Telphones & Mobile Phones

The first time I went out to visit my flat in Florida, my communication options were somewhat limited - all I had was my British mobile! Although this did work out there, it cost me an awful lot to make and receive calls on it.

I'd done some research in the UK about setting up a landline telephone account. I couldn't quite seem to figure out who all the telephone providers in the U.S. were, but I knew that one of the largest was A T & T.

When I got to Florida, given that I only had six days to buy furniture and set up various utilities and so forth for my flat, I was somewhat in a frazzle with the thought of having to get a telephone connection to my flat. Rather than setting up a landline account, therefore, I came across a much simpler solution - buying a mobile phone. (Or cell phone, as they're called in the U.S.) And it wasn't even a particularly expensive option, either!

There are three mobile phone operators in America - A T & T, T Mobile and Verizon. I believe that the following would apply for all three companies, but I can only really speak of my expereince with A T & T.

The absolute cheapest option would be to bring a handset from the UK (we all have old handsets lying around) and then buy a sim card in the U.S. Pop it in the phone, and away you go. You'd have to make sure that your "old" handset is tri-band, however, so that it works in America.

Alternatively, you can do what I did: buy a simple, pay-as-you-go phone. The different companies label these types of phones differently; T Mobile call it "Prepaid", A T & T call it "GoPhone". There's a variety of pay-as-you-phones, from very basic to reasonably decent. I bought a $60 Samsung pay-as-you-go phone from A T & T.

Some "free" minutes were included on my phone (about $10), but it's possible to top-up by buying cards from supermarkets, pharmacies, newsagents and so on.

Each call I make on the phone - whether it's to a local Florida number, or back to the U.K. - costs only $0.10. Not bad!