Wow, downvotes for a reasonable question. I never need to connect my phone to my laptop. I've also spotted a pattern of the BBC saying dubiously truthful things recently in tech articles. Example from main evening news last week: "foreigners get better mobile reception in the U.K. than we do". So, no, they obviously don't. But they roam between providers (at cost), as has been the case for decades.
The phone comes with a charger.