Cell Phones in Europe

[katmich12]

We are going on a Med cruise in September. I have a 3G T-Mobile phone and was told to unlock it and get a new SIM card. Will I need a new card for each country? I will mostly text, not call. Would it be easier to get a prepaid phone in Europe?

[CruiserBruce]

You won't need a new sim card for each country. Can't answer about texting on a pre-paid phone.

[trish1c]

Ask your cell phone carrier what they recomend. When we changed countries my phone would make some funny noises & flash for a few minutes while it connected to the "new" provider. The computer did all the work. I had Verizon; for I think $99 they sent me a whole new phone for the trip & I switched my # to the new device, then swicthed it back when I got home & mailed them the phone back. It was very easy.

[Don P]

We just came back from a two week cruise on the Danube. We traveled to Paris, Budapest, Bratislava, Passou (Germany) Austria. What you can do is check out http://www.Mobal.com. We bought an international phone which we own. Prices range as low as $29 and go to a couple of hundred. We paid $69. There is no monthly service charge and the phone worked perfectly all

 

throughout Europe. We paid $1.25 per minute for incoming and $1.50 per minute for outgoing. The reception was equal or better than at home. When we got back to the states we had used about $100 in minutes. My wife spoke to our daughter at least every other day for between three and five minutes. We removed the battery when we got home and will put it back in when we go out of the country again. Some countries charge more than what I mentioned. You can get the rates for each country by going on the website. This was the easiest way to deal with staying in touch. In previous years I got an international loaner from Verizon and it was more problematic than it was worth. You can also get an 888 exchange from Mobal for $24 a year. This allows stateside people to call you while you're in Europe and they don't get hit with an international rate. We only gave that 888 number to our daughter. For the privilege of allowing our daughter to call us on that 888 exchange we had to agree to a $.49 per minute additional charge onto of the $1.25 charge we were paying for the incoming charge. I know this is a lot of info so all I can suggest is you go on the website.

 

Prices are be

We are going on a Med cruise in September. I have a 3G T-Mobile phone and was told to unlock it and get a new SIM card. Will I need a new card for each country? I will mostly text, not call. Would it be easier to get a prepaid phone in Europe?

[glasgow_canuck]

We can get pay as you go sim cards in the UK for £5; quite often there will be a deal where they'll have £5-£10 free airtime loaded on them. You'd need to have a GSM phone to use it in Europe. Not all North American mobile companies use GSM, so you might need to buy or rent one. Mobiles & pay as you go SIMS can be picked up pretty cheaply in the UK and I think in mainland Europe as well.

We bought a north american SIM via Telestial for when we travel home to Canada as using our UK mobiles in Canada would be quite expensive. You could get something from them as well for use in Europe, but it would likely be more expensive than picking up a mobile / SIM when you arrive

[Essiesmom]

I have just finished reading Rick Steves' Venice, and he addresses mobile phone usage. T-Mobile already uses GSM technology, but you need to get it unlocked, and then buy a SIM card. I don't understand all the technology, and won't be doing it even though I have a t-Mobile phone. But any travel book in a bookstore has a section about this. EM

[SadieN]

To use your own phone the phone needs to be a quadband phone. Usually somewhere in the battery compartment it will state this.

 

You also need to unlock your phone. Easy to do. Call your provider and they will (might) give you the unlock code. Not all phones will be allowed to be unlocked. (Not the OPs situation but AT&T won't even unlock a first gen iPhone.)

 

There are different companies selling European sim cards. Some will give you an UK number. Check out the rates and which phone company to use.

Telestial is another company to check out.

http://www.telestial.com/

 

For Italy we got an Italian sim card online and had to register it before we used it. We had to fill out paperwork and send in a copy of one passport. Of course it didn't register correctly and had to go to a company store to get it straightened out.

Many of the European phone plans seem to be pay as you go.

 

We used unlocked (our own) Motorola Razor and Samsung phones. DD has had no problem using her Blackberry in Europe or the States. Before we realized that our old phones would work we checked out a local used cell phone store. They had unlocked phones and European sim cards for sale.

[katmich12]

To use your own phone the phone needs to be a quadband phone. Usually somewhere in the battery compartment it will state this.

 

You also need to unlock your phone. Easy to do. Call your provider and they will (might) give you the unlock code. Not all phones will be allowed to be unlocked. (Not the OPs situation but AT&T won't even unlock a first gen iPhone.)

 

There are different companies selling European sim cards. Some will give you an UK number. Check out the rates and which phone company to use.

Telestial is another company to check out.

http://www.telestial.com/

 

For Italy we got an Italian sim card online and had to register it before we used it. We had to fill out paperwork and send in a copy of one passport. Of course it didn't register correctly and had to go to a company store to get it straightened out.

Many of the European phone plans seem to be pay as you go.

 

We used unlocked (our own) Motorola Razor and Samsung phones. DD has had no problem using her Blackberry in Europe or the States. Before we realized that our old phones would work we checked out a local used cell phone store. They had unlocked phones and European sim cards for sale.

Thanks for the info. I want to use my own phone and T-mobile will unlock it. I am going to buy an international SIM card before I leave. I will check out the company you suggested.

[katmich12]

To use your own phone the phone needs to be a quadband phone. Usually somewhere in the battery compartment it will state this.

 

You also need to unlock your phone. Easy to do. Call your provider and they will (might) give you the unlock code. Not all phones will be allowed to be unlocked. (Not the OPs situation but AT&T won't even unlock a first gen iPhone.)

