$49. Mobal.com
 

Hi everyone!
I would appreciate your imput on this subject, I am very much a novice in the cell phone dept. I will be in Italy for a month and would like a phone to touch base in the US, make a few calls within Italy, and have it in case someone needs to contact me.
Is anyone familiar with this $49. Nokia phone from Mobal.com?

The way that I understand it:
$1.50 per min to US
$1.25 per min within Italy
$1.25 per min incoming calls

The per min. sounds high to me but traveling solo, the comfort of having a phone with me would be worth it...I think.

What other expenses would come along with this?
It says works in 130 countries. Would I have to do anything to it upon entering another country?
Just looking for something basic for minimal use.
Thanks!

ttt

Yes, I have this phone. Have not been over there to use it yet. However, I did go to www.mobileliberation.com and get a code to unlock the phone for $4. Then I went to www.telestial.com and ordered an Italian SIM card so I can make calls for 12 cents locally in Italy and 40 cents overseas; more important, all incoming calls are free. When that arrives, I will be putting it into my phone. I will use Mobal's own plan when I am in the UK; it is a UK-based plan with the 02 service provider. Good luck.

P.S. The phone is fine, basic and a decently small size. If you are using it for emergencies only, Mobal's plan is fine. It's also helpful to have a single phone number as you move form country to country. It's just that I wanted to be able to receive calls from family members overseas and didn't want to be paying $1.40 a minute or whatever on my end. And my whole trip will be in Italy. The phone itself is a great buy, even compared to what's on Ebay.

Thank you artsfan for this information. When you say incoming calls are free that is ALL calls, the US? That sounds like the route to go. I will be staying in Italy the whole month also but who knows where the next trip will be.
I wish I wasn't so ignorant on the subject. Now is the SIM card a card that is inserted into the phone and does it come with a limited amount of time on it ? I could do this here before I get to Italy and not have to mess with it there? I'll have to check out the links you gave me.
Thank you artsfan I really appreciate it.

A sim card is a small little card that is the size of your thumb nail approximately and is inserted into a GSM phone and controls the phone..change the SIM card and you change the phone number etc.

Some people suggest using a rip off site such as telestial to get a prepaid sim card. In all due respect, this is throwing money out the window for next to no convenience. Upon arrival in Italy, with your unlocked mobal phone ($49 is a good price) go into any mobile phone store and request a prepaid sim card....Italian rates are very cheap. Even if you haven't gotten an unlocked phone yet, the Italians sell very good GSM phones and by Italian law they cannot be locked (I wish other countries would pass such laws)...you now have an Italian phone number which, yes, you have to transmit to others via the web or by quick calls or text messaging (the supposed advantage of throwing away your money to Telestial). Receiving calls is free (like in free) although callers have to pay a slightly higher fee and while I don't know the rate of Italian mobile operators to call the US (you can check it out at www.prepaidgsm.net) you can also get an Italian calling card and access the Italian network from your Italian mobile.

If you're going to be in Italy for a month, this is clearly the way to go no ifs ands or buts about it.

Thank you xyz123.
Reading the Mobal.com site I don't see anything stating if is locked or unlocked. Should I assume it is locked. I'm not fluent in Italian so I don't know how well I would do trying to buy a phone in Italy but I could certainly manage to buy the SIM card there.
Artsfan's reply makes me think the phone is locked.

Hi zizi;

I agree with xyz123 about buying the sim card when you are in italy--especially considering the fact that incoming calls won't cost you money.

I live in Italy and have had a few cell phones during my time here, and I would suggest getting a Vodafone sim card when you come. From my experience it is cheaper, and it is also convenient if you DO decide to travel outside of Italy, since Vodafone (omnitel in other european countries) is found throughout Europe.

I've taken the phone with me to England and Spain, and while it costs more to use, I was able to use the phone for a weekend or so without it costing too much.

If you're interested in knowing about the other phone companies in Italy, they are TIM (Telefono Italia Mobile is what I think it stands for) and WIND. There is also something called 3, but that's pretty expensive. I have heard WIND is a pretty good price as well.

Hopefully this isn't too much information, but if you are planning to get a sim card, it might help to know about the various companies.

Mobal phones are locked....but if it is a Nokia, it can easily be unlocked for free....there is a Nokia unlocking calculator freely available at many sites on the web....using carrier code for O2 UK as O2 is the carrier they use.

