O2 UK sim card with international calls

A UK sim card is essential for anyone visiting the United Kingdom. It means that you can make phone calls and access mobile data for the same price as someone living the UK as opposed to the more expensive roaming rates you would be charged if you kept your Australian sim card in your phone.

The O2 UK sim card features:

• A UK mobile phone number (your UK number is printed on the sim card packaging so you can give your number out to friends and family before you travel)
• Cheap European roaming (you can use your data allowance and you have calls to European numbers when travelling in many other European countries)
• 1000 call minutes to phones in the UK and over 40 other countries (including Australia, Canada and the USA) when using your sim card in the UK
• Free incoming calls (regardless of where the call originates)
• 8GB of high-speed 4G data that you can use in both the UK and many other European countries
• Tethering is supported in the UK (you can use your phone as a mobile hotspot)

This sim card comes pre-loaded with the O2 8GB UK & International Bundle

Your O2 UK sim card comes with your UK mobile phone number and it is already set up on the 8GB UK & International Bundle tariff. This tariff includes:

• 1000 call minutes to standard landline and mobile phones in the UK and over 40 other countries (including calls to standard landline and mobile numbers in Australia)
• Free incoming calls (regardless of where the call originates)
• 5000 text messages to mobile numbers in the UK
• 8GB of high-speed 4G data
• A UK mobile phone number (your UK number is printed on the sim card packaging so you can give your number out to friends and family before you travel)
• Cheap European roaming (you can use your data allowance and you have calls to European numbers when travelling in many other European countries)

Your service is good for one month from the date you arrive in the UK (this is the date that you specify when ordering your sim card) and your service will roll over to another month as long as you top up at least £20 credit to pay for the next month.

This means that if you stay longer than one month and you top up £25 credit, your remaining balance will be £5 when the next month of service starts (after O2 take the £20 payment for your service) but you will have use of the included calls and data until the start of the next month of service. As long as your next month is paid for, it is OK if you account balance is zero.

Your mobile service renews at the same date each month. For instance if you start using your service on 23 February, your next month will start on 23 March. This means that it is slightly better value in October compared with February.

Using your O2 sim card in the United Kingdom

When using your O2 SIM card in the United Kingdom, your tariff’s inclusive value includes:

• 1000 call minutes to standard landline and mobile phones in the UK and over 40 other countries (including Australia, Canada and the USA)
• Free incoming calls (regardless of where the call originates)
• 5000 text messages to mobile numbers in the UK
• 8GB of high-speed 4G data

Premium calls and calls to countries outside the 44 countries that your inclusive call value is valid for incur an additional charge and you need to top up additional credit to cover these charges. Your included call minutes do not include calls to Australian numbers beginning with 13, nor do they include calls to UK numbers beginning with 084 and 087 as these are premium numbers similar to 13 and 1300 numbers in Australia.

This sim card includes 1000 call minutes each month

O2’s 8GB UK & International Bundle tariff includes 1000 call minutes. These included call minutes can be used for:

• Calls to standard UK landline and mobile numbers. This includes calls to UK numbers starting with 01, 02, 03 and 07 but it does not include calls to premium numbers nor does it include calls to numbers in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man (which are international calls even though they share the same +44 country code as the United Kingdom).
• Calls to landline and mobile numbers in over 40 countries (when using your phone on the O2 network in the United Kingdom).

When using your phone in the UK, your included call minutes can used to call the following countries: Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guam, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United States of America.

While using your phone on O2’s network in the UK, calls to other countries that are not included in your inclusive call bundle are cheap but you will need to top up a little extra credit to cover the cost of these calls. Calls to Malaysia cost 5p per minute (to landline and mobile phones), calls to New Zealand cost 2p per minute to landline phones and 10p per minute to mobile phones and calls to Singapore cost 5p per minute (to landline and mobile phones).

Even though the Channel Islands (Jersey and Guernsey) and the Isle of Man share the +44 country code with the United Kingdom, you cannot use your included call minutes to call these places and these calls are expensive (55p per minute to both landline and mobile phones). While it is unlikely that you will need to call the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, there are several roaming travel sim cards that are advertised as having UK phone numbers but actually have Jersey phone numbers. If you’re travelling with someone with one of these sim cards it is a good idea to encourage them to buy an O2 sim instead so you can call each other using your inclusive call minutes.

