Cell phone use in Europe for dummies
 

Okay, I know there is a lot of cell phone usage questions on here but I'm still confused. Can someone please just answer my questions in simple, non-techie terms for me? We've traveled abroad many times but this is the first time we feel the need to have a working cell phone, as this is our first trip abroad since having our twins and I need to be able to reach my in-laws, and vice versa, as they will be watching the girls.

1) I have a Blackberry Torch. It appears as though I can use this in Europe. Do I need to purchase a special SIM card? I'll be traveling in Germany and Italy.

2) I read on slowtrav that it may be really expensive to use my cell overseas even if I can purchase a SIM card because of the roaming charges. If this is true, is it better to consider renting a phone with a specific plan?

3) If I choose to rent, can someone recommend a company to consider?

Thanks!
Tracy

Will you be bringing a laptop or a notebook computer? Because then you could communicate inexpensively using Skype (assuming your inlaws have a computer and webcam). It would be nice for the twins to see you and you them.

Hello Mimar! Yes, we are planning on bringing our laptop so we can do webcam calls to see the girls. My concern is that the grandparents will need to get in touch with us when we are out. I need to make sure they can reach us at all times.

Thanks!
Tracy

Make sure the phone is unlocked and buy a German or Italian SIM or have roaming activated by your phone company so they can reach you under your common US number. Roaming with your original SIM will be at least $1 per minute. You phone company will inform you obout the rates for making and recieving calls abroad.

Or you can get a German/Italian SIM with a German/It. phone number. Incoming will be free in the country where you bought the SIM and 18ct/min in the other country. Calling the US depends on the SIM you use and the country you're in. Lowest German rates are 9ct/min to US (lidl) or 1ct with a one time fee of 15ct (lebara).

Thanks logos! Do I just walk into a cell phone store in Germany and Italy to buy the SIM cards?

Hi Tracy! Glad to see your Europe plans progressing. :)

Okay, with the caveat that I don't know specifics for BB (other than that it should work on the BB system overseas)...

1) Is your service in the States through AT&T/T-Mobile or Verizon/Sprint/MetroPCS? If it's the former, you *can* swap out the sim for a local one.

However, there are pros and cons:
Pros: Cheaper rates. Prepaid sims are easy to use, and in my experience they all have instructions in English as well as the native language. You buy the sim which includes a local phone #; when the initial amount on the card is used up, you take it to any shop selling that company's cards and get a refill.
Cons: Not having a # to leave with the grandparents before you go. Plus, to really maximize cost benefit, you'd want to get a different local sim for each country you visit. (Otherwise, you'd be roaming in Italy on a German sim or vice versa. Not as pricey as using a US sim, but not the cheapest option either.)

2) My experience overseas with a prepaid local sim is that it's cheaper to receive calls from the US than to make them. They were pricey, but because the sim is prepaid and refillable, you can manage those costs up front.

My last trip was to Italy, and I decided to do a little experiment and continue to use my AT&T sim for the very limited amount we needed a phone. While it wasn't cheap, it didn't break the bank: what I didn't like was not knowing how much I'd spent until I got the bill!

How comfortable are you - and the grandparents - with sending and receiving text messages? With a prepaid sim, my experience has been that texts are really cheap; mere pennies in fact. My family and I set up a system where we'd send a text first; if a call was needed, it would say so in the text. (I even got medical advice for my asthma in China that way-!)

3) Can't answer that one, but I know there have been a couple of threads in the last few months that went through this in detail...

And yes, you just walk into the store to buy the sim. In some places, you might even find a phone shop or kiosk in the airport when you land.

tcreath, in Germany, I'd first order the free SIM from http://www.lebara-mobile.de/?isoCode=en_GB to the hotel and hope that it's there when you arrive. Activate it by either calling them or on the Internet (They specialize in the immigrant market and speak all the languages of the planet (At least it seems so :-) ). Calling German numbers cost 9ct/min, calling the US 1ct/min plus one 15ct fee.

Or you can go go to a Lidl store and buy a Lidl SIM http://www.lidl-mobile.de/html3/. Activate it over the internet or a 800 number. Calls to German or US numbers are 9ct per minute. Recharge by buying vouchers from Lidl. They ask for your bank account when activating, but you can just say you on't have one.

Many more options exist..

