HUGE. MISTAKE.
Not what my phone looks like. But from the same era... circa 2003.
It is a piece of crap cell phone and it costs a lot of money to use. If you are doing this program, make sure you bring your Blackberry or iPhone or Driod with you and use it. Apparently there is a way to "unlock" your phone, making it cheaper to use and call home from, as well as call people within the UK.
Calling people with UK cell phones costs me about 25 pents (.25 pounds) per minute. That means a 4 minute phone call to someone to discuss plans for the evening will cost me $1.60. My phone bill for last month was 60 dollars.
Text messages within the UK costs me 10 pents per text and for outside of the UK 15 pents per text message. Not only is it expensive to have, but there is no service inside of the house where I live. I have to go outside to have an actual conversation.
I told myself "Hey, I'm in London I don't need a proper cell phone. I'll manage!" That perky attitude got me no where and one of the things I miss most, after my cat Coco aka CocoBear, is my iPhone. *tears*
Coco. My baby. Str8 Chillin'.
Oh, and if you have a crap U.S. cell phone that you don't want to bring, that is totally fine. I'd recommend finding a cell phone store in the area and getting a pay as you go phone. You're going to want to call and text people within the UK, not home because you can easily just skype someone from home.
Okay, I'm done ranting =)