eurobuzz GSM cell phone

[6xgrandma]

Has anyone used the eurobuzz GSM cell phone in Europe? I have seen good reviews on their land use, but don't know if they work on cruise ships.

[wcyellin]

I have not heard of Eurobuzz, but I looked at their web site, and I see nothing to get excited about.

 

They seem expensive, and you pay for both incoming and outgoing calls.

 

The best plan for you depends on your useage, if you'll be making (or receiving) only a few calls, just stick with your home GSM carrier (T-Mobile, ATT, etc).

 

For heavy useage, make sure your GSM phone is "sim unlocked" and buy a local prepaid sim card for the country you're in. Then you'll get a local number, free incoming calls, and much cheaper local calls to the USA or Canada.

[ab0si]

I have not heard of Eurobuzz, but I looked at their web site, and I see nothing to get excited about.

 

They seem expensive, and you pay for both incoming and outgoing calls.

 

The best plan for you depends on your useage, if you'll be making (or receiving) only a few calls, just stick with your home GSM carrier (T-Mobile, ATT, etc).

 

For heavy useage, make sure your GSM phone is "sim unlocked" and buy a local prepaid sim card for the country you're in. Then you'll get a local number, free incoming calls, and much cheaper local calls to the USA or Canada.

 

All true, but be aware that Italy requires pre-registration of sims/cell phones with an Italian number.

[6xgrandma]

Unfortunately, we do not have a local GSM carrier, we are in the very small portion of Nebraska that is still on Alltel, soon to become Verizon, but not until sometime next year. So our phones will not work in Europe.

[hkto]

Phone and prepaid card can be bought in Italy. There is a service called "CellulatAtSea" that allows cell usage on ships in open water. But it's very expensive; my educated guess is around $2.50 per minute.

[breezepark]

my new sprint smartphone also does not work in europe, but would on the cruise ship at very high rates (think was near $3 min). look at http://www.telestial.com for a prepaid global phone package you can get before you go. I can't report yet on if they are any good, but will know in a few weeks :)

[NSBFloridaRetiree]

my new sprint smartphone also does not work in europe, but would on the cruise ship at very high rates (think was near $3 min). look at www.telestial.com for a prepaid global phone package you can get before you go. I can't report yet on if they are any good, but will know in a few weeks :)

 

Looking forward to your experience. I am looking at these carriers:

 

http://www.mobal.com/ very expensive call rates

http://www.eurobuzz.com/ .79 / minute

http://www.cellomobile.com/ rent or buy - rates depend on type of call

http://www.telestial.com/ more expensive than eurobuzz

http://www.callineurope.com/ simple rate structure - less than eurobuzz

[Love the beach]

my new sprint smartphone also does not work in europe, but would on the cruise ship at very high rates (think was near $3 min). look at www.telestial.com for a prepaid global phone package you can get before you go. I can't report yet on if they are any good, but will know in a few weeks :)

Yes, please do let us know. I have been looking into that as well. Thanks

Marge

[D4]

I bought a dual SIM card from Telestial last fall before our first trip to Europe. It worked great and I used it again when we went back 6 months later.

 

I bought the Telestial SIMple card ($19) and a new unlocked quad band phone from Amazon (about $75.) I could have gotten the Telestial Quad Pack instead, but I'm picky and wanted to choose my own quad band phone. I wanted a quad band phone because I also wanted to be able to use it in the US in case we had flight problems.

 

The Telestial SIM card gives me 2 phone numbers and both are always available - one is a US phone number and the other is a UK phone number. That way my adult kids could text/call my US phone number and it wouldn't cost them anything from their cell phones. I gave the UK # to all the tour and transfer providers.

 

I'm very happy with both purchases and intend to buy another Telestial SIMple card and a quad band phone for my DH so we both have one abroad.

 

It's very easy to see your whole call history online through Telestial and you can add more money to the SIM card in several different ways.

[ArthurIhde]

hmmm i have not used it yet

[Love the beach]

I bought a dual SIM card from Telestial last fall before our first trip to Europe. It worked great and I used it again when we went back 6 months later.

 

I bought the Telestial SIMple card ($19) and a new unlocked quad band phone from Amazon (about $75.) I could have gotten the Telestial Quad Pack instead, but I'm picky and wanted to choose my own quad band phone. I wanted a quad band phone because I also wanted to be able to use it in the US in case we had flight problems.

 

The Telestial SIM card gives me 2 phone numbers and both are always available - one is a US phone number and the other is a UK phone number. That way my adult kids could text/call my US phone number and it wouldn't cost them anything from their cell phones. I gave the UK # to all the tour and transfer providers.

