jancantravel

Verizon says current Samsung j3 cell phone purchased in September of 16 won't work in UK, Spain, and Germany, and that buying a sim card in each country won't help according to Verizon. Verizon has an option to rent a phone for a month for an additional $40.00 bundle price and $20.00 mailing fees...Does anyone have experience renting a phone in Europe for a month? Cost? Service? I will need phone primarily for times I am traveling alone in Europe and trying to meet up with family members. At 75 years of age my cell phone skills are not great. Suggestions?

Robert2016

Your Samsung mobile phone will not work apparently because it is not a GMS type phone. If it weee me I would drop Verizon and switch to T-Móbile or AT&T, but if not, renting a cell phone may be your only option.

In your case, going through Verizon be the easiest option.

PatrickLondon

If you just need it for occasional simple phone calls and texts, as far as the UK is concerned you might just as well buy a cheap one with a local pay-as-you-go SIM. AFAIK the carriers will have deals across the EU, so the SIM will work as well in Spain and Germany. However, I don't know about buying cheap phones elsewhere in the EU.

For example, in the UK the big supermarket chains like Tesco have a range, or you could ask in a specialist firm like CarphoneWarehouse (which has subsidiaries elsewhere on the Continent).
https://shop.tescomobile.com/pay-as-.../mobile-phones
https://www.carphonewarehouse.com/pay-as-you-go.html

Cowboy1968

What Patrick wrote.
Mobile phones for voice and text messages only (and sometimes even some internet functions) are dirt cheap here.

A few days ago, I even saw a vending machine at the airport in Munich where you could get one for €15.

If Germany is your first stop, you can get those low-end devices at any outlet of the major electronic goods stores like Saturn or MediaMarkt. You find those stores or other mobile phone shops in any city center you will visit.

If the UK is your first stop, I'd suggest you simply do what Patrick suggested.

rs899

"...switch to T-Móbile or AT&T, but if not, renting a cell phone may be your only option."

It is not as simple as that. They not only need to be GSM, but need to operate on the correct frequency as the carriers in the country in which you want to use them.

One place to check this is

rs899

Sorry...


https://www.frequencycheck.com

PatrickLondon

If memory serves, T-Mobile is an offshoot of the German national telecoms company and is the carrier used by a number of re-sellers i the UK (like, I think, Tesco, and Virgin Media).

There are, I think, standard call and text rates if you use a SIM elsewhere in the EU: I'm with Virgin, and as soon as the phone crosses a border, it'll text me to say who the local carrier is and what the charges will be (actually, sometimes it'll do it if I get nearer a stronger signal from across a border, as happened to me on the White Cliffs of Dover but that's by the by).

Topping up the PAYG is usually pretty easy.

rs899

I am something of a phone hobbyist and have a few older smartphones that I would sell for European use if anyone is interested. One is the Galaxy Note N7000.

https://www.frequencycheck.com/compa...&commit=Search

You can find phones here on eBay that will work, or buy them over there.

Heimdall

It could be as simple as getting Verizon to unlock the phone so you can use it with other SIMs in Europe. According to the Samsung J3 specs it should have the frequencies you need for Germany, Spain and UK. Many cellphone reps in the US aren't familiar with using the phone overseas, so may be giving you erroneous information.

rs899

"Many cellphone reps in the US aren't familiar with using the phone overseas, so may be giving you erroneous information."

This. Especially if there is no commission to be gained.

Check it out for yourself. There are a bazillion Samsung J3 models and they do not all have the same frequencies. Use frequency check or some other source for the SPECIFIC model number you have and match it to the network you are going to.

wunderbar2

jancantravel, if you travel out of the country often you may want to take a look at the link below.

https://www.worldtravelsim.com

I purchased an inexpensive mobile from them, and add $ when my account balance gets low, very easy to up the amount online. The one advantage is I can use it pretty much all over the world, of course there are some exceptions. Have used it in Vietnam, Cambodia and all over Europe. Only downside I've found so far, the phone number assigned changes every so many days (60, 90?) so I do have to email or call prior to leaving and get the mobile number.

I have AT&T as my cell provider at home but find this less expensive if I need to make calls back to the US to check on my elderly Mom daily and I leave this number for her to reach me if necessary. Also there are no SIM cards to switch for different countries.

Just another alternative to take a look at if you're interested.

wunderbar2

Another thought, have you tried using SKYPE? I have the app on my iPhone but you will need wi-if to use it. If you're calling someone who also has SKYPE downloaded on their cell or home laptop/computer the calls are free. Again you have to have wi-if. If the party you're calling does not have the SKYPE app it's ridiculously cheap. I have to keep in touch with my Mom when traveling and tho she doesn't have the skype app and no computer but it's just pennies a minute to call.

There are several other apps similar to SKYPE, maybe better ones also. I've had and used this one since 2007.

xyz123

What do you want to do when you get to Italy and/or Britain? You can also buy relatively inexpensive android dual sim card phones on ebay for as little as $150. The specs will show what 3g and 4g frequencies it had. I got a Chinese phone for $150, a Samsung clone, and it works fine in Europe.

