Cell phone service for use from Europe to USA?
 

Help!I will be starting to travel to Europe once a week from the USA in March and want advice on cell phone service.I want a company and plan here in the states to use both in Europe and back in the USA without breaking the bank.Any suggestions? I know that I need a GSM phone but T Mobile is not good in the states and ATT is supposedly starting up service along with Cingular in April. I am so confused................thanks-

If you are truly interested in saving money, the best bet is to buy a GSM tri band phone here doing a web search for about $100 and buy prepaid plans in each of the countries you are visiting (assuming you are in a country for at least 5 or 6 days).<BR><BR>The best US carrier that works both here and in Europe is T-mobile. The statement that they are not good here is absurd...there are places where T-mobile far outshines the other carriers. there are other places where T-mobile is not as good but it is far from true that they are worse than other carriers.<BR><BR>Their rates for international roaming are 99 cents/minute to both receive and make calls to the US. Not terrible compared to what others are charging..but<BR><BR>If you check some of the threads, rate plans availble in the UK are as little as 32 cents a minute to call the US and nothing like in free to receive calls from the US (the caller pays a little more).....don't care to go into all the details but if you check some of the earlier threads you will have a better idea.<BR><BR>Pre paid plans are relatively cheap also in Italy, Holland. Not quite as good in France but far better than using international roaming agreements.

I agree, T-Mobile is the way to go, esp. if you live out west where they use the Cingular GSM network. Then you have one number and T-Mobile has great overseas rates.

We live in L.A. and use T Mobile without a problem. We specifically went with T-Mobile (and bought appropriate phones that can be used abroad) to take advantage of this option. Keep in mind, however, that to activate the world service option, you need to contact them and get this plan set up before you go. Although they told me it takes 48 hours before it would be activated, when I did call (we went to Mexico for the weekend), I was told 48 to 72 hours, and I waited too long. It turns out that we could use the phone without the activation, but for emergency calls only.

call me,<BR>I have a new T Mobile tri band from Motorola that I've used twice now in Spain and France. <BR>It doesn't switch over automatically like our older Voicestream dual band, but once I mastered switching the setting, it's quite easy. We've found T Mobile to be the best for our use here and Europe.

call me,<BR><BR>I have used T-moblie in Denmark and the quality is outstanding. And, yes, make sure that you call them and set it up in advance, it's not part of any particular package.<BR><BR>I have also used the &quot;throw away&quot; phones in Denmark and I'm sure they have them elsewhere. I paid $50 for the phone rental for 30 days (plus a deposit) and then I bought phone cards to use. T-mobile wanted almost $1.00 per minute, but I was able to get a phone card for $0.28 per minute in Denmark. Shop around.<BR><BR>I would avoid ATT and Cingular ONLY because their service is new. Tmobile (VoiceStream) has been around for a couple of years and I believe that Tmobile is German owned and has a larger presence in Europe.

Cingular may be new to you on the east coast, but for us out west they've been doing GSM before anyone else in the U.S. knew what GSM was! The reason they've recently entered the eastern markets is they've set up a network sharing agreement with T-Mobile. T-Mobile uses the Cingular network out west and Cingular uses the old Voicestream (now T-Mobile) network in the east and pacific NW.<BR><BR>I have heard T-Mobile has better customer service than Cingular and they also have cheaper international roaming rates, but if you're trying to judge them in terms of network quality it's a wash since they use the same network.

mitchrc,<BR><BR>I am saying that Cingular and ATT are new on the European market . . . I am suggesting T-mobile / voicestream because it has been in Europe longer.

i use the at+t world connect service. you must buy a GSM phone in addition to the phone you use here in the US. you simply turn off your local phone, and turn on the GSM phone, that's it, works great. have used it on three trips without so much as a glitch. recently i was approached by t-mobile, they had a GSM card for my laptop that would work in the US or europe. same with the phone. i wouldn't need two phones like at+t, i went with it. i get to munich and neither the phone or the laptop would work, despite seeing t-mobile signs and stores everywhere. GOOD THING I BROUGHT THE AT+T phone with me, that worked flawlessly.

Depends on how often you travel. The dual Europe-USA mobile phone plans may be expensive.\<BR><BR>I have a &quot;pay as you talk&quot; mobile for the UK. I only use it when in the UK. It cost 29 pounds to buy (with 5 pounds free airtime). If I receive calls, it's free.<BR><BR>You might have to use the phone every 6-12 months or it gets turned off.

A general note: if you buy a prepaid phone service in Europe, you must check with the provider to see if it allows you to make calls to the U.S. While virtually all of them let you RECEIVE calls from the U.S., some of them won't let you make calls to the U.S. And the prepaid services in Europe are expensive and calls to the U.S. will eat up the prepayment quickly. Unless you really need to have a phone with you on your trip, it may be more cost-effective to buy a phone card that you can use at phone booths, etc. (bonus: in Switzerland, the phone booths also allow you to send short email messages--up to 240 characters, as I recall--with your phone card).

It is very much country dependent as to just how expensive mobile phone calls to the US are...Orange and Virgin Mobile in Britain allow calls to the US and are very cheap. In France, mobilcarte will allow calls to the US after 3 days but is relatively expensive (although no more expensive then say T-mobile and of course receiving calls is free). A way around the expensive ones is to sign up with a group that does international call back. The way it works, is you call a number in the US but hang up the phone before the call is completed. You are then called back at the mobile phone number you set up with the company and you hear a dial tone. You then complete your call to the US at a very low rate. Works real nicely too.