OT: US Based Cell Phone Use In UK - Will this phone work?

[DerbyDad03]

My daughter going to London for 6 months. A friend who is going with her went to a Best Buy in another state and bought this set up:

A $20 AT&T GoPhone (U2800A) An H20 SIM Starter Kit with free international calling. A $50 H20 calling card with free International calling.

She activated the phone by following the instructions at the H20 Website and placed a call to London from the US. There was no AT&T involvement with the activation. Everything, including the assignment of the phone number, was done through the H2O site.

My bottom line question is this: Will this setup work once she gets to London? Will she be able to call within the UK and also back to the states?

Some more details:

When I went to my local Best Buy and asked about the set up, I was told that not only won't it work in London, the phone will not even activate once the H2O SIM card is put in. They said the phone is locked to AT&T and will display "Inoperable" if any other SIM card is installed.

OK, we know that my Best Buy is wrong because her friend has used the phone to call London and she did not go through any unlocking process. She simply followed the instructions at the H2O website to activate the phone.

I decided to go to an AT&T store, expla Best Buy probably gave me the "corporate answer" that they are all trained to give. "It won't work." However, since we know that it

*does* work, because your friend got it to work, then it's very possible that it works for calling from the US since the phone will connect with the AT&T GSM network in the states. Once you go overseas, the phone itself - regardless of what SIM card is in it - won't connect to the network and therefore will not work outside of the US. They both said that they can't say for sure that it won't work because they are unfamiliar with the H2O SIM card, but they suspect that it will not.

Can anyone tell me definitively whether or not it will work in London?

Thanks!

P.S. H2O Customer Service is closed today but I plan to call them in the morning and see what they say.

[Robert Neville]

The GoPhone is a quad band GSM phone, which means it will work in the UK. However, what you need to find out from H20 is if the phone is locked to the AT&T network (I'm guessing H20 is an AT&T affiliate). If so, it means you cannot use any other SIM card and while it will work, she will be required to pay H20 rates for use in the UK. I would bet those rates will be extremely high, both for local UK to UK calls as well as calls back to th US.

You can ask H20 if they will provide the unlock code. They will probably not do this as they want to recoup a portion of the cost of the phone.

If they do, I would suggest your daughter wait until she gets to the UK and then buys a cheap paygo SIM card with a UK number when she gets there. There are at least 4 major networks (Orange, Vodaphone, O2, Tmobile, etc.) and they all offer cheap prepaid no contract accounts. The SIM card plus a small number of minutes go for $15-$20. They are available all over the place - big stores like Tesco, as well as cell shops on the high streets. You can recharge the SIM card in stores and at ATMs everywhere.

If the phone is locked and H20 won't unlock it, just buy an unlocked phone over there. Again, for a basic phone like the GoPhone you're talking around $30.

I've also bought unlocked phones off eBay, but that takes a certain amount of savvy. She'd be better off doing it over there.

[clare]

She can likely get it unlocked over there with no problems too.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, My daughter was in London for first 3 month of last year on medical training. She used WiFi Skype phone thru hot spot all over the city. We have a Skype set up in our home network with a cordless handset.

Hi,

[Robert Neville]

H2O Wireless is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that relies on the AT&T network to provide nationwide prepaid mobile services across the United States. The AT&T or Best Buy droids won't know anything about the underlying network that H20 uses.

It may work in the UK. There is no technical reaon why it can't. However, just like Virgin Mobile uses Sprint's GSM network in the US and could use a UK GSM network, Virgin does not allow roaming on their prepaid accounts. H20 may not allow international roaming on their prepaid plans. You'll just have to look at their web site or call them.

No - you don't understand. The phone in all likelyhood costs far more than $20 to make and distribute, especially when you consider than Best Buy took $10 of that $20 your daughter paid. H20 allows it to be sold at a loss and hope to make it up on the refill minutes. If you use someone else's SIM card, they don't get any revenue and never get to make up the difference.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, My daughter was in London for first 3 month of last year on medical training. She used WiFi Skype phone thru hot spot all over the city. We have a Skype set up in our home network with a cordless handset.

Hi,

[Tony Hwang]

Hi,

[Vic Smith]

Students usually get aimed right. My daughter was in school in Barcelona and was pointed to a paygo phone for mostly local use calling fellow students Phone was a cheapo, costing a few Euros. Worked in France and England too during excursions. She used it a couple times to call home to the states too. But she mostly used Skype to call home from her laptop.

--Vic

[jw]

Take this to alt.cellular.

People on alt.home.repair are too busy fixing their homes to play with cellphones.

Learn to use an appropriate newsgroup!

[DerbyDad03]

What does H20 have to do with setting prices on AT&T phones at Best Buy?

Everyone at both Best Buy and AT&T has told me that phone won't even work with the H2O SIM card in it, although we know that that isn't true. However, that's not the point. The point here is that this was not a "package" that was purchased; it was simply a Phone, a SIM card and Calling Card bought as individual items based on a recommendation from a friend.

There was no connection between these 3 items at Best Buy and when I showed the 3 items to the Best Buy employees and AT&T reps they all looked at me like I was crazy for expecting them to work together. Well, at least the Best Buy folks did. The AT&T reps were much more upfront and willing to discuss the possibility of it working.

Why do you think that H2O has anything to do with the pricing of AT&T locked phones at Best Buy?

[HeyBub]

If she's taking her laptop, consider Skype. Or, I'll bet, coffee shops with wi-fi access or computers for rent will have Skype.