If you want something easy have a look at http://www.CallinEurope.com

I have used them on 2 trips to France and 1 to Greece and things have been flawless each trip.
They will send you a SIM before you leave or even a phone and SIM. That way you know the number before you go. I like the fact that they bill to my credit card... I don't need to worry about running out of time.

They are no longer as inexpensive as they once were and I plan to use Lebara myself on our next trip but for ease of use and convenience CiE is hard to beat.

Rob

Topping up via credit cards works with Lebara, but not with Lidl, however Lidls are plenty, shops that sell Lebara SIMs and recharge cards may be even more in the cities. (There's a tiny indian food store across the street, wonder if he ever sells much food, but he sells Lebara SIMs just like the call shop next to him).

Last year I bought a phone from Mobal.com, I think it was $35 or so. Then with the account I opened with them, I only get charged for calls I make or receive or texts I send, which are charged to the credit card they have on file for me. Incoming texts are free. I travel to Europe a few times a year usually, and while I don't anticipate having to use it, it was worth having it just in case home needed to reach me. I did end up using it locally in Paris to confirm a taxi to the airport the next day and it was fine. So essentially it was just the phone cost outlay up front, and then pay as you go after. You'll always have the same phone number for future travels.

tracy - who is your service provider in the US?

Point is, and that is important to know, the rates for incoming calls or accessing your voicemail in Italy (or elsewhere in EU-Europe) with a common German SIM card (and vice versa) are always (far) cheaper than those of the "international SIMs" listed on the site above. i.e. if you use a German SIM in Italy and someone calls you from the US, you'll be billed at max. 18ct per minute before July 1st 2011 and 13ct after that date.

If you make a call to Germany in Italy with that German SIM, you pay 46/41 cent per minute.

Not always logos....ekit has several cards available on ebay where reception of calls is free throughout Europe...on most of these cards you get both a +44 (UK) number and a +1 (US) number...when you're in almost all of Europe you receive calls made to the +44 number for free...calls made to the +1 number cost 19¢/minute rounded up to the next highest minute)...0,13€ is fairly close to 19¢ when it happens. If you're from the USA, you would probably prefer people to call you using the USA number rather than the cost to a UK mobile which has a surcharge.

Calling to the USA while roaming on a non local sim for the most part is very very expensive...calling to the US on e-kit is always charged as a call to a landline at 49¢/minute plus a 35¢ set up fee for each call....very cheap, no but better than you can do with a non local sim card (in Italy with a German sim card or vice versa)...have to go through one's calling pattern to figure out best deal!

xyz123, ekit as nice as it is, will be deactivated, if you don't recharge at least $10 every 9 months and they set my balance to zero after using it in Italy because instead of calling back, it just connected me. (Same LG KP500 that worked well on the german networks...) Not being a EU SIM, those $10 lasted about a minute. The "US number" is only a forwarding service, operated by a third company, that may or may not work. I'd rather pick my own forwarding service. :-)

So if you keep in mind that the callback solution may completely fail and are fast enough to hang up in that case, ekit is good. Otherwise, always dialing *123#.... is a must.

I'm using ekit, but I deeply mistrust that company :-)

For your purposes, I'd say just take the BB. You will need to tell your carrier you want international service. This will be an additional charge (I have T-Mobile and it's either or $12 or 21 per month, prorated I believe for shorter periods). Notify them when you return to discontinue or it will continue on your monthly bills. Tell your friends not to call your number for idle chit-chat. All out-going calls, whether to US or locally in Germany or Italy are 99 cents per minute. All incoming calls are the same, even if the call goes to voice mail (hence the no chit chat phone calls).

Since you mainly want to be reachable by your in-laws with a minimum of hassle, this should work beautifully. Otherwise you can stay in touch by the other methods you have in place. Since I started travelling with the BB, can't believe how easy it all is and well worth the $50-100 dollars it costs for the average monthly trip.

FWIW - I just returned from Italy. My friend gave me a jailbroken/unlocked iPhone to take with me. I bought a TIM card (Italian SIM) at the Rome airport for 10 euros and put 30 euros worth of call time on it. When I tried to use the phone, it didn't work. Invalid SIM. After trips to several phone stores, I was finally told that the phone has to be jailbroken with Italian software or it won't work. Something I wish I'd been told in advance, but... live and learn.
I relied on a good old fashioned phone card, which turned out to be much cheaper anyway. A 5 euro card got me about 3.5 hours of talk time to the US!

look11....having bought the sim card, didn't any of the phone stores suggest a very cheap gsm 2g handset which would have worked fine at least for voice (or was it your intent to use data)

look11. I thought an unlocked gsm phone was just that. Are you saying that my unlocked gsm phone will not work in Italy because it wasn't unlocked in Italy??
I have used it in Portugal and France with no problem. Just pop in the local SIM.

