Best iPhone 5 PAYG nano-SIM options for traveling to the UK

If you're visiting the United Kingdom with a GSM unlocked iPhone 5, your main options for Pay As You Go SIMs are limited to just two of the five major networks. At the time of writing, only T-Mobile and O2 offer nano-SIMs on Pay As You Go (pre-paid) deals. Three will sell you a nano-SIM on a one-month rolling contract, but that's not much use for travelers, as it's subject to all the usual credit requirements. Vodafone and Orange have yet to announce any PAYG nano-SIM options, nor has the community-oriented GiffGaff network.

T-Mobile UK Pay As You Go nano-SIM for iPhone 5

T-Mobile UK's PAYG nano-SIM works just the same as any of the carrier's other PAYG SIMs. After topping up at least 10 of credit, you can choose between three price plans for your iPhone 5 --

• Text Plan - Unlimited UK texts, in addition to your data allowance and calling UK credit.
• Talk Plan - 100 UK minutes, in addition to your data allowance and UK calling credit.
• International Plan - 70 international minutes, in addition to your data allowance and UK calling credit

All of T-Mobile UK's PAYG plans come with unlimited mobile data for browsing and email for the following month, plus a 500MB data allowance for media streaming, which should be more than enough for most travelers. In particular, that 70 minutes of international calls may be ideal for visitors to the UK who want an convenient way to call home without breaking the bank.

O2 UK Pay & Go nano-SIM for iPhone 5

O2's pre-paid nano-SIM option is well hidden, but it does indeed offer them. O2 has a wide range of PAYG plans, each with varying benefits --

• Pay and Go Go Go - 75 minutes, 500 texts and 100MB for a month, for 10. Allowances double after three months. Unlimited texts are added after nine months.
• O2 Unlimited - Unlimited O2 to O2 (UK) calls and texts with a 15 top-up. UK web browsing charged at 1 per day.
• Text and Web - 500MB data allowance for a month, plus a varying text allowanced based on how much you top up. 10-14 gets you 300, 15 to 29 gets you 500, and after 30 texts are unlimited.
• Simplicity - Starts at 7.50 per month, which gets you unlimited texts. 10.50 will get you 100 minutes and 500 texts, and 15.50 for 300 minutes and unlimited texts. Then add one of three data allowances -- 3 for 100MB, 6 for 500MB or 10 for 1GB.

Other options

It's also worth mentioning that nano-SIM "cutters" are available online to enable brave users to trim down micro-SIMs to nano-SIM size. If the gold contacts are the right size, you should be able to use one of these hole punch-like devices to cut down the plastic around your micro-SIM so that it's the correct size for iPhone 5. You can also attempt this manually using a good old-fashioned pair of scissors, if you're feeling adventurous.

Cutting down SIM cards can be hit and miss, though, so proceed at your own risk if you decide to go ahead with this. However, if successful, you'd be able to slice down any micro-SIM and use Three, Vodafone and Orange PAYG SIMs in your iPhone 5.

If you do decide to cut a larger SIM down to size, you may want to consider a micro-SIM from Three, which in our opinion offers by the most attractive PAYG plans for heavy data users. You can top up 15 and get unlimited data, 300 minutes and 3000 texts, or top up 10 for 500MB, 100 minutes and 3000 texts.

We've reached out to the other major mobile networks to see if they plan on offering PAYG nano-SIMs anytime soon. We'll update this article with any new information they provide.

• See all international pre-paid/PAYG options