Can't call cell phones in UK

by Scott
(US)

Tracfone is a good service but they need to make it much more evident that you can't call cellular phones internationally such as the UK. What I don't understand is that I can text people in the UK but cannot call their cell phones. Doesn't make sense and of course they give you the run around and usually the same canned response.
And what doesn't make sense is that they now have China listed as a "cellular" country but not the UK?? Why would that be?

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Aug 07, 2011
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Some options for calling UK cellular
by: sb (admin)

Your best rates for calling UK mobiles seem to be Sprint-based prepaid plans such as PlatinumTel (see review on this site). You can go to their site and actually check the rates for calling various different UK mobile providers such as Orange, Vodafone, MMO2 etc.

Otherwise, I agree it's frustrating not being able to call UK cell phones (at a reasonable rate). I have a cousin there, but she only has a cell phone which makes it difficult. Tracfone does have a list of international destinations on their site, including which destinations include cellular calls. The UK charges higher connection rates for cell phone calls which aren't covered by the cost of Tracfone airtime.

If you need to call UK cell phones, here are the rates for some of the other prepaid plans:

AT&T Gophone: $0.49 per minute

T-Mobile Prepaid: $1.60 per minute, but if you sign up for international package ($10 per month) then calls to UK cell phones are $0.26 per minute

Verizon Prepaid: $1.49 per minute

Hope this helps.

Aug 07, 2011
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HSN sold this phone
by: Anonymous

I finally got this phone activated and according to the specs on HSN they did state countries must be listed as cellular but had no list. Imagine my surprise because I bought this phone to call the UK that the call would not go through. When I called Trac Phone the rep was horrible and I was furious. HSN will take the phone back, but to say I was disappointed is the understatement of the year. I am still looking for a carrier that will do this. It is stupid to have a cell phone and not be able to call a cell phone. I don't care how much it costs these companies are not hurting for money.

Feb 09, 2011
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Sigh
by: Anon

It told me it sent one, but my friend never got it.

May 17, 2010
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Not officially
by: admin

Texting internationally is NOT officially supported, but some people report being able to do it. However, I wouldn't base my purchasing decision on being able to do it.

May 17, 2010
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texting?
by: Anonymous

You can text people in the UK? How? I only bought a tracfone yesterday, so international stuff won't be sorted for a couple of days, but I was under the impression texting was not possible.

Mar 15, 2010
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Cell phone calls to UK too expensive?
by: admin

Hi Scott,

Thanks for pointing this out. Calls to cell phones in the UK are usually quite a bit more expensive than calls to land lines, so I suspect Tracfone can't get a rate low enough to make it work with their no-extra fees service. Calls to China cell phones are probably cheaper, which is why it's on the list.

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