All look11 is saying is that eye-phones are crap and his jailbreak didn't work properly. :-)

Pretty much what logos said.

As a side note, make sure your North American GSM phone is quad band, or it won't work overseas...

DOes anyone have experience just buying a cheap non-carrier specific pay as you go phone in the US, then buying the SIM card in Italy? Would this work?

I am going to Italy in 1.5 weeks and I have a BB as well but when I called verizon they said it would not work overseas and I would have to rent one from them. Looking for other options.

You need a tri or quadband phone with at least 900 or 1800 Mhz frequencies, preferably both. Will be available at Walmart.

travelfridge, as I just said above your comment, as long as it's a <b>quad band</b> phone, you'll be fine.

Also, no need to look for a pay-as-you-go phone in the US, since you won't need the US sim. Just purchase an <b>unlocked</b> phone (e.g., make your purchase from an electronics store where the device is not tied to a particular carrier).

If you were on AT&T or T-Mobile, the carrier will unlock the phone for you unless it's a brand-new phone.

Search for unlocked and check frequencies. Most are only site2store or mail order.

<i>Most are only site2store or mail order.</i>

Depends on where you live; going online is not the only option in a major city. A large electronics store like Best Buy should also be able to accommodate you.

I bought a couple of unlocked, refurbished, Motorola quad band cell phones on eBay for around 20 bucks each. Few bells and whistles, but worked just fine for us all over Europe. Just add Sims when you get there, or get an eKit, as advised above.

logos999. I guess I didn't get the iphone reference. My phone is not an iphone just a quad band unlocked T-Mobile phone.

sher...your phone will work with an Italian (or any other sim in Europe) provided it is unlocked....T Mobile, if you've been a customer for a while...will issue for free an unlocking code. Call T Mobile cutomer service and tell them you would like to unlock your phone and they will provide the code to unlock it.
After that, you're set. Just buy a local sim and enjoy.

I laughed out loud when I read the heading to your question. I can't offer any help but can tell you that you are not alone. We were Cell Idiots also. We called the customer service line several times before we were able to make a single call. That is the only one we made. Good Luck

Bookmarking as our trip is five months a way and it'll take me at least that long to figure out the cell phone issue. Thanks for all the help !

Plenty of cheap unlocked quadband GSM pones on ebay. A lot of other online stores amazon, tigerdirect, etc. also have them. Just one and get a sim at your destination. This is as easy as it gets these days.

Even more, even cheaper dual band phones on international ebay sites. Planet earth uses dual band GSM 900/1800, north america uses something else. Gat a phone, the planet uses, ;-) Dual band, earth style.

Another question from a cell-phone "dummy" : Would this phone work if I got the TIM card in Italy? I bought a prepaid phone with SIM card from Vodaphone at the Sydney airport. I have no idea what its bandwidth is and I have no idea what locked or unlocked means, especially in relation to this phone. Just trying to figure out if taking this phone would help me in Italy or France. (I live in the US)

>prepaid phone with SIM card from Vodaphone at the Sydney airport.
Yes, this phone will work all over Europe. Locked means, it can only be use with a certain "SIM card" from the phone company from which you bought your phone. This company can unlock the phone by telling you a code that you have to enter before you use it with anohter SIM card from an European company. Most cheap phones are sold at a discount from a phone company such as Vodafone Australia. If you pay them some extra money or wait long enough, they'll tell you this "magic" code you have to dial once to unlock to phone for use with other phone companies.

You can unlock your Australian Vodafone phone for use in Europe or elsewhere on the planet (except America and VERY few other places) on this site. It will tell you how much it costs should it not be free.

https://unlock.vodafone.com.au/voila...=selectService

Okay, here is my status update: I ordered a global SIM card from Telestial through amazon.com. Long story short we could not figure out how to unlock my Blackberry despite getting the unlock code. I really fee like a dummy, and apparently my hubby is too because neither of us could get it to work. After numerous calls and such we returned the SIM card and I ordered a $29 phone/SIM card set, again from Telestial and through Amazon.com. It should be here tomorrow.

