To Cellphone or not to Cellphone...

More info than you want to wade through here if you type "cell phone" into the text box at the top of this page.

Here's a recent thread, on which I mention the fact that for my purposes, the "free" phone from Autoeurope seems like the best option. I've booked one for my trip to France in October.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=34441687

Alamo is also offering a "free"cell phone.

My local cell phone service, Sprint just told me to take my own phone over there (Italy) and use it for about the same charges as I would have here.

Should I believe them?

You may be able to use your US phone *if* it is GSM (tri-band).

Mine is not. See the linked thread above for lots of info.

Be careful with Sprint they charge over $1.00 a min and you have to have a GSM phone to use in Europe. Check out this link http://www1.sprintpcs.com/explore/coverage/internationalroaming/IntlWelcome.jsp

Would you actually die if you didn't have a cell phone?

It's called a "vacation", olive...lose the cellphone, enjoy a relaxing time in Italy.

My comments:

1. Once you're going to be in a country for at least a week, renting a phone is kind of silly given the cost of the rental and the cost of calls. Get yourself a GSM dual or tri band. You can get good prices on the internet something like as little as $70 for a dual band ( works in Europe and rest of world but not in technologically deprived USA) or a tri band (will work in US). Then when you get to Europe buy a prepaid plan in the country you will be in.

2. To the folks who think it is silly to have a mobile (the proper European term) with them consider:

a. you can be reached 24/7 in case there is a problem. Incidentally buy using a prepaid plan, receiving calls is free.

b. You can make dinner reservations on the run.

c. Just like at home, if you're driving and there is a problem, you can get help.

I wouldn't think of travelling without my mobile. And in reading some of the posts, I keep reading some saying it is a hassle to buy a phone as compared to renting. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It is advantageous to buy the phone on the internet here in the US as the phones are unlocked and cheaper than waiting to get to Europe.

Since you're not leaving till November, there's plenty of time to get yourself a phone.

Personally, I recommend the Nokia 3310 a perfectly adequate phone which is very very easy to use and very easy to insert SIM cards and change SIM cards.

We took a cellphone last year because we'd were driving part of the trip. The plan was to use it only if we had a highway emergency. Fortunately, it sat in the glove compartment the entire trip--never even looked at it the entire time.

We just returned from two weeks in Italy where we stayed with friends in a villa. Our friends were there for a month and another couple for two weeks also. We were the only couple without a cell phone and we never needed it. We were in Rome for three days before going to the villa and then we traveled, without reservations, through Umbria for three days. Our friends who were there for a month ended up buying phone cards for 3 or 4 cents per minute and they used those cards and hardwired phones in place of their more expensive cell phones. I don't think you'll need one.

I think part of the need or not for a cell phone is the way you are traveling. I am usually meeting my brother and his wife when I'm in Europe or staying with a friend who lives in Paris.

Since I like to go off and have some time to myself, a cell phone allows people to reach me whenever they are ready to meet up but I'm not stuck sitting somewhere just waiting for their call. I also found it handy when I was trying to locate exactly where my brother was (due to vague directions initially).

tOF,

We had a similar experience to Rufus TFirefly. Had the phone for emergency roadway purpose, never used it. Really didn't even know who to call if we had an emergency.

We received our "free" cell phone from AutoEurope. With all the shipping, etc., it cost us about $100.00!! No way next time.

Remember, Europeans are FAR more cell phone "savy" than those in the US. Just about every European as a cell phone. If you have a roadway emergency, there will be enough traffic.....someone will stop to help. Europeans are VERY helpful compared to many in the US.

Remember, you are on VACATION. Everything else can wait until you get home. If you must contact people at home ( I really don't know why), a phone card would be a much better option.

C

I am going to Italy in October. Here is the best cell phone offer I found:

http://www.platform3000.com/

Free incoming calls (even from USA), your call is about 30 cents or so.

It is surprising that some of you can be judgmental even for a topic such as cell phones.
I will be traveling alone and with others next month in different sections of Italy and would like a phone to keep in touch with them arranging meeting places, etc.
People travel differently, you can't always peg the way someone should travel.

From the link I posted above:

"I still have several months on my contract for a non-GSM phone. My plan is to swtich to T-Mobile when it's up.

Meanwhile, I'm planning to rent a car from Auto Europe for my trip to France in October, and am considering the option of a rental phone they will provide to me for "free". The customer pays $35 for roundtrip shipping via Fed Ex. You get the phone and number in advance, so that you can give it to friends and family. Minutes are not cheap, but I guess no more than international roaming w/T-Mobile - .99/minute for both incoming and outgoing calls. (They do put a $500 hold on your credit card against minutes used/loss/theft.) For my purposes, this is looking like a reasonable option."

Curious: Was your Autoeurope offer different than the above? How did something that I'm being told will cost me $35 end up costing you $100? Please provide specific details, so that I can make an educated decision.

Thanks.

who/where do you want to call? We bought a phone card upon arrival and there are public phones everyhwere to put it in, it counts down and subtracts the euros. We only called within Italy to make dinner reservations ro confirm hotels.

But e_roz, just to play devil's disciple for a moment..

What if somebody wants to reach you?

What if you're in the middle of doing something and talking to somebody decide you want to make dinner reservations?

I understand we all have different ways we travel. My opinion is that this is the 21st century and we should take advantage of 21st century technology.

Now it is certainly true that the use of mobiles has not caught on in North America as it has in Europe. Almost everybody in Europe has and uses a mobile phone. Does that make it better or more important to have one? Who knows. I do know that when I go to Europe it is very good for me that people are able to communicate with me 24/7 for whatever the reason; even just to tell me there's been a blackout at home. I guess if you're like me, used to having a cell phone all the time at home along with call forwarding, having a mobile when out of the country is just the natural thing to do.....It also seems how can I describe it an example of the technological age we live in that somebody can ring my home number, have the call forwarded to my US cell phone (T-mobile) and then from Europe set the mobile phone to forward to my European mobile. Really neat and an example of 21st century technology.

Lesli,

Funny, I just cleaned out my bookcase full of last year's European trip brochures, folders, contacts, etc.

As I remember, after we returned, AutoEurope hit me with some type of additional charge that I was unaware of. It seems to me it was substantial and something I apparently could have avoided. Either I overlooked that option or didn't know it was there.

I remember calling AutoEurope about it, but can't really remember the details. All I know is that if I would have been aware of the choice, I would have declined. The whole thing came to right around $100.00.

C

xyz--We don't want anybody to reach us when we're on vacation. We do leave our itinerary with hotel phone numbers with our son in case of a real emergency. He knows he will be removed from our will if he contacts us for anything other than an emergency.

We got our free phone from Travelcell. We had to pay shipping of $7.50 each way (I think it was each way. $7.50 one way seems too little.)

As I remember the minutes would have been expensive if we had needed to use it, but we would only have used it for a highway or other local emergency. In such a situation, a couple of bucks for an emergency call would be no big deal.

Don't know if they still offer the free phones for vacationers.