I want to buy a sim card at the airport

[ArtiKate]

Hello, I plan to come to London on the week of June 5th. I want to buy a local sim card. I have a question. Is it possible to purchase the sim card at the airport after I land? How much is it? Best regards, Kate

[drey_p]

Hi there

There are no Vodafone stores at the airports.  However, depending on which airport and terminal you fly into, there are third parties that supply SIM cards.  Vodafone PAYG SIM cards are usually free but you will need to pay to top the SIM up so you can opt into a bundle and make / receive calls. 

[grolschuk · Accepted solution]

As far as I know, there is no longer a Vodafone store at Heathrow if that is where you are flying into.

There may be other stores around that sell a selection of SIM cards from the various mobile networks, and depending on the store, it will cost £1 - £5 for the SIM, and more if you get it with calling credit.

It may be better to wait until you get to your destination, if there is a Vodafone shop near by, to pick one up.

The SIM will be free of charge, so you only pay for the pre-loaded credit on it.

The staff in the shop should be able to help get you up and running before leaving them too.

Here is the store locator if you know where you are going to be

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/find-a-store/index.htm?sssourcesiteid=vodafoneuk&cid=rdr-4437-02

[ArtiKate]

Thanks!!!The information is very useful!!!

[Nabs]

@ArtiKate just to add to @drey_p's response, depending on where you are heading in London you may be better picking a SIM up once you are in town.
To find the store closest to where you're staying have a look at the store finder https://www.vodafone.co.uk/find-a-store/

[Annie_N]

Aargh! I just posted at length, and it vanished into thin air! In the meantime, others have given you most of the info I had covered. 

There is a non-Vodafone store at Heathrow T2 - on leaving customs you walk to the end of the channel and arrive at the Meeting Point where there is a seating area, just to the left of the seats there are a few shops, the shop selling sims in there.

The SIMs sold by such stores will be opted in to the Big Value Bundle, but you might be better served by one of the Freebies (see separate tab on the same link), depending on your planned usage. In particular, the bundles don't include any calls to non-UK numbers, so the Freebie International Minutes might be an option. You'd have to go to a Vodafone store for that.

Another thing that would almost certainly be useful is to opt in to Vodafone International - doing so is entirely free on PAYG, and it saves a very considerable amount on calls to certain countries.

I'm sure there was something else I said first time around, but can't think what it was!