 

I'm very happy with both purchases and intend to buy another Telestial SIMple card and a quad band phone for my DH so we both have one abroad.

 

It's very easy to see your whole call history online through Telestial and you can add more money to the SIM card in several different ways.

 

So if you are overseas and your kids call your US number---does it ring on that number or is it forwarded to your UK number?? Also does the sim card work in the different countries you are visiting or do you need a new one for each country? Thanks for any help --I'm still trying to understand how this works!

Marge

[bobalink]

Unfortunately, we do not have a local GSM carrier, we are in the very small portion of Nebraska that is still on Alltel, soon to become Verizon, but not until sometime next year. So our phones will not work in Europe.

 

You may want to look at Verizon Global Travel Program. Check out their website and contact them directly with your questions.

 

They sent us a global phone and when we returned we mailed it back. We used their services while on our Western Med cruise in August. No troubles, no hidden fees, very economical.

 

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Global_Travel/index.html

 

Hope that is helpful!

[D4]

So if you are overseas and your kids call your US number---does it ring on that number or is it forwarded to your UK number?? Also does the sim card work in the different countries you are visiting or do you need a new one for each country? Thanks for any help --I'm still trying to understand how this works!

Marge

 

The Telestial SIMple card has both phone numbers on it and they're both active at the same time. So my kids could call or text my US # and they'd get me and a tour operator could call my UK # and they'd get me. I didn't have to switch anything to receive either type of call.

 

The SIMple card I got works in 150+ countries including all of Europe, I think. If you look at the details on the Telestial site, you can see each country listed along with the rates for each. I gave the tour and travel arrangement people my UK # because incoming calls on the UK # are free to me. I pay a small amount to receive calls on my US# when I'm out of the country. The charges are all listed on their website.

 

I didn't use the cell phone a lot either trip but it was great to have it. I sent texts when we arrived at our first hotel in Europe to let my kids know we arrived ok. On our last trip in May, our flight to the US ended up being delayed a total of 6 hours (because of the Icelandic volcano) so I kept texting my daughter from the Rome airport each time a new delay was announced. (She was going to pick us up at the bus station.) I let a couple people that were also waiting for the same flight use it to text their relatives when delays were announced. I also used it at various times to call my kids, but not too often because of the time difference. I remember texting and calling my DD while I was touring the Roman Forum because I wanted to remind her of something that day. The connection was always clear and I was very pleased with the service.

 

------------------

We have Verizon cell phones, but I ruled out the Verizon loaner phone because they activate your own cell phone # on it. Some people might like that, but if I'm in Europe, I only want to receive (and pay for) calls/text from my family members.

Edited October 26, 2010 by D4

[Love the beach]

Thanks so much!

Marge

[D4]

USA Today had an article today about using cell phones overseas. It mentions Telestial dual SIM cards as an alternative near the end of the article. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2010-10-26-businesstravel26_ST_N.htm

[NSBFloridaRetiree]

Any further updates on what European SIM card to buy? I already have an unlocked GSM phone and I tested it with an Italian SIM card (a friend's) yesterday. It worked perfectly.

 

So, now I need to choose where to buy a SIM card. I am considering telestial, callineurope and eurobuzz (looks to be less expensive to make calls).

 

What do you recommend?

Edited January 6, 2011 by PowderSpringsDad

[pspercy]

Thanks for the info on Telestial, must check it out.

We're not big cel users so rates don't matter that much (up to a point) but nice to have. I have the cheap phone from Mobal.com , plan works well and no issues regarding billing etc so now I must compare their rates with Telestial . . .

[NSBFloridaRetiree]

Thanks for the info on Telestial, must check it out.

We're not big cell users so rates don't matter that much (up to a point) but nice to have. I have the cheap phone from Mobal.com , plan works well and no issues regarding billing etc so now I must compare their rates with Telestial . . .

 

We're also considering:

 

http://www.callineurope.com/

 

They sell SIMs and their rates are very good.

[KW_Cruisers]

With my new $29 cell phone + $10 shipping from EuroBuzz, I got both a USA number and a European phone number that is to work everywhere we are going except Bermuda.

 

I tried to use it by sending a text to my USA number, but could not pick it up here in the States. Probably both numbers only work in Europe, so I'm hanging in there until we arrive in England on October 18, 2014. (another 13 days)

 

Then, hopefully if a tour guide or hotel needs to contact me, they will be able to reach me. Also, if somebody here in US wants to text it may work for me to get it over there.

 

We'll know soon and let all on here know. Then on our tour next year, we'll be all set too if I don't loose the little Samsung phone.