Yep, you can get hair straigteners at Boots (pick yourself up a reward card before you do and start collecting the points!)

 

But why don't you just bring your current straighteners with you and get a travel adapter?

Also: cell phones (mobiles). I've been doing research online and I'm doing pay-as-you-go...I think there's a service with O2 that looks good for me. Over here in America, service coverage with some carriers isn't so good (T Mobile over here isn't nearly as good as Verizon and AT&T for coverage, for example). Maybe our coverage issues have a lot to do with how fricking huge our country is, but are all UK mobile carriers pretty much the same in terms of service coverage, or are some companies crap like they are here?

Yep, you can get hair straigteners at Boots (pick yourself up a reward card before you do and start collecting the points!)

 

But why don't you just bring your current straighteners with you and get a travel adapter?

 

I did that last year when I lived in Holland and when I visited England...because you guys have SO much more energy coursing through your regular outlets (twice as much as here, I think!), the hair straightener tended to get really confused and didn't know when to stop heating up and go into various automatic settings, and I found it wasn't as effective as it was in an American plug...it would just blink and blink and blink and act crazy :P.

 

I'm going to have enough to plug into travel adapters anyway, I think...I can always get more, but they're so heavy and bulky, and usually they cover up the other outlet in the socket on the wall as well.

Mobile phone network coverage has gotten better in recent years when the mobile phone companies have started sharing the towers, but there are some places where coverage for certain mobiles is poor.

 

But Pay as you go is a good option, I'm currently on a package which gives me £40 worth of free credit when i top up by £20, which is helpful. Once you get over here, it might be worth while having a day out looking in the various shops to get the best tariff for your needs.

 

Have respect for the 230volts (compared to 110 volts isn't it?) :P

 

As for travel adapters, I'm pretty sure you can buy packets which contains small adapters turning American style plugs into the 3-pin plugs.

I'm assuming your going to be living in halls?

 

The easiest thing to do would be to ask other people in the halls what network they're with and that way you'll find out if there are any blackspots. For example, I can't get reception on Orange in my house, but since I switched to O2, I'm fine

That's a good idea.

 

I used to be on Vodafone, but found that the network coverage where I lived was a bit pants, so I switched to Tesco Mobile (which uses the O2 network).

I'm assuming your going to be living in halls?

 

The easiest thing to do would be to ask other people in the halls what network they're with and that way you'll find out if there are any blackspots. For example, I can't get reception on Orange in my house, but since I switched to O2, I'm fine

 

I wish I could do that, but I'm going to be in London for a month before I even get to the halls, and I really need a phone in London from day one :P. I just hope whatever I go with won't have a problem in Norwich!

 

Mobile phone network coverage has gotten better in recent years when the mobile phone companies have started sharing the towers, but there are some places where coverage for certain mobiles is poor.

 

But Pay as you go is a good option, I'm currently on a package which gives me £40 worth of free credit when i top up by £20, which is helpful. Once you get over here, it might be worth while having a day out looking in the various shops to get the best tariff for your needs.

 

Have respect for the 230volts (compared to 110 volts isn't it?) :P

 

As for travel adapters, I'm pretty sure you can buy packets which contains small adapters turning American style plugs into the 3-pin plugs.

 

110 volts is right, I think...I once got zapped, and I'll tell you, I do NOT plan on getting electrocuted in England with twice as much power! :wreck:. I have three adapters, so no worries there, as I'll need them for my computer and chargers for cameras and iPods etc, but I just find some things don't run at top performance on adapters at all...I can't get away from using one for my computer, but batteries take ages longer to charge, and it made my hair straightener wonky.

 

As for phones, I'll definitely shop around on my first day there, but through doing preliminary internet research, I found a deal with O2 that allows me to get a certain number of free international call minutes every time I top up my account with certain amounts each month. That'll be great to use my regular phone to occasionally call home rather than having to use calling cards and Skype every time!

 

Thanks a lot for bearing with me, guys :nice:. It's nicer and more immediate to get answers/suggestions from real people rather than sorting through Google results each time :D.

I've been on Vodafone for over 10 years without any problems but there are lots of different choices out there :)

 

Take a browse at http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/ for typical tariffs etc for each available network, they do all the main ones. However I would buy from the network directly rather than via Carphone :)

Look for a Norwich residents community, and if can find one ask in there about mobile networks.

 

Or take a browse at http://www.phones4u.co.uk/ for tariffs ;)

Oi, good luck Chelsea.. I have a feeling you'll be fine, though I have to say I think the most terrifying thing for me would be driving on the other side!!