Staying longer than one month

Your service is good for one month from the date you tell us that you will arrive in the United Kingdom. You have two options if you’re staying longer than one month:

1. Top up another £20 to pay for another month (which will give you another month of your inclusive call and data value)
2. Pay O2’s higher standard call and data rates

The first option is better value and it is what most people choose; however, if you’re only staying a couple of days longer than a month it is better to simply pay a higher rate for those last couple of days rather than pay for another full month.

To choose the first option, simply top up at least enough credit to pay for your second month (at least £20) and when your first month has finished O2 will deduct £20 from your prepaid credit balance to pay for your next month. If you do this before your first month has finished, any unused data will roll over to the next month.

If you choose the second option, you will be charged the following 35p per minute to make a local call and £1 per day for data access (which will come out of any remaining value in your prepaid credit balance).

Tethering is supported in the United Kingdom

Unlike many other European prepaid mobile services, O2 let you tether (use your phone as a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot). This wasn’t always the case and up until early 2017 this was a service restricted to customers on contract, but now all O2 customers including prepaid customers can use their phone as a mobile hotspot.

A couple of important points:

• If you have an Apple iPhone, tethering will only work with an iPhone 5 or newer and it needs to be running iOS 10.1 or higher.
• Tethering is only supported when using your phone on the O2 network in the United Kingdom. There is no guarantee that it will work when roaming on other networks outside the UK.

O2 only guarantees that tethering will work when using your phone on the O2 network in the UK. Many customers have reported that it works fine in other European countries although this is not guaranteed and it is dependent on the network that your phone is roaming on and O2's roaming agreement with that particular network.

Using your O2 sim card when travelling in the European Union

The O2 UK sim card is a great option for use throughout Europe as roaming rates are very reasonable in what O2 call Europe Zone countries. This generally means anywhere in the European Union plus a few extra places such as Iceland and Norway. O2's Europe Zone countries include: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus*, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guadeloupe, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Martinique, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Reunion and Mayotte, Romania, Saint Barthelemy (St Barts), St Martin, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the Vatican City.

*Northern Cyprus is not included in the Europe zone

When using your O2 SIM card in the above Europe zone countries outside the United Kingdom, your tariff’s inclusive value includes:

• 1000 call minutes to standard landline and mobile phones in the UK and to other countries within the Europe zone
• Free incoming calls (regardless of where the call originates)
• 5000 text messages to mobile numbers in the UK and to mobile phones within the Europe zone
• 8GB of high-speed 4G data

When you’re travelling in Europe zone countries you can use your included call minutes to make calls anywhere within this zone. For instance if you’re in Barcelona, you can make a local call to your hotel, call ahead to your next destination in France, call friends in Germany or call other people you’re travelling with who also have O2 UK sim cards.

However, international calls to countries outside Europe (including calls that would otherwise be free if you were calling from the UK) are much more expensive when using your phone outside the United Kingdom in Europe zone countries. If you need to make an international call (to someone outside the Europe zone) then you should use an app such as FaceTime, Rebtel, Skype or Viber. You can call regular phones with Skype (not just other Skype users) as long as you have credit on a Skype account.

How will Brexit effect European roaming?

These cheap European roaming rates are a result of a European Union regulation that requires that EU mobile companies do not charge high roaming fees when their customers travel elsewhere in the European Union and there is a chance that these cheap European roaming rates may be discontinued when the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.

Brexit is scheduled for 11pm (UK time) on Friday 29 March 2019, however the transition period will last until 31 December 2020 so the cheap European roaming rates listed here should remain in place until the end of December 2020.

O2 have stated that they have no plans to increase roaming charges after Brexit, but it is impossible to be certain of this and there is always a small chance that roaming fees may increase in 2021 if European mobile networks decide to charge higher roaming fees to UK networks.

Using your O2 sim card outside Europe Zone countries

Although an O2 SIM card is a great option when travelling within O2’s Europe zone countries, it is considerably more expensive (and not recommended) outside this zone. This even applies in other European countries such as Andorra, the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Switzerland that are not in the European Union as well as countries in Eastern Europe such as Albania, Belarus, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Northern Cyprus, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Your O2 sim card is active and ready to use as soon as you arrive in the UK

Your first month of mobile service is paid for when you buy your sim card and we activate it for you so all you need to do is pop it in your phone when you arrive in the UK and you're ready to go.

Unlike sim cards purchased in other European countries there is no requirement to register your service or show identification when activating a new mobile service in the United Kingdom. Simply pop the sim card in your phone when you arrive in the United Kingdom and you're ready to use it right away.