Debbielynn

Could anyone explain the whole cellphone concept to me? If I put a SIM card in my unlocked phone from USA, I will have a French phone number, which I can use to call my travel buddy or hotel, etc while in France. What happens to my American text messaging and email on AOL? Will I get email on my phone? Will I be able to get texts from the states? I am familiar with WhatsApp- my son was in VIetnam and that worked well but I was on the US end. How will all of this work from the French end? I'm having difficulty explaining it to my travel buddy. I don't know if we should just put our phones on airplane mode and rely just on WiFI when we are able? She is very concerned about communicating with the people back home.

nukesafe

On earlier trips we bought cheapo unlocked GSM phones on eBay, and then got French SIMS. We then bought data SIMs for our iPads. Lots of fiddling and expense, plus wasted time on our vacation.

On our upcoming trip we hope we avoided all of that by switching to T-Mobile. If it works as advertised, we will be able to use our phones/tablets just like at home.

Sarastro

Debbielynn - which service provider are you currently using?

Andrew

Debbielynn, when you buy a French SIM card and replace your US SIM card with the French SIM card, then yes: you will now have a French phone number. You won't be able to get regular phone calls and text messages on your US phone number anymore, until you put the US SIM card back into the phone.

Email doesn't change with a new SIM - only calling and texting.

Texting apps like WhatsApp will work the same no matter what SIM you have installed. They don't use the phone's number directly for texting - they use your WhatsApp account and data over the internet, so they will work on WiFi too.

I use Google Voice for texting. There are different texting and calling apps. I use the Google Hangouts app to make free phone calls back to the US, even to landlines, while I travel. If I had a friend with me and my friend also had Google Hangouts on their phone, the two of us could communicate via Hangouts without using any phone number (or we could use WhatsApp or Skype or whatever other app we both have that we agreed to use to communicate.)

Buying a SIM locally gives you data too so you can use your phone without WiFi - not just for browsing and email but also for WhatsApp, Google Hangouts, etc. - all of which are irrelevant of the phone's SIM card, because they use data over the internet. If you both have French SIM card and French phone numbers, then you could use your phone's calling ability (not data) to contact each other. You're using either minutes or data.

Before my last trip to Slovenia, Italy, and France, I bought a Dutch Vodafone SIM card on eBay that roams in all EU countries (EU roaming costs have been eliminated now). So I didn't have to "fiddle" with anything when I got to Europe - my phone worked as soon as I landed. Others now use T-Mobile or Sprint to get free data and 20 cents/minute calling...or Verizon or AT&T's $10/day plan. Any of those options let you keep your US Phone number and avoid any "fiddling" - but at a cost. For some, the extra cost (at least of the Verizon or AT&T plan) is worth the convenience.

Robert2016

We use T-Mobile, so no worry!

Andrew

T-Mobile is great just not worth the extra expense for some of us.

Robert2016

T-Mobile now has an outstanding plan for those 55 and over, $60/month for two lines. Very hard to beat.

Andrew

Actually, not hard to beat, especially if you need only one line. I pay less than $30/month as it is.

But T-mobile and the others are more practical if you can share on some kind of a family plan. Some of us only have a single line. The best possible rate I could get for T-Mobile right now would be $60/month - assuming I have setup auto-pay and get a rebate for low data use.

AJPeabody

There are phones that take two SIM cards. One could be your foreign SIM and one you US SIM. I assume you can tell the phone which one to use at any particular time. Search for "Dual SIM" on whatever site you are buying your unlocked phone from.

Debbielynn

I am using Verizon in US. I don't want to pay their fees abroad. Andrew, thanks for the info. I think I understand it all better now.

danon

SIM cards are very easy to switch around.
.I often do it several times a day .
for different functions.( if needed)

StCirq

You can also buy cheap multi-SIM phones. I have one I bought on ebay or Amazon for US$25.00 that holds 3 SIMs. I have a U.S., a French one, and an Italian one in it (but of course can switch any one of them out for another country's SIM). When a call comes in from, say, Italy, the phone tells me it's on, e.g., SIM3. If I make a call, it asks me which SIM I want to use. Very easy and inexpensive (I don't do much calling to the USA, though, in case that makes a difference).

