Artsfan...

I wasn't questioning what you said...as I said I was pleasantly surprised the phone you got was unlocked the only point I was trying to make is not to count on it but that should not be an impedement as the only phones they sell are Nokia phones which are the easiest to unlock. Please forgive me if you thought I was.

Also, the post to which I responded concerned a French sim and I admitted I don't know how Italian sim's work. I do know French sim's, unlike others, do not come with the phone number so that takes away the one big advantage of buying and paying Telestial's obscene prices.

I also think, and it's a personal feeling but you may disagree and that's fine, that this matter of convenience and doing everything before leaving is somewhat overrated. Prepaid sim's are a fact of life in Europe as roaming rates on intra European roaming is every bit as expensive if not more so than international roaming using T mobile US. So getting prepaid sim's in Europe is a piece of cake and often times can be done right at the airport or at your first stop.

But if you feel it is worth the extra for the convenience, who am I to impose my thoughts on somebody else? I try to be very careful when I respond and try to make it clear it is only my opinion and that if others have different opinions, that's their right....so please don't take anything I say as a personal attack on your opinions. If it works for you, that's all that counts.

Regards

Thank you for all of your info Artsfan. I really am a person who likes to have as much as possible done before I get there. Maybe getting everything set up here will save me time there and I would just have to replenish there. I like the fact the phone came unlocked. Maybe when I get the phone(which I think I will) I will call mobileliberation.com to see if they would know.
Which phone did you get, the 3410 or 2100. I don't see much difference.

Zizi, I got the 2100, because it was a little smaller and was on sale! A bargain, I figured. ;-)

Xyz, this is my KID I am talking about! We moms do tend to like to feel they are well taken care of when they go out in the world. When they were little, it was mittens and boots. Today it's a SIM card...so I know the phone number before kid gets on the plane! What can I say. Yeah, I know, letting go and all that...Hey, the kid feels better knowing this, too. ;-)

xyz123 said, "I do know French sim's, unlike others, do not come with the phone number"

I've been following the mobal phone, sim card posts hoping to figure out what to do but now I'm puzzled.

I bought the $49 mobal with the intention of getting it unlocked and buying a sim card in France. xyz123, if the sim card doesn't provide a phone number, what then would be my phone number?

I apologize if this has already been asked and answered.

Linda

topping

Ira, always the gentleman!

Linda..

It works like this...when you insert the sim card you are told to dial a number and then they assign you a number...the number is also text messaged to you (it will be spoken en francais)...the person selling you the sim card should be able to help you with that...when I bought mine in France the man selling me the sim card inserted it in the phone to make sure the phone was unlocked, called the number and wrote the number down for me.

The number will be in the form 06xxxxxxxx.....when calling within France you ring the number with the leading zero as written....when people call you from outside France they would dial the international dialing code (011 in the US) following by the country code (France is 33) and then the number omitting the leading 0 so if your French mobile number is 0688725421 (a number I just made up) somebody within France would dial that number while somebody calling you from outside France would dial 011-33-6-88725421..same thing with you except most mobile phones have a "+" key which serves in place of the international dialing code so if you were using your mobile to call back to the United States and the US number was 212 555 5555 you would dial +1 212 555 5555 (1 being the country code for both the United States and Canada)....

xyz123 thank you for your response; clear, concise and I'm not left with more questions than I started with!

Linda

As I mentioned in my original post, I've been reading all the mobile phone posts carefully trying to figure this all out. A couple of weeks ago I checked out websites for unlocking my phone but didn't follow through, I had some trepidation about dealing with companies I wasn't familiar with, especially since most seem to be based in the UK. (Before the trolls start responding; I'm not implying that UK companies are not to be trusted, I'm always concerned about dealing with the unknown, okay?)

Artsfan mentioned the site www.mobileliberation.com and on that recommendation I went there today. I would like to also recommend the company. I was charged through my PayPal account which I find much more convenient and less worrisome than via credit card.

It's only through my daily contact with this forum that I even considered getting a mobile for this trip. Since it's the first time we're driving out of the US, I'm especially glad to have it. Thank you all for your input, your questions and answers. With your expertise I not only conveniently got a phone but can use it with less expense!

Linda

Good for you, Linda

Linda...

So glad we could be of help. Have a great trip.

So if you get this phone and put a SIM card in when you get to Italy, and then later want to use the phone in France, do you just take out the Italian SIM card and replace it with a French SIM card, and I guess that then gives you a new phone number?
Can you save the Italian SIM card and put it back in if you return to Italy after France?

As long as the phone is unlocked, you can absotively posilutely switch sim cards back and forth and every time you switch the sim cards you get a phone number dedicated to that sim card so when you switch the italian sim card to a French sim card you indeed now have a French phone number and when you switch it back youhave an Italian number.....

Thank you, xyz. I've read numerous posts here about this subject, but for some reason, this one was clearer to me than the others. I appreciate the information.

Okay, I am going to throw a whole 'nother monkey wrench in the pot. Is there any way to get a card to use while in London, before we get to Italy and use the Italian SIM card? Or what is the best way to call from your cell phone in England? So sorry for dragging the subject on and on, but thank you for your help. You Fodorites are the best!
Billie

The one that comes with Mobal is UK-based. So London would be a great place to use it.

nbb

Check out the Joining Pack at virginmobile.com (tell them you're a UK customer).

You get a reloadable SIM with £5 of airtime for £10.

And note the "compatability test" to check if a specific phone will work.