I made another trip to the UK this month.

(Quick recap: I have a T-Mobile(UK) USB dongle for my laptop and an EBay-purchased smart phone. Both are on pay-as-you-go plans.)

One irritant was that I could not add any credit to the devices before leaving the US. Their system will not accept non-UK addresses as the registered address of the user. When you try to use your credit card, they check if the address matches. So, in my case, it wouldn’t work.

Fortunately there are enough locations to do a top-up over there and the procedure is fast and efficient. You take your credit-card-sized card (that comes with the SIM) to the cash register and ask for whatever amount you need. They run it through a machine and two minutes later you receive a text message to say the credit has reached your account. The downside is that there was nowhere at London Heathrow Airport to do it. I had credit remaining, so I was able to make a phone call and announce my arrival. No harm, no foul.

I added GBP5 ($8) to each at the first opportunity. On the phone I converted that (GBP2.50/$4) to a 5-day internet package so I could receive my corporate email. My trip was seven days on-the-ground, so for the remaining two days I accepted their maximum (GBP1/$1.70) daily charge. I don’t make many calls on it so the by-the-minute charge is bearable.

I was not going to be using the USB much, if at all, so their maximum (GBP2/$3+) daily charge applied.

I think this was a pretty affordable way to stay in touch, so I’m going to say that this ‘problem’ is solved.