Ok guys just PCS'd in and I'm on the lookout for good cellphone providers that have good coverage on base. As of right now I have. Tmobile prepaid sim card in my unlocked iPhone 3GS. I currently have a hard time getting 3G speeds for my Internet on my iPhone.

I was looking At the phones at the BX and compared to Vodafone online their prices at the BX are outrageous.

So what I'm looking for are:
Cellphone provider
Coverage on base (good or bad)
Plans that you may be on
Where to go
How to setup an account



I am only interested in helpful opinions and recent experiences.
I am eyeing the samsung galaxy for free with 24 month contract 600 mins, unlimited txts, 500mb Internet for £30/month with vodafone online.

I overheard someone talking today and they said something about having to open a uk bank account just to pay the monthly bill. Is this true? 

You do not have to open up a account to pay your bill for a cell phone. You can pay your bill over the phone with your credit card (but this is a pain in the butt). Notice I said credit card, not debit! If you wish to not use a credit card, you will have to set up a British account. Which you can do this at Community Bank, and they can also do driect payments, so you do not have to worry about it each month.

How ever, Vodafone is NOT the best carrier! O2 or T-Mobile is your best choice for coverage. Vodafone does not even pick up in Feltwell. After moving out to Feltwell, and my husband had a contract with Vodafone, my husaband had to get another contract with O2 just so his cell phone would work! So we were paying for a contract that he was not using, which sucked. But the carrier does not pick up out here or in a lot of places.

BTW, you are not going to get 3G speed any were near the bases with any carrier. Me and my husband both have Iphones, and again, have tried different carriers. It is not the carriers that are effecting this, it is the location. The closest location you will get 3G is Thetford.

Personally, O2 is the best and has the widest service. I have a pay as you go with 02 my Iphone and my husband has a contract with 02. He pays 20 pounds a month and has 1000 mins, unlimited texting and on-line. Right now, 02 has a contract that has the Iphone 4.

Hope this has helped. 

It really depends on where you are going to use your phone the most. When I had Vodaphone, I got great coverage everywhere except the base-- forget a signal in the BX. We switched to O2 when we got our iphones, and now the base is great, but there are huge pockets of no signal near our house. BE VERY CAREFUL signing up for a plan with anyone that has control of your credit card. I have heard horror stories with people trying to cancel during their pcs (which you don't have to worry about for a while I guess).
We're on Pay-as-u-go and have never regretted it. 

My husband has the iPhone4 on Vodafone and he hardly picks up 3G also.

I have a Sony Ericsson X10 on Tmobile and I picked up 3G pretty much everywhere on base, apart from the bx of course lol I pay 30 pounds a month, it was a free phone, unlimited texts, unlimited internet and 900 minutes.

We pay our bills though our Barclays account. 

Where exactly did you get your phone wifey? I have a prepay right now with Vodafone. Not that I've had a bad experience but of course it can get costly with prepay having to top up all the time. 

Btw, any experience with Network Communications is Mildenhall Village? 

I called up T-mobile so they sent the phone out to me and I told them exactly what I wanted lol in a nice way of course! 

I just had my newcomers briefing and they said all cellphones have bad service in the buildings.

I too am wondering if this topping up thing is going to get costly. I only bought the t-mobile prepaid sim card and it was loaded with £10 and i used £4.99 of it to get the unlimited internet (BS btw, its only 500mb due to fair use policy) and I have been txting my wife with the leftover balance. Not sure what Im at now but I think I am low and will need to top up soon if I don't get a new cellphone plan.

@ wifey : you say that you just called t-mobile and ordered it that way? Did you just use a psc address? Do they have a military clause? [no early termination fees if pcsing or deploying, etc...] Would I be able to use my US creditcard to do all transactions with them? 

I think if you're going to get the top up simcards, you should get it with Vodafone because they do what they call "Freedom Packs" and say if you top up 10pounds, you can call up a number (its automated, or do it online) and add the Freedom pack so you'll get 300 mins and 100 texts - something like that. You can check on their website. My husband had it before he got his iPhone.

