lolochaun

Hi. My mom and I are traveling for about a week in France then a week in Italy afterwards. I'm not going to use my phone so it was suggested I buy prepaid phones over there. Any advice on how I should do this? Will I need to buy separate ones in France and Italy or will one be ok in both countries? Where should I buy them? How many minutes should I get for three weeks abroad? Thanks!

Andrew

What will you use your phones for? Calling the US? Calling someone in Europe? I can't tell you how many minutes you should get, because I have no idea what you'll be doing with your phones. When I was in Germany for two weeks, I made three short calls within Europe to a B&B, a minute each, so obviously I didn't need many minutes for that. In one case I had a B&B owner call the next hotel I was staying to confirm a reservation - they are often willing to do that for you at least if the call is domestic and not international. So you may not need a phone for that.

I also used my US phone in Europe because I have T-Mobile, and their Simple Choice plan offers extremely cheap use in most European countries.

Will you have any electronic devices with you? Tablet? Laptop? You can also use Skype to make calls though that.

lolochaun

We'll probably use the phone to call a few places in Europe to confirm reservations and meet up with relatives. Also we'll probably use them to call back to the states and to call each other in case we decide to do separate things from each other during the day when we're in Europe.

Hez

Are you unable to use your US phones or do you not realize that most current us phones you can change the SIM card to a local one and still use your phone.

Also, if you're not going to use data and only make a few calls it very well be easier/more cost effective to just use your US phone.

If you're on an older Verizon phone none of this applies though.

lavandula

You need to make sure any phone you have or buy is unlocked, if you are thinking about purchasing a SIM in Europe. Many if not most new phones are locked to only accept SIMs from one company, and you can have them unlocked at a price, or for free if the phone is over a certain number of years old (e.g. 2 yrs). What might be more economical is to buy a cheap unlocked phone (a GSM for just Europe, or a quad band phone for use worldwide). You could do this via eBay, or many of the larger electronics stores will have them. If you purchase a SIM in one country you can roam with it in Europe as rates for roaming are capped.

Lavandula

lavandula

In France Lebara is good for people wanting to call overseas (good rates). They also have English-speaking operators if you need to recharge. I have used them in Germany and they are extremely good value. I think you could probably get EUR20 if you will be using them a lot - we talked to each other every day and made some longer calls to Australia, and had to recharge once.

Lavandula

Hez

Actually all of Verizon's 4G phones are unlocked on purchase now - http://www.verizonwireless.com/suppo...e_roaming.html

I've used my verizon lg g2 since I bought it several times in Europe without problem or needing to unlock it.

lolochaun

I have an Iphone and ATT says using the phone for calls over there would be really expensive, so I'm going to turn the cellular data off and just use Wi-Fi when it's available and buy a travel phone. Anyone know a good one or where to get one in Paris that would be good in both France and Italy?

bvlenci

Any phone that will work in Paris will work all over Europe. What you want is a "unlocked GSM quadband" phone. You can get them cheaply in the US through Amazon or EBay. On Amazon, read the reviews, because many of the people buying these phones buy them specifically for use in Europe. Some of the bad reviews, though, come from people who obviously didn't know the first thing about how to use the phone.

When you get to France, you can buy a SIM card. As Lavendula says, roaming rates are capped in Europe, so, unless you're a heavy user, it wouldn't be worth your while getting a new SIM card in Italy. Just make sure you have enough credit on the card before you leave France, because once you leave the country, it probably wouldn't be easy to top up the credit.

Hez

But you don't need to buy another phone or carry two devices around. As the AT&T Iphone is already global you just need to make sure it is unlocked. Here are instructions to find out if your phone is unlocked - http://www.iphonehacks.com/2013/06/c...-unlocked.html

You just need to replace the SIM card in your iphone with one from France (Lebara, as noted, is good). When you come home just pop the AT&T sim back in your phone.

Lebara has a 4.99E for 30 days plan which should work for you, it included 100MB of data as well which can come in handy in a pinch to look up information on the go. Also the Lebara to Lebara calls and sms are free so if you and your Mom both got them you could talk to each other for free.

http://www.lebara.fr/boutique/allinone

Hez

Oh - and calling the US we just use Skype or Google Talk when on the hotel wifi.

lolochaun

I think it's too late for me to order a phone before I go so I was wondering what stores have this type of phone? Should we buy one at the Paris airport?

lolochaun

If I buy a travel phone in France, how do I type in the numbers to make a US call? How do I use that phone in Italy to call a place in Italy? Thanks

Hez

You really, really, really don't need to buy another phone. Just use your iPhone with a European SIM.

00 is the international dialing code from Italy so you dial 00 then 1 for the US then the 10 digit phone number.

If you're already in Italy and want to call somewhere in Italy you just dial the number like you would here.

Seamus

Actually, you do not need to buy a travel phone <u>or</u> SIM <u>or</u> worry about unlocking your iPhone - your AT&T iPhone will do just fine for the limited use you describe. The outrageous charges you heard about come from data usage, not calls. As long as you turn off mobile data you will be OK if making only a few calls now and then. And you can still use WiFi when it is available.
Just purchase one of the packages now sold by AT&T that provide roaming minutes - $30 gets you 30 minutes voice. For $10 you get 50 messages (text or picture) and incoming texts are charged against your usual allowance. Since you will have your roaming mobile data turned off you do not need to worry about that. http://www.att.com/att/global/afford...kages/?calling
When you consider the time and hassle of getting a new phone, this is a pretty good deal for the occasional traveler like yourself.

lolochaun

If I use the phone to make calls to places in Italy and France there are additional charges in addition to the prepaid international minutes.

Seamus

lochaun - believe that is incorrect. It is no how we were billed. Calls within the European region simply counted against the purchased minutes.

elizabethahe

Because you're going to be in two different countries, I suggest buying an international SIM card so you don't have to worry about buying 2 separate phones and going some time without a phone/ cell service. The international SIM will automatically switch your service over to the country you're currently in, so it's super convenient and easy! I use G3 Wireless when I travel- there are pre-paid options, like you talked about in your post and they're really inexpensive. Have a great trip!