Sarastro

Debbielynn - I don´t want to confuse you but what type of phone do you have? Verizon uses the CDMA format which is not compatible with the world wide GSM standard.

Are you sure that you can put a GSM card into your phone? Many of the Verizon phones have GSM capability, the iphones for example, but this is something you should check if you want to be able to use a French provider.

Andrew

Any modern smart phone, Verizon or otherwise, should be able to roam on GSM in Europe and have a SIM card slot. Old flip phones probably don't have SIM cards, but the OP mentioned WhatsApp so I assume she has a smart phone.

I have a multi-SIM phone (I actually didn't buy it because it has two SIM slots, but it does). But I assume most travelers who already have an unlocked smart phone would prefer just to keep it and swap SIM cards temporarily, because they'll have all of their apps, contacts, etc. already in the phone. Buying a cheap Android phone makes sense if you don't already have an unlocked smart phone (AT&T phones that aren't paid off may be locked - Verizon phones are unlocked either way).

Just make sure you bring something to keep your old SIM card in! They are small and easy to lose. Find a little plastic case or something that will snap close, bigger than the SIM card itself so harder to lose. You will need the old SIM card to get your phone back to your old phone number etc. after leaving France.

danon

"something to keep your old SIM card in"

Good point.
I rember seeing a man at the Amsterdam airport with a (pill like) box
with at least half a dozen of SIMs

rs899

"Actually, not hard to beat, especially if you need only one line. I pay less than $30/month as it is."

Yeah. I just switched the wife off of her expensive $9 Tello plan to a better $7 TPO plan. If you can really USE all the t-mo stuff, great. For example, if it was rich enough in data to use it to tether at home and dump the wifi, it would be worth it.

Good summary, Andrew. I did much the same in Europe two months ago with a ThreeUK sim (which works all over Europe). Cost me about $30 for 12 GB of data and they have a smaller deal for about $20 with 1 gig of data. You can activate them here in the US and have them "just work" when you arrive in Europe.

Debbielynn

My husband used his Verizon phone last yr in Greece, no problem. I have a different Samsung model and they couldn't get the SIM card to work. I found out when I came back that it was no unlocked, even thought they told me it was before the trip. I had to buy a phone in Greece, which I used on the trip but now can't find it. I am planning on getting a new phone anyway, so I will really make sure it is unlocked. RS899, where do you get the threeUK sim?

Debbielynn

Andrew, found that you posted on holland forum about the Dutch SIM card. Good info.

rs899

The threeUK sim can be found on ebay for $2. It takes about 10 days to get here. You will need to use mobiletopup.co.uk to fund it and that costs about $1.50.

Andrew

Verizon does not lock their 4GLTE phones - they are not allowed by, per agreement with the FCC. If you ask them for an unlock code for a 4GLTE phone, they will have nothing to give you. (By contrast, AT&T DOES lock their phones, and they can unlock them with a code - if your phone is paid off.)

So if a Verizon Samsung phone didn't work in Greece with a SIM card, it must either be an old phone (not 4GLTE) or not a problem with being locked. If it's an old phone, Verizon will unlock it and has already tried to, in my understanding. Verizon CDMA phones do need to be set to roam on GSM networks, though, and how you do that seems to vary by the make and model of phone. I have a cheap prepaid Verizon Moto E for example that will roam on GSM - in fact, that's the only way I've ever used it (on T-Mobile for a while). But getting the phone to switch to GSM was not simple. On some phones, it is easier than on others.

Knowing the exact Samsung model you have would help to figure out why it might not have worked in Greece with a SIM card.