Best options for cell use in France
 

Is anybody familiar with Pingo? We have Blackberry/IPhone and need options Blackberry is with Verizon

Don't know pingo....people have reported huyge problems with using i phone outside USA plus data bills can be staggering if you turn the phone on for things such as google maps.....based on what I've read, the conventional wisdom, at least for the time being probably holds. Get yourself an inexpensive gsm phone on ebay making sure it has the European frequencies (800, 1800 mhz), buy yourself a local sim card in France or with the inexpensive gsm phone go and get a sim card from call in Europe (CIE)..certainly that's a solution which will definitely work and is really not all that expensive.

You need to check with your current carriers to see if your phones will work in Europe. I'm guessing that at least the iphone will. If you're careful about data usage that is the simplest and cheapest way to go. Some carrier also offer a international data plan, that can be cheap if you use the web or a lot of data.
Be cautious about advice to buy special cheap phones and SIM cards. There are hidden traps there that can cost money.

RJD....Maybe I miss something...you buy a cheap gsm unlocked phone for $20 (yes they are readilly available), you buy a local French sim card (runs another $20 or so)...what hiden traps do you know of that I don't.....

International roaming is fine if you limit its use. Most of the international carriers charge $0.99 to $1.29 per minute to make and receive calls (rounded up to the next highest minute)...that's a trap that's easy to fall into. With an unlocked gsm phone, yuou can buy any local sim card if you go to other countries, admitedly French sim cards are not the most economical but if you go to Great Britain, sim cards are FREE (can't really beat that) and international calls can be had for as little as 3p/minute without too much difficulty.

I know there are other solutions...there are international cards which allow free reception of calls all through Europe etc. and things such as skype exist which might be better. But I'm just curious, what hidden traps are there with a cheap gsm phone and a local sim?

Hidden traps:
A cheap GSM phone may not receive data or web content. You may need to spend more than $20 for that feature. The iphone has GSM capability.

The SIM card may not work with the cheap Phone you selected. At a minimum you need to know a lot of technology.

You still have to pay for the phone you use at home. If, heaven forbid, you bring one of them to Europe,, you will pay roaming rates should someone call you on the phone you already pay for. You will pay twice for international roaming.

Data roaming is seriously expensive - and soon mounts up. Check what your carrier(s) offer by way of data roaming and work out how many MB you are likely to use - you may be shocked by the price.

If you can use your phones at wifi hotspots then that is the way to go for internet access, rather than using data roaming.
If you don't need internet access then either buy a cheap unlocked phone as suggested above or check what roaming rates your provider(s) charge.

If you only want the phone so you can be reached in an emergency then I suggest you tell people to text you if possible, and check maybe once a day for messages. Same with communicating between your phones, or sending a message home. Texting is cheaper than calling.

Oh and turn off your voice mail - that really runs up the bills abroad.

rjd...you need to know very little about technology...if you get yourself a gsm unlocked quad band phone, it will work with 99.9% of the local sim cards issued in Europe and almost all 2g gsm phones sold today are unlocked and quad band.

Link to a NYT article on this subject.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/08/01...tml?ref=travel

BTW, what about calls within Europe when using a U.S. carrier with an inexpensive international plan? I got whacked last trip but am not sure if it was because of the way I dialed (stored numbers routed through the U.S.) or not.

Pingo is a calling card and rates per minute are positively outrageous.

If the Verizon Blackberry has GSM capability, you can get an unlock code from Verizon and use any SIM you like. (There are settings which need to be changed.)

Last I heard, AT&T will not provide unlock codes for Iphones, but, if you do a web search, you may be successful in getting yours unlocked. Otherwise, you will have not option than to use AT&T and pay their rates. Most significant disadvantage, in addition to the high per minute rates, is paying for incoming calls. You would definitely want to turn off data.

With unlocked phones, if you'll be making only the occasional, short, call, we go with Call in Europe, or Roam Simple, whichever has the best plan just ahead of our trip.

I used to have a Palm Centro with Verizon (non GSM), but purchased an unlocked Centro on EBay to use in Europe. I finally switched to T-Mobile and dropped Verizon so I could use one Centro at home and abroad.

I have been trying to sort out our phone options for an upcoming trip.
This article is very helpful for the iPhone:
http://holeinthedonut.com/2010/01/04...avel-settings/
We are not going to use the ATT international plan and turn off data, etc., have signed up for Skype,bought an inexpensive Minute Pass card to use from landlines and now looking for a multi-country SIM to use in one of our old unlocked phones.
Trying to cover all bases.

See the thread of telestial passport sim...it's very recent where I give links to ebay for an e-kit us simple card...it costs $9 plus $3 shipping with $10 credit....you get free reception of calls (if made to the UK number) or 19¢/minute (if made to the USA number) throughout almost all of Europe west of Russia (Bulgaria an exception)....calls to the USA and Canada while not dirt cheap are far cheaper than the AT&T international plan.....card has gotten very good write ups on prepaidgsm forum...I've used it for receiving calls and it works real well although I wish outgoing calls were a bit cheaper (although most of my European trips are to London and I use the free British sim cards there and the 3p/minute calls to the USA(,,,,,