Mobile Phone Query - a phone which can be used here and in America without it costing a fortune?

[Earlybird]

DD and I will be moving to America in about 3 weeks and will be there at least 2 years with intermittent visits back to the UK (for as long as 6 weeks at a time back here). I am not a big mobile phone user and have a dinosaur of a phone. If it is relevant, I use Vodaphone, and do pay as you go which suits me.

I would like to get a new phone that can be used in the UK and in America without being exorbitantly expensive. Someone said I should buy a phone there (I already have a phone number there and use Verizon), and then simply change out to a UK SIM card when I am physically in this country.

Is that possible? Any advice, pitfalls, etc? Want to avoid long contracts and expensive roaming charges. All thoughts/recommendations welcome.

I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to use a UK sim in a US phone. The cheapest way to get a UK sim is probably to buy a cheapo pay as you go phone on a network that suits you. If your US phone is locked to it's network, you may need to get it unlocked to use another sim - I'm not sure how you do that, but I know it can be done. But as you would have 2 different numbers, it's probably just as easy to have 2 cheapish phones.

We bought a mobile in the US the last time we were there, as it worked out cheaper than taking incoming calls on the UK mobile, and with the exchange rate at the moment, it would be even less expensive now - dh just put a voicemail message with the number on the UK mobile.

the US uses different frequency bands from Europe. so make sure you buy a quadband phone that can transmit/receive on all frequencies.
Get one that is not locked to any network, and the cheapest option will probably be to have a US SIM for when you are in America, and a UK one for use here. (They will ahve differetn numbers of course.)
Alternatively, buy one in the States as your main phone, getting the best deal you can, and buy a cheap pay as you go in the UK for use when you are here. The advantage of that would be, that you can access your contacts on your American SIM while you are in the UK, without having to swop the SIMs.

You can buy pay as you go SIMs on their own, by the way.

You just need a triband phone. I think it's easier to buy a phone here, tbh, and use your PAYG sim in it here, and then buy a sim there.

NB: being able to buy and move sims is a very new thing over there, well, at least in Canada. Last year was the last time I found I could buy a sim, and stick it in my UK phone, and have a Canadian number while there. Before then, when I showed people my sim or explained how it worked they were all impressed, but explained it wasn't how it is there.

Oh, and you pay to receive calls on your mobile in the US. Not just make them. (But people don't pay to call you.) It's annoying.

Lots to consider here, so thank you very much for advice. Will concentrate (and probably ask more questions) a bit later after the school run....

Triband phones are generally cheaper in the US.

However what I did (I was living half and half due to work) was I had a phone on Vodafone on minimal contract and bought an AT&T calling card (which I used on landlines)

NQC - I never paid for people to call me! It was just over £1 a minute to call home on my mobile though.

Much cheaper to get a calling card or a long distance tariff with a land line company.