 

There are different companies selling European sim cards. Some will give you an UK number. Check out the rates and which phone company to use.

Telestial is another company to check out.

http://www.telestial.com/

 

For Italy we got an Italian sim card online and had to register it before we used it. We had to fill out paperwork and send in a copy of one passport. Of course it didn't register correctly and had to go to a company store to get it straightened out.

Many of the European phone plans seem to be pay as you go.

 

We used unlocked (our own) Motorola Razor and Samsung phones. DD has had no problem using her Blackberry in Europe or the States. Before we realized that our old phones would work we checked out a local used cell phone store. They had unlocked phones and European sim cards for sale.

 

Have you used telestial? It seems like the best choice for me.

[Underwatr]

If you don't use many minutes or much data (it's a good ideato know how to turn off data roaming) your best bet just might be to roam on your TMobile phone. I know that this will be cheaper than using Mobal or Telestial - TMobile is $1 or $1.25/minute and Mobal is roughly twice that. Whether it ends up being cheaper than buying prepaid SIMs depends on how many countries you visit and how much time you'll use in each country. There's an upfront cost for each country's SIM and you may not completely use the minutes purchsed in each country.

 

Mobal/telestial are best if you don't already have a postpaid phone that will roam in the country you're visiting.

[UlvaZell]

We are going on a Med cruise in September. I have a 3G T-Mobile phone and was told to unlock it and get a new SIM card. Will I need a new card for each country? I will mostly text, not call. Would it be easier to get a prepaid phone in Europe?

 

Check with your current carrier about the international roaming charges as well as international texting charges. If you really only need your cell for emergency/infrequent/short calls it might be cheaper to simply pay the international roaming charges with your current carrier and then you won't have to deal with acquiring and changing out SIM cards...

[katmich12]

Check with your current carrier about the international roaming charges as well as international texting charges. If you really only need your cell for emergency/infrequent/short calls it might be cheaper to simply pay the international roaming charges with your current carrier and then you won't have to deal with acquiring and changing out SIM cards...

Looks like I have more research to do! I only want an emergency contact, ability to use the internet, send photos and texts. I now have a prepaid phone so I need to find out if I can just pay T-mobile. That would be easiest of all as I will always know my balance and then just order more minutes that I can always use at home. Thanks!

[UlvaZell]

Looks like I have more research to do! I only want an emergency contact, ability to use the internet, send photos and texts. I now have a prepaid phone so I need to find out if I can just pay T-mobile. That would be easiest of all as I will always know my balance and then just order more minutes that I can always use at home. Thanks!

 

Even though I have international access I usually find WiFi somewhere and update my email, FB or do a Skype call. Occasionally I will send text messages. Otherwise I set my phone to "Airplane" mode and turn off my data roaming. International data is expensive...

[Underwatr]

TMobile prepaid only roams to Canada, Dominican Republic, Haiti & Mexico.

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/prepaidrates.aspx

[Don P]

I just got the Mobal phone bill from our two week trip to Europe. We went to France, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia. I was charged $1.25 for incoming and $1.50 for outgoing. In one of those countries it was $2.25 a minute because they were not part of the European union. We texted there for $.80 cents a text. By the way, all incoming texts are totally FREE. this was the simplest way to handle phone service in Europe. You can buy the international Mobal phone for as low as $25. You don't have to worry about roaming charges because THERE AREN'T ANY! The only upfront cost was for the phone. The model we got slowed for texting and cost more than the basic model. This is a no-brainer. We never worried about minutes or roaming charges and the reception was phenomenal.

 

If you don't use many minutes or much data (it's a good ideato know how to turn off data roaming) your best bet just might be to roam on your TMobile phone. I know that this will be cheaper than using Mobal or Telestial - TMobile is $1 or $1.25/minute and Mobal is roughly twice that. Whether it ends up being cheaper than buying prepaid SIMs depends on how many countries you visit and how much time you'll use in each country. There's an upfront cost for each country's SIM and you may not completely use the minutes purchsed in each country.

 

Mobal/telestial are best if you don't already have a postpaid phone that will roam in the country you're visiting.

[Underwatr]

Country-to-country rates with Mobal are a bit higher - I think that might be the in-country rate or the rate to call the US.

As an example, my rate in France for incoming calls and calls to France is $1.25 per minute. Calls to the US are $1.50/minute. Other international calls (e.g., country-to-country, or while in Paris, calling a friend in Paris who had a Swiss cellphone number) are $2.95/minute.

When I had a T-Mobile postpaid cellphone I paid 99 cents per minute for all calls while I was in Europe. But now my only T-Mobile account is prepaid so I can't use that number in Europe.

You can get a Mobal phone with international SIM for as little as $29.

[Don P]

The way I read the request this person was worried about staying in touch for emergencies; not to call a local restaurant for a reservation. If that's the case than Mobal is one of the easiest ways to go.

 

Country-to-country rates with Mobal are a bit

 

higher - I think that might be the in-country rate or the rate to call the US.

As an example, my rate in France for incoming calls and calls to France is $1.25 per minute. Calls to the US are $1.50/minute. Other international calls (e.g., country-to-country, or while in Paris, calling a friend in Paris who had a Swiss cellphone number) are $2.95/minute.

When I had a T-Mobile postpaid cellphone I paid 99 cents per minute for all calls while I was in Europe. But now my only T-Mobile account is prepaid so I can't use that number in Europe.

You can get a Mobal phone with international SIM for as little as $29.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Do WiFi it is mush easer