OH! You might want to learn to drive a stickshift!! Correct me if I'm wrong, Brits, but at least in Europe 90% of cars are on manual transmission and it's not so easy to get your hands on an automatic.

Thanks for the links, guys :nice:.

 

It's interesting, I'm noticing British carriers don't seem to have a lot of phones with QWERTY keyboards...that's all the rage here now, and I'm totally spoiled by mine that I wonder how hard it'll be for me to go back to regular texting! :P

 

Oh, how hard life is :lol:.

Oi, good luck Chelsea.. I have a feeling you'll be fine, though I have to say I think the most terrifying thing for me would be driving on the other side!!

OH! You might want to learn to drive a stickshift!! Correct me if I'm wrong, Brits, but at least in Europe 90% of cars are on manual transmission and it's not so easy to get your hands on an automatic.

 

Haha, well I definitely won't be driving this year at all, so I'm not too worried, but the idea driving on the other side terrifies me. However, if I stick around for another year (where I still won't have a car, but graduating from a British university and all that might lead to me staying in England for a while for jobs etc. :sneaky:), I might have to face that eventually :wreck:.

 

I actually learned to drive on manual transmission, so I know the basics, but I haven't done it in years, so I figure that the next time I'm forced to drive manual, I'll stall the thing about 400 times.

Hehe, well as long as you know how that's your golden ticket, it's like riding a bike even if you're rickety at first... (this is why learning on manual is really the best)

 

Also...unlockable phones? Just take your american phone anyplace and they'll unlock it so you can put any SIM card in. costs about 20 bucks.

I'm on Verizon, and most non-smart Verizon phones don't use SIM cards :dozey:. There's not even a slot for one behind the battery >.<

 

I wish I could do that, though!

bleeeeeergh! that's really annoying. This is why iPhone triumphs :P

I want an iPhone so badly it hurts :bigcry:. Verizon says they'll have them by Christmas (I don't know if I should believe that), so I plan to ask for one if it's true, unlock it, and bring it back to England :dance:. We'll see if Verizon holds up their end of the deal. And if my dad is willing to pay the astronomical data fees :lol:.

Aw yeah, AT&T makes you pay 30 more bucks a month for unlimited data use. hopefully verizon will release them. It's the new one too, isn't it.. i've had the 3G for a year but I guess it's lame now.

I don't know, some rumors are that they'll be completely different iPhones. Some say that it'll be the "iPhone Lite," which is total crap if that's true. I want a real iPhone, dammit! But if it's the real iPhone, I just hope the data prices are better. After that, all I need to learn how to do is type on a touch screen...MAN I suck at that :lol:.

 

And isn't the 3Gs, like, not THAT different from the 3G? They say it's faster, I guess, and it can take video...but other than that, I'd be perfectly fine with the 3G :P.

Yeah, it's the video and a bit of speed only really (and a crapload of $$. this is how we get gypped)

the new software is available for download for 3G as well, and soon MMS will be too.

You couldn't MMS before?! I know that the 3G doesn't have video, so no video messages, but no picture messages either?! What's the point of having a camera phone, then :lol:.

Oi, good luck Chelsea.. I have a feeling you'll be fine, though I have to say I think the most terrifying thing for me would be driving on the other side!!

OH! You might want to learn to drive a stickshift!! Correct me if I'm wrong, Brits, but at least in Europe 90% of cars are on manual transmission and it's not so easy to get your hands on an automatic.

 

UK it's more like 70% manual, 30% automatic.

Thanks for the links, guys :nice:.

 

It's interesting, I'm noticing British carriers don't seem to have a lot of phones with QWERTY keyboards...that's all the rage here now, and I'm totally spoiled by mine that I wonder how hard it'll be for me to go back to regular texting! :P

 

Oh, how hard life is :lol:.

 

Touch-screen phones normally have QWERTY keyboards on the touch-screen to use.

 

I'm on Verizon, and most non-smart Verizon phones don't use SIM cards :dozey:. There's not even a slot for one behind the battery >.<

 

I wish I could do that, though!

 

That's not very good, no SIM cards

UK it's more like 70% manual, 30% automatic.

 

You reckon? I only know one person with an automatic...

You reckon? I only know one person with an automatic...

 

Yeah I think he's talking out of his bum, I don't know anyone who knows anyone who drives an Automatic.

Someday I'll learn manual well, and perhaps then I'll understand why it's preferable. I would say in America it's like 70% automatic, 30% manual.