out of the country. That's not important to me cause I have Plan B . I have a MOBAL flip phone that I bought years ago. The company is in the US. The phone has a UK sim card and can be used all over the world, except the US. They keep my CC on file and it is about $1.50 a minute to call US. I only use it for emergencies, but I leave it turned on all the time while traveling in case someone from the US tries to call me..my family has the # www.Mobal.com

Like an above caller, I could not get Verizon International to work even though I had made all the arrangements with them ahead. The bank had sent me a fraud alert and said to call them. So I had to use the MOBAL phone for this.

We have the MOBAL flip phone as well and used it in Scotland a few times with no issues.
 

isisdave

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
2,762
Reaction score
1,284
Points
548
Location
Evansville IN
Resorts Owned
Marriott Waiohai
If the family has your MOBAL number, you can tell them to try you first on Viber or Skype or WhatsApp or FaceTime or ... all data apps.

Some folks buy a cheap non-smart phone; when you put the new SIM for EE into your main phone, you can put your US one into the cheap phone and check it occasionally. There are dual-SIM phones too; BLU makes a lot of them. Until recently there wasn't free international roaming in the EU so people who were frequently in two countries would use these.

One problem I discovered with the approach of keeping your US phone active: I live in Pacific Time. Friends who don't know you're 8 hours later ... and of course junk callers ... will call in the middle of your night. We shut off the ringer at bedtime. There isn't any problem we can solve from here better than they can solve from there.
 

bevans

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
220
Reaction score
60
Points
389
Location
Santa Cruz, Ca
Resorts Owned
hgvc Flamingo, hgvc Paradise
My wife and I are in Europe for two months and bought a BLU smart phone from Mobal and it works great. At times the GPS in the Peugeot we rented does not do well when we get close to our destination and we use the BLU to get us the final distance. I wondered if we can use this phone with our Verizon service when we get home if we get a USA sim. My wife lost her I Phone so when we get home we either have to get another Verizon phone or perhaps use the BLU? Curt
 

Bill4728

Moderator
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
11,038
Reaction score
598
Points
899
Location
Lake Tapps, WA
I sure like the idea of using a non phone to surf the web ( kindle or Ipad)

We took a completed different approach to calling in the UK we brought our magicJack it allows calls over wifi and not use our cell's data
 

isisdave

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
2,762
Reaction score
1,284
Points
548
Location
Evansville IN
Resorts Owned
Marriott Waiohai
Magic Jack also has an app for your phone or other device that lets you make calls over wifi without actually connecting the MJ device.

After one or two times where we couldn't access the router to plug in the MJ, we mostly use this approach now (although we do also have a wifi bridge that lets us get a physical Ethernet connection from wifi signal). If you use the plug-in MJ, what phone do you use with it?
 

SmithOp

TUG Review Crew
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
7,609
Reaction score
3,403
Points
499
Location
Huntington Beach, CA
Resorts Owned
HGVC King's Land 2BR Premier 23.040K Points.
My wife and I are in Europe for two months and bought a BLU smart phone from Mobal and it works great. At times the GPS in the Peugeot we rented does not do well when we get close to our destination and we use the BLU to get us the final distance. I wondered if we can use this phone with our Verizon service when we get home if we get a USA sim. My wife lost her I Phone so when we get home we either have to get another Verizon phone or perhaps use the BLU? Curt

I have a BLU phone and they are unlocked so you can use them on many different providers by just buying a new SIM.

I use mine when I go to UK with EE SIM and a pay as you go plan. Its easy to top up minutes/data at any convenience store with the TopUp sign.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

ivorius007

TUG Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2005
Messages
94
Reaction score
3
Points
368
Location
San Diego, CA
I have an unlocked phone and have used a Lebara SIM which gives me a local phone number. I didn't realize there was a difference in plans but my first visit the SIM came with a monthly plan which was great, I didn't run out of minutes or data. This last time I went to a convenience store and was sold the Pay As YOu Go Plan which wasn't so good--I kept having to top it up with very little use time. Next time I plan to set it up online before I go an pick the plan that will work best for my needs.
I found Lebara customer service to be quite helpful.
 

Ken555

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2005
Messages
14,522
Reaction score
5,638
Points
898
Location
Los Angeles
Resorts Owned
Westin Kierland
Sheraton Desert Oasis
You will find a 3UK (and perhaps other) prepaid SIM cards in a vending machine at Heathrow and other UK airports. You may also get free SIM cards from their stores. Now that I have one I just login and add credit to my account. It's been very helpful for me, since it may be used in many countries. I pay £25 for unlimited data for a month in the U.K. (or 12GB in their other covered countries). You may also get a plan that includes voice calls if needed.

I forward my US mobile number to my office VoIP system, which I may access from my phone. You may use google voice or one of any number of free or low cost services instead.

T-Mobile's international fees are reasonable but there are some gotchas. For instance, a family member is traveling Europe right now with a T-Mobile phone and he receives numerous marketing and other calls. Even at just one minute per incoming call, T-Mobile charges $0.20. It's only been a couple of weeks and his bill is already at $100 for these types of calls. I remove my T-Mobile sim as soon as my plane leaves the US.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

vkrn

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
May 15, 2007
Messages
124
Reaction score
0
Points
376
Location
Port Charlotte, FL
I just got back from there and everyone over there says to get a SIM card when you get there. They are available everywhere. Just my 2¢.
 

glenmore

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2005
Messages
350
Reaction score
65
Points
388
As a follow-up--we are back from Edinburgh and London--GREAT trip! Verizon plan worked as advertised.

Each time I used my wifi, made a call or sent a text I started the 24-hour window. I always got a text from Verizon telling me when I had an hour left on my 24-hour time period

Worked fine for us---
 
Top