Cell phone-4-5 months in Germany
 

Our daughter will be in Germany (Frankfurt) from Aug. 2010 to Jan. 2011 (moving from U.S.). I've searched the forum finding alot of information, but would like to distill down the best options for cell phone use while there. She would need a new model from SPRINT to operate internationally, and at about $2/minute, she's looking for a temporary 'fix.,' as well as more economical. Where can you direct us? Thanks so much!

Buy a phone there (or an unlocked quad band phone on Ebay).I would not buy a new phone from Sprint. It will be cheaper to buy in Europe and the calls will be cheaper. When my daughter was in Spain for 6 months, she bought a phone and there were various plans to choose from with texting being much cheaper than calls. Do a search on this forum for SIM or SIM cards.

Go to ebay...do a search for gsm phones...there are oodles of listings...does she want a plain ordinary vanilla phone to serve just as a phone? $20....a few more bells and whistles...does she want a phone with a camera? Does she want a phone with an MP3 player? Do she want internet access?
A few bucks more but all those listed are unlocked then....

When she gets to Germany, she can ask around for a cheap plan that features domestic calls in Germany for about 6 or 7 eurocents/minute and very cheap for calls to the USA...unfortunately there are few listings on ebay to pre-purchase German sim cards the way there are for UK sim cards...also logos999 who I haven't seen post much recently used to have some good suggestions for low cost German sim cards readilly available in Germany. Logos...where are you when we need you?

In any case, I would recommend to buy a socalled "prepaid tarif" in Germany. I think O2 has currently the best tariffs for her. http://www.o2online.de

In Germany, she can visit a cell phone shop (in every town).

For calls into the U.S., skype would be the cheapest option.

>Logos...where are you when we need you?
They give me a crazy amount of money but the also want me to be there for them ;-). St*pid work...

It depens what Gor217 wants. A contract is always a good option if you want a local phone number with your SIM card and have no problem with all the paperwork (bank account, resident status, etc). Just don't get one that has monthly fees. If you want, I can tell you more.

The choice of a prepaid SIM depends to where you usually call. Mostly national - to other mobiles or - back to north America. Or do you want to use your SIM card to access the internet? Or a flat rate for outgoing calls?
National calls from 5ct/min, US 9ct, mobiles 8ct with prepaid cards are good option. You can also get internet access for 20€/month. But you have to know your preferences.

I'd get a contract to be able to have that fixed line phone number for no monthly fee. She can use that number without fees about 500 meters around her house/flat. It's worth a lot to have a number that others can call for little money when you're away from home.

What does she prefer? Tons of possibilities. :-)

Thanks so much for the information. I'm going to forward your comments to her, find out her preferences and check back.