If you want just voice and texts, it's no big deal. You can get most anything that has the European gsm frequencies for as little as $10 or can wait till you arrive to deal with. Of course you can bring the J3 phone with you (you might need it in the airport anyway) and have it checked out and as noted if Britain is your fist stop, well at least you can be assured you can talk to the clerks in chain stores such as Carphone Warehouse. They will insert a practice sim card and see if it registers on a network You may be pleasantly surprised. You can do the same thing of course in Italy but talking to clerks in mobile phone stores might be a problem to get somebody who speaks English fluently enough. Or it might not.

xyz123

Here's what I don't know as I am not a techie. In the old days, there was gsm in the USA which worked with sim cards and CDMA (veizon and I think Sprint) which didn't use sim cards. Does Verizon use sim cards now? Or are Verizon phones capable of using sim cads for travel outside the USA as sort of an auxiliary. With t mobile and at&t it's easy for me to understand. They've always operated with sim cards; the only question was whether the phone was locked or not.

Now I don't know how much time you want to spend researching this through but you can go to youtube and search inexpensive android phones and look at some of the videos. The videos are pretty good although some of the commentators are from Asia and other places whose English is understandable but difficult. In any event, if you see a model that you seems to like, you can look to see if it is available on ebay. Like I said, I got for less than $150 a Chinese android clone which at least to me is every bit as good as my Samsung s6, has dual sim capacity, a 12 mp camera. I am sure it is not all that durable but it is not really a throwaway. It works in North America (my European sim cards register on t mobile USA and I get the message welcome to the USA)...it worked in Britain (not surprising, I have British sim cards)...it worked in France...it worked in Italy so I'm pretty confident it works everywhere. Perfect for a two week trip a couple of times a year.

Of course, what's probably easiest for me although not necessarily the cheapest is simply to use my Samsung s6 t mobile service. I do hope they repeat this year the special they ran last year namely once no roaming goes into effect in the eu perhaps providing 3g and 4g data. They do give you unliited data but very slow 2g. Calls, which might be all some people need, are 20¢/minute not bad but you have to pay to receive calls but if somebody dials your number you receive the call. Verizon has plans for $10/day which when you use them in Europe give you all your home minutes, texts and data.

I am sure things will get better.

rs899

^^ With all due respect, xyz123, some of what you have said above is not quite accurate. Networks are constantly changing throughout the world. In the US, AT&T has discontinued their 2G service, so many of those Chinese GSM phones will not work here on AT&T.

Just because a phone you bought, worked here or there when you bought it, doesn't mean it works here or there now.

And there is a big difference to some people how well it works. I don't know if I could suffer through 2G or Edge now. I would manage 3G in a pinch and HSPA is perfectly fine. FOR ME. YMMV.


I advise the OP to look specifically at the phone and network they have to avoid unwanted surprises. Yes, it is complicated.

Robert2016

Verizon still uses CDMA, which is fine if you are going to Ohio, but not out into the rest of the world.

http://www.whistleout.com/CellPhones...ferent-network

We've been using T-Mobile for several years when traveling without a problem (iPhone with WiFi calling), but not everyone receives the same coverage at home as we do, so, for some it's not yet a great option for home use.

I stopped recharging my Spanish phone three years ago when T-Mobile started offering free data when roaming, and calls back home, if not in a WiFi zone, are dirt cheap, as are local calls, far less expensive then I was paying Movistar and Vodafone.

xyz123

rs899...the Chinese phone I mentioned is 4g lte. I agree with you regarding 2g...again I was not recommending any specific phone but I did pick up the information from one of the videos I watched on youtube. There really are some good buys...I have a Chinese clone and to me it's just as good in terms of most of its specs as the Samsung s6 I have also. I am sure it is not. I am sure it will not age well and if I get a couple of years of use out of it, it's worth it.

One of the problems I seem to have is none of the US carriers offer dual sim phones. My phone is not only dual sim both sims work equally as well. This particular phone I have my auxiliary tmobile sim (I have 2 lines) and a UK sim. It's great with a flip of a switch to go between the two but a lot of it does depend on what you want to use the phone for. Certainly if you want data you need some sort of smart phone, right? If you want voice and texts only for travelling you can make do with a lot less. But I've learned, the same model say a Samsung s6 may have completely different models for the North American market as opposed to the rest of the world with different frequencies. There is a web site, I forget its name, where if you know the specific model of phone will tell you if your phone will work on various networks.

In that sense, I completely agree with you.

Andrew

Verizon does not lock its 4G Phones. Most modern smart phones can roam on GSM networks - even CDMA phones. I used a Verizon phone on T-Mobile for a year.

rs899

"Verizon does not lock its 4G Phones."

Yes. But this particular phone MAY be a Verizon prepaid, which may require the OP to have service for a period of time before they will unlock it.

xyz123

...but if you use the Verizon phone on Verizon in the USA, you don't use a sim card? But then does that mean the phone has a slot for a sim card so that you can either use the phone on networks outside the USA with foreign sims or do they give you a Verizon sim to use the phone in Europe with their $10 plan?