Using your UK mobile phone service abroad

Below you'll find the latest options for using a UK phone abroad, plus some of the current pricing.

TLDR

This is the current pricing for the main UK networks as of August 2022...

Vodafone Pay Monthly
If you’re a Vodafone Pay Monthly customer with Global Roaming Plus, you can use your Home Allowance at no extra cost. Otherwise, it will cost you an extra £6 (inc VAT) per day. Data is capped at 25GB. You will have superfast 4G

EE Pay Monthly
If you’re an EE Pay Monthly customer with the Roam Abroad Pass, you can use your Home Allowance at no extra cost. Otherwise you'll need to add this pass for £10 (or others). Data is capped at 50GB. You will have superfast 4G.

O2 Pay Monthly
If you’re an O2 Plus Plan customer (these tariffs include the O2 Travel Inclusive Zone Bolt-On), you can use your Home Allowance at no extra cost. Otherwise you'll need to add the O2 Travel Inclusive Zone Bolt-On which is £6 (inc VAT) per day. No data cap but speed is throttled. Expect basic 4G speeds.

Three Pay Monthly
If you’re a Three Pay Monthly customer, it might be possible to roam at no extra cost. This is only available on Pay Monthly plans taken on or before the 30th September 2021. On Pay Monthly plans taken since the 1st October 2022, there is a £5 daily fee (tbc if this is inc or ex VAT). Expect slow to basic 4G Speeds.

Three Pay As You Go
If you’re a Three Pay As You Go customer, your Add-Ons will include Go Roam for free so you’ll be able to use your Add-On at no extra cost when travelling in the USA. However Data is capped at 12GB a month so you won't need an Add-On with anything more than this if you are only using it in the USA.


1. History and how it works

In the UK our mobile networks are:

- Vodafone
- O2 (now co-owned by Virgin)
- EE (now owned by BT)
- Three

Although some of these are owned by larger conglomerates who operate globally, the networks still need to “rent” access to mobile networks in other countries in order for us to use our phones abroad. This is referred to as “Roaming Agreements”

UK mobile networks have different roaming agreements with US networks and “rent” different levels of spectrum, therefore what we pay and the service we get differs. For example, EE rent more spectrum than Three and as a result they can offer 5G speeds while Three do not.


2. Check who you are with

It’s straightforward as to who your network provider is if you shopped directly with O2, EE, Vodafone or Three.

If you’re not directly contracted with one of the above networks you will be with a Service Provider such as Giff Gaff, Tesco Mobile etc. In simple terms they provide the billing, tariffs and customer service, but ultimately they are reselling EE, Vodafone, Three or O2.
Their Roaming Rates can be different to their Parent Network so please check:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/piggybacking/

3. Decide how you want to use your phone in the USA

Deciding how you wish to use your phone will ultimately determine what network is best for you while out there.

- Will you make calls to USA numbers (ie booking a restaurant)
- Will you be calling back to the UK?
- Will you be receiving calls or texts from people in the UK?
- Will you be using Google Maps or the internet alot or a little?

All of these things need to be considered so you can pick an appropriate plan to support your usage

4. Roaming Charges and Allowance as of August 2022


Below is a simple(ish) breakdown of the current Roaming offerings from the Networks when visiting the USA. Note that if you've not changed contract from pre Aug or Oct 2021, then you may well be on tariff that has inclusive roaming!

The first table is PAY MONTHLY plans
The second table is THREE's Pay as you Go as that is still cheap and very popular







* NOTE on THREE: You can no longer make calls with AT&T (who Three use) as theyre turning off their 3G network. The Three website also states "3G will soon be unavailable in this destination for calls, texts and data. To continue to stay connected, you'll need a compatible device, with 4G Calling Abroad enabled."
Three have activated 4G for calling so you must have a 4G device when you travel (all Smart Phones have this).

You must check full details for you tariff yourself and even give your provider a call as many terms and conditions are often hidden


5. NEW Dual SIM Technology


This is really great news for those of us wanting to use data when in the USA.
Many new Mobile Phones now have the option to run 2 networks - it's called Dual SIM technology.
It's achieved by having a) two small SIM cards in the device (Nano SIMs) or b) having virtual SIM cards (eSIMs).

What this means is that we can have our normal SIM/phone number on our phone as well as a second one that we can use exclusively for Roaming in the USA. Theoretically we change the phone settings so that calls and text run off our UK SIM, and Data runs off the second SIM.

In practical terms this means (as of 2022) you could

a) Have Three Pay As You Go as your second SIM and run Roaming Data through that. Or...
b) Purchase either a physical or eSIM from America (eSIMs can be purchased in advance) and run that as your second SIM and run data on it.

This is great news and will likely become the norm for us all 2023 and beyond as we get new mobile phones that support it.



FAQ.

To call back home from you dial +44 and drop the leading 0 off the UK number

People calling you from the UK will just use your normal number.

People calling you from the US will use 01144 and drop the leading 0 off your mobile number.

To call US numbers while you are out there you need to dial +1 then the number.