Actually, my Mobal phone turned out to have been unlocked. I guess you never know. To my surprise www.mobileliberation refunded me my $4 when I told them.

Re buying the SIM card here or there...it's actually one of my kids who is using it in Italy, and we wanted to make sure the kid was all set up before getting on the plane and will hit the ground running, phonewise, not needing to fool around with SIM cards in the airport. And this way we all know the phone number already. That is the advantage of buying the card here. If that doesn't matter to you -- and it may not matter to a lot of people -- then buy it when you arrive. Either way, it's a lot cheaper than using Mobal's service.

Hi all,

If I buy the Mobalphone, canI get a SIM card for France and one for the US when I get back home?

Thanks

Yes, if:
1 - the phone is unlocked
2 - the phone has the right frequencies

Actually very surprised to hear Mobal phones are unlocked...when I checked their web site it said the phones were sold for use on Mobal only..good for you and good for them....

Thank you for all your replies. When I reread Mobal.com I understood it to com latched which I understand is locked. How do you know if it is unlocked when it arrives or do you find this out when you try to unlock it?
If I can buy the phone here and purchase a SIM card in Italy (which looks much less expensive than buying them here) all the incoming calls will be free and the outgoing calls will be very reasonable. These cards have a certain amount of time on them and you replenish them when needed with no extra cost other than the card, is this correct? Am I starting to get this!
This phone is looking pretty good to me.

When you are in Italy, you can easily refill your card.

Re use in the U.S., the cheapest Mobal phone will not work here, but the $99 one will. Check the site; they tell you which ones work.

I only found out that my phone was unlocked after keying in the code and getting a message that said, "Phone is already unlocked." I am sure some tech whiz would know a way to check ahead of time, but I don't. Maybe ask the nice folks at www.mobileliberation.com.

Thanks, lobo:

www.telestial.com offers a SIM card for France with $10 worth of air time (about 16 min local 12 min to US)

How much would I save by buying a SIM card in France? We are flying in to Bordeaux.

I also see that mobal offers a triband Nokia 3100 for $99. www.telestial.com offers a prepaid US SIM card for $79 with 225 min.

Is it worth buying the $99 phone and the France and US SIM cards or am I better off buying the $49 phone with a France SIM card and getting a separate US phone?

Thanks for the help. I have been avoiding the cell phone for some years. (I know, it's time I moved into the 20th Cent)

How much does Telestial want to rip you off for the French prepaid. One thing to note that the French prepaid does not come with the phone number, you have to register the sim card on the French network before you know the number so the supposed advantage of allowing yourself to be ripped off by Telestial of knowing the number before you leave is non-existant....

The 3100 is a nice little tri band phone which will work in the US as well as in Europe (provided you buy the European model 3100 and not the 3100B which is a US bas---dized phone omitting the very desirable European 900 frequency in favour of the useless outside the US and Canada 850 band but it does have 1900 good for T Mobile US.

I would opt for the 3100 for $99 and wait till I get to France to get the SIM pack. If the 3100 mobal sells you is locked (don't know if it is) since it is a Nokia it is very easy to unlock.

Incidentally...

In looking at the web site, the web site says all Mobal phones are latched (locked) to Mobal only but again they are probably dirt simple to unlock as they are Nokia phones.....

Mobal.com offers two phones at $49. one is the Nokia 3410 and the other is Nokia 2100. Do you know what the difference is other than the minimal length, weight and battery length. Oh, the $99. phone would only be beneficial to me if I didn't have a cell already in the US, right?
RE: Purchasing the SIM card in Italy with this phone.
All incoming calls would be free and outgoing calls would be minimal?
I'm sorry I need everything spelled out to me.

Xyz, I am aware that the site says the phones are locked. I am only sharing my own experience because the fact that mine was unlocked came as a surprise to me, and so I thought others might want to hear that what the site says may not necessarily be true. Maybe save the folks a coupla bucks, know what I mean?

As for the "supposed advantage," I did not buy a French SIM card from Telestial, but I did buy an Italian one, and here's what the site says: "Your Italy SIM card will provide you with an Italy cellular phone number that is printed on the reverse of the SIM card packaging under a bar code and will begin N. tel 3" So the Italian SIM card does arrive with the number on it.

I don't own stock in Telestial and have no reason to be pushing it. All I am doing is offering an option fyi. If it were me going instead of my kid on a first overseas trip without parents, I would buy the SIM card there.