Using phones in Ireland

Old Mar 3rd, 2010, 04:31 AM
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Using phones in Ireland

Hello,
I noticed some of the b&B have Skype and that makes it so wonderful...no worry about phones in Ireland, just wifi. How easy/hard is it to have access to a phone and are their rates local from Ennis, Doolin, Dingle, Killarney, Kenmare, Bunratty? And please share how to use them in Ireland. I started to give my thoughts but I will wait for intelligence to make a comment. Thanks so much.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2010, 05:17 AM
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Once in Ireland just get to a local store/supermarket/tabac shop and get a Phone card; 5, 10, or 20 Euros. Use the card to phone from a public phone which are pretty ubiquitious around Irish cities and towns. As personal experience, I bought a 5 Euros phonecard which I used for a week (about 3-4 times)to call /check things back home in the USA (NY). Very easy to use, I never needed to replace.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2010, 05:25 AM
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We bought new Simcards for our Cellphones from a company called 02 and then did a top-up at any supermarket or cafe` when call money got low. Only problem was that we did not know that 02 Northern Ireland is NOT compatible with the 02 in the Republic of Ireland, so if travelling between the two be aware of this.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2010, 06:01 AM
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O2 Ireland roams on O2 UK if you are in or near the border with Northern Ireland (check phone display - also a roaming symbol lights up - check phone manual). Roaming rate is a little higher than the usual call rates within Ireland (and much higher for calling US), and you have to pay to receive calls while roaming, around 19p a min. Otherwise transition between O2 Ireland and O2 UK are pretty seamless.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2010, 02:36 PM
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I just want to call within Clare and Kerry co.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2010, 05:59 PM
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If you are only going to use the phone for a short period (a week, or so) and just locally, your best bet is to just buy a phone card and use the public pay phones, as outlined above.

Buying a SIM card will only work if you have an UNLOCKED, Tri- or quad-band GSM phone, which is fairly UNCOMMOM if you are from the USA.

Bob
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Old Mar 3rd, 2010, 11:39 PM
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Unlocked gsm phones with the European frequencies can be had for dirt cheap prices in this day and age and to me anybody who has done any amount of travelling can easily find one, either in Ireland, Northern Ireland or on ebay. When they becvome moderately expensie rather than dirt cheap is for the extra bells and whistles like cameras, mp3 players etc. And while it is true the largest American cell phone provider, Verizon, is not gsm, clearly both T Mobile USA and AT&T are and many people keep upgrading phones. Especially with T Mobile, it is very possible one still has a gsm phone with the European frequen cies that they will unlock.

Having said that, Irish sim cards are relatively inexpensive and as Alec has pointed out they will work and roam in Northern Ireland and he pointed out the differences when roaming.

However, British simn cards (which would work in Northern Ireland) are literally almost being given away for free. You sure can't beat that. And from Northern Ireland to call foreign countries (say assuming the OP is from North America) can cost as little as 3p/minute O2 UK is somewhat more expensive; up around 10p/minute; both Orange UK and T Mobile UK tie in with a company called yourcallworld that charges 3ep/minute for calls to North America. If you want to splure, Vodafone UK has a plan that allows you to call Nortth America without the third party for 5p/minute. Orange UK has a plane called camel that allows calls for 6p/minute to North America and a firm called libarra charges 40/minute to call North America while in the UK. We're talking here about calling card rates with the added convenience of free reception of calls. And while in Northern Ireland, with a British sim card, you receive for free. The only draw back is with 2 sim cards, you have to deal with two different phone numbers, an Irish one and a British one.

Let me throw out one other suggestion, especially for receiving calls. Go to ebay and pick up an eki5 simple card. It costs $9 and charges $3 for shipping. If my third grade arithmetic is correct, that's a total of $12. It comes with $10 worth of call credit. With this card, you get both a US number and a British number on the same card. You can have your friends, again assuming you are from North America, call you on the US number...they pay for a call to a US number, you pay 19¢/minute to receive the call (US)...if they call you on the British number, they pay for a call to a British mobile (depends on carrier) and you receive for free whethe3r you are in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland. However, you pay somewhat more like 49¢/;minute to call back to North America and each call carries a 35¢ set up fee; chgeap by mobile standeards but the British sim card purchased in North America is dirt cheap. Calling North America using the Irish sim card in Ireland costs €0,35/minute I think as I remember.

If you would like an Irish O2 sim card, some buy on ebay is offering one which with shipping costs something like $10...I used it last year in Ireland. It doesn't come with any credit but you can receive calls on the Irish number even without credit...and as noted go into any supermarket or convenbience store and purchase credit. Just some thoughts.
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Old Mar 4th, 2010, 06:26 PM
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I have a question about using wi-fi with cell phones. I have a Palm Pre with service through Sprint(US). I know it isn't an international phone, but will the wi-fi function still work in Ireland? Will I still be able to check my email? My sister recently went to the Dominican Republic and was able to use her iPhone to check and send emails from there without being able to make calls?

Thanks
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Old Mar 8th, 2010, 12:20 PM
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If you have at&t or t-mobile your phone will work in Ireland.
I have t-mobile and it is .99/min to use my phone. Another optiion is buy a unlocked gsm phone, tigerdirect has some good deal but make sure it has the 900mhz band as that is the most common one in Ireland.
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