Question Using a Motorola G8 mobile phone when in the USA

[victim311]

I will shortly be visiting the United States with some friends. All of us are from the UK. I have a fairly old Motorola G8 android phone on a very basic monthly contract with O2. Whilst in the States I will need to send texts to one or more of my friends' mobiles and in turn receive texts from them. Will I be able to do this without incurring extra charges?

 

[B. Diddy]

Are you intending to use your existing O2 plan, or purchase a temporary US plan while visiting?

Have you contacted O2 to find out what your options are? If your current plan doesn't include texting abroad, then they might still have a very economical add-on for the trip.

 

[Madd62]

There's not much here... >>..

Travelling to the USA | Help & Support | O2

Before you can use wifi on the Underground, you'll need to register for O2 wifi. You can download the O2 wifi App for iOS and Android, or register in any of our O2 wifi hotspots. Find out more about how to access wifi on the underground.

www.o2.co.uk

.... and I haven't travelled abroad for years, but even though roaming is getting cheaper or inclusive - I would guess that texting another O2 user within a mile of each other in the US is not what roaming is designed for, and could be exorbitantly expensive.

So, as B. Diddy said it's normally wise to buy a temporary local sim in the US, even though you would have a different number (you can redirect your calls but again check the costs with O2 (I use EE).

However if you're older Moto G8 is suitable (see article) you can still either text and call over data or wifi.

A texting service over data / wifi like WhatsApp should work well if you can get 4G when there's no wifi.
(set WhatsApp up before you go)

Again speak to O2 for sure, and I could be miles out of touch.

 

[Madd62]

Again though, as a recent user, a WhatsApp account was focused on your mobile number, but that's changing.

Ein WhatsApp-Konto – jetzt auf mehreren Telefonen nutzbar

Ein WhatsApp-Konto – jetzt auf mehreren Telefonen nutzbar Im letzten Jahr haben wir die Möglic...

blog.whatsapp.com

 

[victim311]

I will shortly be visiting the United States with some friends. All of us are from the UK. I have a fairly old Motorola G8 android phone on a very basic monthly contract with O2. Whilst in the States I will need to send texts to one or more of my friends' mobiles and in turn receive texts from them. Will I be able to do this without incurring extra charges?

Thanks to everyone who commented