Hello all-
I may be on a 3-4 month visit to Western Europe. Most likely will be buying an unlocked, 3-band GSM (900/1800/1900) handset in the USA, before departing.
Ideally desire a pre-paid ("pay as you go") european cell phone plan, but with the SAME, UNCHANGING Phone #.
I've read many of the excellent posts from xyz123 and others on the subject.
As I understand it, cheapest solution is to buy country specific SIM cards in each country:
1) pros- cheap local calls; usually free incoming calls.
2) cons- phone # changes with every SIM card.
I might be willing to pay somewhat more to have the convenience of an unchanging number, but not the outrageous USA-style rates of $2-3 a minute.
The first country to be visited is the UK, so one possibility is buying a SIM card and prepaid minutes from a UK operator (Vodafone? Virgin?), and then use it in Spain, France, Italy, etc.
Is this a really bad idea?
Are there any recommended providers for a 1-number, "go anywhere" SIM card?
What are the pitfalls to watch out for?
"International" SIM cards for unlocked GSM cell phones
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I don't know if this applies to Sim cards, but I was shopping for a calling card once - the US-to-Europe, and Europe-to-US calls were reasonable (.25/min) but the Europe-to-Europe calls were the expensive ones ($3/min).
Donl' know who your cell service provider is in the US, but I use AT&T wireless, and when planning for a European trip earlier this year found out that they have a plan that lets you keep your US # and calls are only about .85/minute. I used it in France and it was great - no extra SIM card to keep track of, no changing #. May have been a few cents more than in in-country SIM but it was worth it for the convenience.
The only US based phone company that has reasonable rates in Europe is T-Mobile, which is actually a German company. The rate is 0.99 USD per minute from Europe to the States. If you are going to be gone for any length of time, then I would suggest you either purchase a T-Mobile account with a GMS phone and use it as is, and/or wait until you arrive in Europe and pick up a local service. You can recharge the phone at any number of locations, including grocery stores.
Most cell phone services in Europe (France and Spain) offer free incoming calls from anywhere in the world and local calls at a fairly reasonable rate. You will not be able to sign up for a standard cell phone service unless you have a bank account in the country where you sign up for the phone, so the phone will have to be one of the pre-paid units. You may also want to use the pre-paid service with a calling card for calling back to the States. If you buy an unlocked phone, then you can have multiple Sim cars, one for each country. If you purchase a phone for T-Mobile, or some other service, you will not be able to get the "unlock" code for several months, although there are places in Spain and France where you can have the phone unlocked for 19.95 euros.
.99 US is the kind of rates common here 10 years ago.
I've been checking my operator and the rates for international calls (prepaid accounts) are .42 euros/working days and .21 euros otherwise.
Incoming calls are always free, except is the SIM is working in a foreign network, as explained in another post
You can check the latest phone rental plans, rates and calling card plans at "On Spanish Time" (http://www.onspanishtime.com/web/callingrates.htm)
They also handle sim cards for both Spain and France.