HAVING A CELL PHONE FOR YOUR USE IN ENGLAND

If you think you may want to be able to keep in touch by phone with family or friends back home, or even classmates from the program, consider renting or buying a UK cell phone. First check with your U.S. (or Canadian) cell phone company to see whether you can purchase a UK-specific "SIM" card and whether your phone will work abroad. (Most U.S. cell phones will not work in the UK, though some will.)

If you Google "cell phone" and "UK," you'll come up with dozens of companies that rent and sell the kind of phone you can use in England (and elsewhere). In the past, people have bought them from http://www.cellularabroad.com - a company that's located here in Los Angeles (on Pico Blvd. in West LA ). Based on a little comparison shopping online, before buying from Cellular Abroad, it seemed to be the least expensive - or at least no more expensive than any of the others. You'll note that it costs little more to buy a phone and SIM card than it does to rent a phone and buy a SIM card for the 5 or so weeks we'll be in England. If you'll be traveling in other countries after the program, you'll need an additional SIM card for each country you want to use the phone in; but they are available for purchase too.

Also, in previous years, students bought cell phones after they arrived in London. There are many cell phone retailers there, and some students found good deals at a retailer called Car Phone Warehouse. If you decide to buy there, though, plan to spend a little time shopping. Last year's least expensive retailer may not be least expensive this year, because competition is so fierce in the cell phone market.