Hi all,

I've followed the great advice on this board so far (purchased an unlocked 900/1800/1900 GSM phone and ordered a United Mobile [UM-Riiing] 49USD SIM). I also undertand that using callbackworld (cbw) and enlinea saves money when calling back to the USA, as incoming calls are free througout Europe with UM-Riiing. What I'm unclear about is how and whether cbw or enlinea saves you money over what UM would be charging you to call WITHIN Europe. It should, but the examples in this forum are typically given for calls to the US, not within Europe.

In simpler terms, is the ideal set-up for making mobile calls in Europe (for multi-country travel) as follows?

1) Unlocked 900/1800 capable phone
2) UM $49USD (with built-in $20USD credit) SIM card purchased directly from UM
3) Using callback services for ALL outgoing calls, USA or Europe (e.g., you still use callback services even to call within the same European city)

xyz123, as has been said here before, you've been phenomenally helpful and patient. Thanks again!

p.s. wouldn't a European call-back service be even cheaper for Europe-Europe calls than one that routes back the US? Or is it the nearly unregulated USA market that allows the US-based callback the price advantage?

The simple answer to the question is...I don't know....you would have to check on the callbackworld web site the charge to call from say Liechtenstein (mobile) to France and compare it with the um rate which to a French landline is always what it is (I don't remember how the calls are denominated in US currency I think $0.49/minute with a $0.35 set up fee (mine is denominated in euro)....do remember there is a higher fee to call European mobiles....

Also remember that prices on enlinea using riiing have shot through the roof and their web site is now showing $0.62/minute while callbackworld remains at $0.14/minute to call the US via united mobile.

You can also putting your question regarding European callback services on the international forum of www.prepaidgsm.net where European guys and gals who know their stuff can answer the question and give you guidance.

Personally, I rarely call out to any place other than the USA using riiing and I have from the pre riiing days a bunch of active European local sims (UK, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy) which I use for local calls so I'm afraid this is where my expertise ends.

But do try the web site I suggested, perhaps you can get good info there.

Have a look at the price charts! There isn't much difference weether you call Europe or the US. Enlinea has become very expensive for calls to Liechtenstein mobiles. A european callback service will be more expensive. Many 010-German cal by call phone companies refuse to connect to the numbers used by United Mobile. T-Moblie will let you roam, but doesn't connect incoming calls any more (yet, sometimes it works). The German CBC companies have to pay a fee to connect to United Mobile which sometimes is higher than what they charge you. Seems AT&T is still inexpensive??? , but then they make the money elsewhere. The numbers used by United Mobile that you get are actually Liechtenstein SERVICE NUMBERS... That explains it, doesn't it.

Thanks logos999 and xys123 for your replies. I went through many many posts here (back to 2004) on the subject of using mobiles in Europe before posting here and the issue of 'local' calling in the context of UM/Riiing was rarely mentioned.

One confusion I had was 'where' was I calling from when using UM. I assumed (incorrectly) that with UM if I called (for free because I hang up) their US number to trigger them to call me (for free) with a dialtone, at that point I would be 'dialing' 'from' the US, not Lichtenstein (mobile). I'm clear now that the callback services may calling me for 'free' on UM, but I'm using their dialtone from a Lichtenstein mobile OK, I may be getting the idea...

Checking the 'local' (Lichtenstein mobile to Continental Europe) rates using CBW w/UM, I can see that CBW is much cheaper than UM alone, in France for example, when calling a local landline, e.g. a restaurant (.142 vs .49 plus .30 setup); with mobile, CBW is still less (.523 vs. .69 plus .30), but that's close enough for some to favor just dialing with UM alone.

As of today CBW doesn't seem to make a distinction btw calling from Lichtenstein and Lichtenstein mobile in quoting rates. Also today, of the 3 Enlinea callback rates quoted, Papaya's rates are the closest to CBW to mobiles-again, cheaper than using UM alone, but both quite a bit cheaper calling to most Euro landlines.

As your days increase in a given country (depending on the country!), a local SIM may be more cost-effective than UM w/callback-if you're calling mostly to Euro mobiles, regardless of how many countries you're visiting, less so if you're mostly calling businesses or friends who actually use their landlines.

Hope my take on this has added to someone's understanding and not simply deepened the confusion :-0

Thanks again!

Thanks for helping me sort this out!

mjsfo..

couldn't have done better myself!

One other interesting tid bit and again remember all this can change any moment as we've seen.

Currently about the cheapest US long distance provider to Liechtenstein mobiles is believe it or not AT&T (surprising isn't it) on their $1/month international plan.

It costs 11¢/minute to ring a Liechtenstein mobile on AT&T ld including the surcharge vs. say 40¢/minute to ring a UK mobile (although UK landlines are quite cheap on this plan) so....

My landline provider (verizon) now allows remote call forwarding to be set to go to a foreign number via your ld carrier (they didn't till about a year ago) so I can easily say before I get on a plane heading to Germany change the forwarding of all calls to my landline number in NY to a mobile...normally despite the greater price I use the local sims that I have even though it is more expensive but last year, for example, I did a tour that include Poland, Xlovakia, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic none of wbich places I had a local sim as we weren't staying long enough so as we entered Poland, with much trepidation would it work, I used cbw to set my remote call forwarding to the Liechtenstein i.e. riiing mobile...unbelievably not only did it work, at&t had extremely extremely clear and fast connections and, although I thought it was a misprint, indeed it was 11¢/minute so there I was walking around in Warsaw and suddenly my mobile phone would ring and somebody would be calling me from home at what is clearly not such a bad rate...now I know there are many who think I'm on holiday why would I want anybody to call me from home and I respect that opinion...but I'm different I like to talk to my friends. No need to change my reaching number each night...they could call me and of course I could always turn the phone off and let their calls go to voice mail.

I found this incredible...as close to the one universal number they have been talking about is coming. No matter where I am in the world, as long as it is a united mobile zone 1, I can be reached 24/7 as if I was sitting at my desk at home.

Isn't this 21st century technology awesome?

How would that apply to France and Italy?