James N. Welch

I have a pretty basic Nokia 5165 model I use with AT&T service here in the US, am leaving for Finland next Tuesday, now wondering about cellphone and service in Finland and in UK (London) duirng 1 day lay over there on return trip. My niece has loaned me a "Trium" cell phone she purchased while traveling in Spain. She tells me I can probably get a "card" for it that will enable me to make it work while I'm in Finland. She also sent me a booklet (all in Spanish) that has "vodafone" and "formula" on the front cover and I have no idea what it tells me or how it relates to the "Trium" cell phone. Can anyone clue me in as to what I've got, is it worth taking with me on my upcoming trip---or do I need to start from scratch in Finland (and if so what does that mean, how do I do it, what does it cost?) And what is worth dealing with while in the UK for 24 hours---just use hotel or airport phone or a pay phone anywhere?

egg

I live in the UK and am able to use my phone anywhere in Europe. If you have it set to "roam" it will automatically pick up the nearest network. The downside is that you are charged for incoming calls.<BR>Why not have a word with your phone company about "roaming".

Greg

Our cellphone system is different than the rest of the world (to keep foreign service competition away?) So, unless you have the megabucks international service using a multisystem cellphone, you won't be able to use your phone in Europe. I am planning to buy a phone like your niece did during my next trip just because it makes more sense economically.

EP

I doubt that your US purchased phone would work here. Just like Greg said, US uses different system than the rest of the world. Although Nokia is a Finnish company, they make different phones for US market. As do other manufacturers.<BR><BR>But your niece´s Spanish phone will work in both Finland and UK with 100% certainty.<BR><BR>What you should do depends on the lenghth of your stay. But if it is anything less than months, the pre payed SIM-card is the best solution. You just walk into any R-kiosk (yellow and blue kiosks, or more like small super-markets nowadays. They are everywhere, all over the country) and say you want a pre-payed SIM. Then you just push the little card into the phone, and it is ready to use.<BR><BR>If there is still time left in the card when you are in London, you can use it also there. It just means that the calls go through Finland.

Andre

James,<BR><BR>EP's post gives you all the important information regarding SIM cards and prepaid packages. However, there are 3 caveats he didn't mention:<BR><BR>1) Although your niece may not have used all her credit up before leaving Spain, it might have expired (this generally happens 2-3 months since the last recharge of phone "minutes"). So I'm not sure that you will be able to start phoning right away.<BR><BR>2) Although the Trium phone is technically compatible with any European cell network, it could very well have a so-called "SIM lock", preventing you from using it with another operator's prepaid card (even a Vodafone card from a different e.g. the UK) - by all means request that the salesman test this BEFORE purchasing just a prepaid card - he may also be able to unlock the phone. If the phone is indeed locked and cannot be unlocked, you will have to purchase a complete prepaid package including a phone. Don't worry - it's not much more expensive, so make sure the phone will work with another card before.<BR><BR>3) The only information you still need from your niece is:<BR>- The phone number linked to her Spanish SIM card (so people can reach you while you're still using that card)<BR>- The PIN code which you must enter whenever you turn the phone on<BR>- Does she think there's any credit left on her spanish SIM card?<BR><BR>4) Finally, I would try to turn on the phone, enter the PIN and make sure it's configured to display information in English before you go to Europe. You should be able to download an english-language manual for the phone at Trium's website:<BR>http://www.mitsubishi-telecom.com/support_user_guides.asp<BR><BR>Hope this helps,<BR>Andre

Sandy

Thanks for the info... will I be able to use those phone cards to call an 800 # in the U.S.?

Sandy

Sorry about the post... please ignore... meant to reply to another post.

xxx

Actually, if you do a search on yahoo shopping using the words GSM phones, you will find many many good deals on both dual band phones and tri band phones.<BR><BR>You can get a dual band Nokia 3310 for about $110. The phone is unlocked and the price is very very comparable to what you would pay in the UK for a locked model. The 3310 is almost identical to the 3390 except it operates on 900/1800 bands which means it works in most of the civilized world except the US and Canada while the 3390 which is used by Voicestream operates on 1900 band, the band chosen by US cell providers.<BR><BR>You can get tri band Motorolas (900/1800/1900) for around $90.....such a phone can be used say with Voicestream here and then you can go into any phone shop in any Western European country and simply buy a SIM pack whose prices vary tremendously. I do know in the UK, you can get a Virgin mobile sim pack for &pound;10 with &pound;5 worth of calling credit. You then immediately have a British cell phone number and can begin calling immediately as there is no need to register.<BR><BR>In France, you get a mobilcarte for 30 euro. You get 10 euro worth of call credit but it expires in 1 month and calls are somewhat more expensive than with Virgin in Britain.<BR><BR>But the point is the price is hardly insurmountable and the phones work perfectly....

EP

I forgot the possible "SIM-lock", sorry. That would make it impossible to use the phone with Finnish pre-paid cards.<BR><BR>But if the phone does not have that lock, take it with you. Although new phones with pre-paid phone time are not expensive like xxx pointed out, the pre-paid SIM costs only something like 20 euros, and you get quite a lot of phoning time with that.<BR><BR>Last year I had a young relative from Austria staying with me. He had his Austrian bought phone with him, but he took off the Austrian SIM-card, and got himself a Finnish pre-payed one. OK, his phone number changed, but his calls didn´t go through Austria, which would have made phoning far more expensive.

Jim

Thank You, Thak You, Thank you all! I'm still needing to sort all thi sout---and obviously check in with the niece about some of the details regarding her specific phone (although she did give me a code numnber to use already). PS: in my own further internet research I came accross a page that may be of interst to some--or all---of you as it lists every country on the planet with service provider(s) and contact number(s) for each. It is at: http://kropla.com/mobilephones.htm<BR>Hope it helps others with questions about cell phone useage aroudn the world. Thanks again all who posted a reply!