Ok, I"m feeling a little stupid here. The tip about going to the internet worked. I had the signal indication and had logged in on my laptop so I thought I was connected on the phone. But it turns out I needed to do same login drill with the iphone. Once I had logged in to a website on my phone, I went to Truphone and my credit popped up immediately. Got through to home with real good quality. Thanks guys.
One other question. While troubleshooting I tried to dial a number in the states using the "+" sign but kept getting the 0. What's the trick to dialing a +?