We decided to just go this route because the phone would only be used for emergencies and really short calls since plan on using Skype/web calls with our laptop. It doesn't appear to be anything fancy, but as long as my in-laws can reach us in an emergency it should do.

Tracy

Ok, I have another "idiot" question.

I bought a cheep phone from Orange in France. It is a pain the a$$, I loose the number if I don't use it for a few months. I then have to go to Orange to get another #, but, I cannot buy the minutes there, I have to go to the tabac and buy a card with minutes, of which I can't understand the directions to load the car, they speak too fast, so, I have to wait and find someone willing to listen to the instructions and load my card. One time the guy at Orange didn't "reregister"" the phone ?? and I could 't make calls...I hate the little bugger.

Question, can I buy a sim card for the Orange phone?? Does it need to be jailbroken or since it is a french phone does it just easily take the card. Where exactly does one buy a sim card??

Wow, if this could work I would be in heaven!

The phone is probably (sim) locked. That means there is code in the boot up menu that tells the phone to only recognize an Orange France sim card. It is easy to tell if a phone is locked. Simply insert any other sim card. If it's locked you will immediately get a message saying unauthorized sim card or something to that effect. I it's unlocked, you won't get such a message; later in the process you might be told sim card registration failed or the phone my register on some network.

Each country has different traditions with its mobile service. The French way has always been, at least with Orange FR and SFR FR (which is partially owned by vodafone but that might be changing soon), that you buy a top up for a specific amount and a specific period. Last year, their €10 top up was valid for 15 days...their €15 top up was good for one month. After that period, unless you top up again, they steal your credit. But your number remains active to receive calls ithin France for an additional six month period. After that, the card is cooked, history, kaput, whatever.

Contrast that with the UK's policies on most of its telcoms. One billable event every 180 days (with Orange UK it's one year) keeps the card active. No top up necessary so I have kept my UK card active by sending a text message every 8 or 9 months (I'm with Orange UK)...I still have the same number as when I first got the sim card in 2001.

If it's important for you to retain the French number, what you can do before leaving France is to pick up a top up slip as you said from a tabac for the minimum amount say €10...before the six month grace period runs out, even if you're not in France, you can turn on the phone and provided you are in a country which has the gsm bands your phone uses (example if your phone is a dual band European model with 900/1800, it will work throughout most of tyher civilized and uncivilized world but won't work in North America because the Yankees and the Canucks use different frequencies; if it's a quad band, the phone with the French sim card will register one one of the US networks even if you have no credit on it (because they stole your credit at the expiration of the 15 days or whatever)...anyway, if you remembered to purchase a top up slip from a French tabac, once the phone registers punch in 224 followed by the 16 digit number on the top up slip and then (here I'm a tad hazy but you can try it both ways) either press # and then press send or after entering the 16 digits press send. You will receive a confirmation sms a few moments later that your credit of €10 has been applied and the 15 days then the six month clock starts running.

If you're inside France and purchase a top up slip at a tabac, the procedure is a tad different. You dial 224 and you'll hear a message in French telling you to enter the 16 digit top up code followed by the #...the voice will repeat the numbers (in French of course) and ask you to press 1 to confirm. Again that will top up the phone and the 15 days or one month or whatever starts to run followed by the six month grace period (if you top up the phone while there's still credit left in other words before those French thieves steal your credit, the clock starts running again and they don't steal your credit). That's simply the way the French telcoms work despite efforts on the part of the eu to put an end to this theft of credit (German courts have ruled this practice is not legal and if they inactivate your credit, a call to customer service of the telcom, provided you speak German or the operator speaks English, gets your credit back. The countries are all different in that respect.

One other thing. In many countries, you are given your choice of language for many of the voice prompts. On most German telcoms, you can choose English, same is true for many Italian and many Dutch and even the Polish telcom I used once. And the UK telcoms allow you to use English too as do the Irish. But the French, so proud of their language, stopped that practice about seven or eight years ago. At one point on Orange FR you could set the voice prompts to English but no longer.

Hope this info helps you out in understanding what is going on. Now whether it is important to keep say a French mobile number any longer is problematic thanks to eu roaming rates. I now use my British sim to roam in France...incoming calls are not free but only about 12 or 13p with that scheduled to fall again in July. Outgong calls within the eu are 38p, not too bad considering you are roaming. Also lebara, the champion of cheap mobile rates, has come to the land of the French and while their cards expire pretty quickly, they only charge 0,09€ to call North America, far better than the large French telcoms.