Confusion about using phone in USA

[Anonymous]

I'll be going on holiday soon to visit my friend in the States and he has completely confused me about using my phone over there. I've all ready checked the details for using my phone abroad anyway and the outrageous cost of data (£6 PER MB!!!!) so I plan to use Wi-Fi wherever possible! However I would like to have the opportunity of making calls and sending texts to US phones and UK phones, but at 40p per text, I'm looking for a cheaper alternative.

I spoke to an O2 trainee who advised I rent a phone; my friend suggested a 'pay as you go SIM'. But then he said something about my phone being locked by O2?!?! As I'm on a 24 month contract, what does this mean??

Also if I get a pay as you go SIM from a different provider, eg. T-Mobile, in the States, will my phone still work?? Is there such thing as an International pay as you go SIM from O2??

Many thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Brilliant, what a relief!!

Now of course I have another question about TU GO

I have read the info on the given link but this has got my attention:

"TU Go currently works on Android (Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3 and higher) .. we're working to bring it to new platforms in future... This means that anyone running older Android software may not be able to upgrade to the latest version of TU Go but the existing app should continue to work on these devices."

My phone (Samsung Galaxy Ace 2) is Gingerbread/2.3.3 so a lot lower than ICS... Is it still worth downloading the app? What do I *not* get that newer platforms do?

[adamtemp64]

It is a requirement so if you do not have 4.0.3 it will not work

[Bambino]

I used it for a while on my old HTC Desire which was running Gingerbread and it worked fine. Download the app and see if it works for you. If it doesn't, uninstall it. Doesn't hurt to try.

[Anonymous]

Thank you!

[Bambino]

Just remember that if you do get TuGo working on your phone, when you're in the US, make sure you're only using it over WiFi. Good luck, have a good holiday, and let us know how you get on.

[Anonymous]

Do they not have SIM cards like guff-gaff, lebara, lycamobile in the USA? Even the T mobile pay as you go costs $35-50..... That is a bit on the higher side if I am there only for a week!!

[MI5]

No one actually realises how cheap mobile phones are in the UK until they try and find deals abroad.
Even EU countries are expensive compared to UK.

[jonsie]

In some countries you even need a passport. Thailand for example won't issue a contract bfor non residents.

[Cleoriff]

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@jonsie wrote:

In some countries you even need a passport. Thailand for example won't issue a contract bfor non residents.

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Neither will Spain and its a 3 days process... even getting a top up (for my netbook) has to be done instore.....with my passport.....