@Brandon - yes, I called T-mobile up direct. And they sent it special delivery so got it within days. I didn't give them a PCS address, we live off base so gave them that. I know we cant use our US debit card with T-mobile, but someone previous said you can use credit cards. 

@Brandon, definitely sign up for a package on your top up-- we have a bolt-on on our pay-as-u-go O2 that allows our family to phone/txt each other for free. You really need to be able to phone the wife and vice-versa while you're getting settled. 

You can get O2 sims free and they offer quite a lot of insentives for those that top up monthly.

http://freesim.o2.co.uk/mRwnbuEp

If you are wanting a new phone with contract its always best to shop around before you commit, I use this comparison website:

http://www.mobiles4everyone.com/ 

Just don't get vodaphone. It was the biggest mistake of my life. I could cry. 

Just don't get vodaphone. It was the biggest mistake of my life. I could cry


Agree! But of course unless you already know anyone over here, most people get sucked into it! Thinking they have no other choice! 

yeah my husband was trying to get everything set up as quickly as possible and the dude on the base screwed us madly when it came to upgrades. the service is ridiculous and the payments with direct debit have been like tug of war. Not to mention his lil phoney whoney is a piece of shiz. I thought it was a toy at first. 

We made the mistake and got a contract with vodophone. It's been horrible I can't wait until our contract is up. When we first got our contract we had 1200 min between 2 phones and unlimited texting and internet. They changed mine without our consent and took away my texting and internet, all this while my hubby was away, they wouldn't help me out because I didn't have a specific POA to do this. Definately STAY AWAY from vodophone! Plus they swore up and down that my hubby's phone would work all over Europe so he took it with and when he was in Germany for a couple of days it wouldn't even get a signal. I can't even get a signal once I drive across the railroad tracks on the way to Feltwell. We had to pay while he was on deployment for a phone that was not used at all. Our contract is up soon and we are definately NOT using vodophone again! We definately got sucked into vodophone thinking we had no other choice. Wish I would have known about the underground then so I could have asked! 

I get 3G on base with my Vodaphone Iphone.. No problems so far. 

We've moved on from Vodafone about 6 months ago. They STILL insist on sending us bills for service they say we are using! Shysters! The SIM cards aren't in any of our phones, and we are now using O2. We like them! We had a contract with VF and we had actually been using them for a year AFTER the contract ran out and nobody told us! If they had we would have canned them ages ago.

We use pay as you go with O2. My iPhone works well with it and my wife likes the unlimited texts. Best of all, no contracts, and it's only 10 quid to top up. They have a few plans so check them all out.

We had to put a stop payment on VF as they were reaching into our bank account stealing our money with their dirty little fingers! Shysters!!!!

We literally did everything that was required prior to switching (they require a 30 days notice and some other BS) yet they STILL sent us a bill, yesterday actually, for 11.80GBP. It says I used the service for texts and some random amount of time on minutes?! Hello? McFly? I've got an O2 SIM in my phone! McFly! We canceled you a long time ago....Hello! Is anybody in there?

Can't wait to get back on AT&T! PCS, please....hurry up. ;)

I wanted to add that for us, topping up hasn't been costly at all. Literally, we only spend 10 quid a month. It's great! MUCH better than the 40 pounds or so we were paying before with VF. I have good coverage with O2.....VF wasn't that good at all really. Our phones were useless at home (We used to live in MH Village, then moved to Flempton out by Bury St Eds). I have 100 minutes and Unlimited Texts on O2 for 10 pounds.

Masterchef, man! It's horrible companies can do this! I mean, it's our money and we went through the proper channels to stop the service yet they still insist on taking our money. The shame! 

Germany did the same thing to us. Kept taking money out of our account AFTER we left the country! Come to find out, it's legal for companies in Germany to pull money out for 6 months after you stop using them (even if you cancel the right way with sending a letter 30 days prior). But of course, even the banks on base work with the companies rather than you since we had to jump through hoops to get them to stop letting these companies have our money.