Cell Phones
 

Are the cell phone rentals reliable? Do they work? Anyone have experience with them?

urbs, it would generate more helpful replies if you could ask a more specific question (ex.which cell phone rental, which country, etc).

Generally, cell phone service in Europe is very reliable.

Cell phone rentals work but are, in my opinion, a bad value for the vast majority of people. It's even sometimes cheaper to buy a cheap off-the-rack phone in Europe than to rent, especially if you want to make local calls.

If you are looking to call home, then phone cards are a far superior value throughout Europe; if you are looking to make calls within Europe, you're usually better off having your own phone unlocked and buying a SIM card in Europe.

If you are just needing a reliable emergency lifeline, then if your own cell phone is GSM and mulit-band, it will probably work in Europe, and all you have to do is have the company enable it to work overseas (just watch out for the huge roaming charge ... usually about $2 a minute in most of Europe).

Ditto, take an unlocked quad-band GSM phone and then buy a SIM card from a national carrier in the country you are going to. I did it this past August in Turkey.

People here have also bought phones on ebay.

That being said, your question is a bit vague. Without a country it's hard to make any specific comments. This is a Europe forum and that's a lot of territory to generalize about.

As to "getting" the cell phone. Remember that there is a good chance that if you are presently using North American cell service, your phone will not work in Europe. If you have a tri or quad-band phone, then it will.

You can purchase a phone from Mobal for $49, but the per minute cost is substantial, like $1.25 incoming and outgoing.

The better deal is to buy a phone on ebay. I got an older Blackberry for about $25. I bought the SIM card for Italy from the Telestial website and had it activated here in the States. I did this so I did not have to worry about a delay in getting it activated after we arrived (this can take up to 3 days). I went ahead and purchased some more time with the Telestial order, but I could have also done it at a TIM store in Rome for the same price.

All together I had about $75 in the phone, the SIM and the minutes. The nice part about doing it this way is that if you lose the phone you only lose the minutes you paid for. The Mobal phone is linked to your CC or bank account and could result in some serious charges if lost or stolen.

dave

Dave, I assume you can do what you're suggesting and get a sim for France?

Yes, you can get a SIM card for most countries in advance. Most countries require positive identification prior to SIM activation, normally in the guise of your passport. Some places may be able to activate fairly quickly while others may take several days. That is why it is a good idea to try to get the card and activate it prior to leaving.

A couple of thoughts...

1. Most countries do not require any form of identification to activate a sim card; Italy does, I believe France does, I believe Germany does. The UK does not, Holland does not.

2. Companies such as telestial do sell local sims at greatly inflated (three or four times as much as buying it locally) prices. A Tim sim card bought in Italy costs €10 and comes with €5 worth of credit; compare that to the price Telestial wants.

3. In some cases, you cannot get your number until you turn on the phone in the country it is registered...a sim card purchased from Orange FR does not come with the number...your number is assigned the first time you turn on the phone in France and dial a special number so the argument I want to know the number in advance isn't necessarily true (it is true of TIM cards for Italy).

By far the easiest thing to do is to get an unlocked gsm phone with the two European frequencies (900 and 1800 mhz.) before leaving or if your USA service is GSM (T Mobile USA or AT&T AKA Cingular) your phone may already have one or both of the European frequencies or you may be eligible for a free upgrade; in that case see if they will provide a code to unlock the phone to allow you to insert any sim card rather than just their own (Note verizon uses a completely different technology and is useless in Europe). Upon arrival in your first stop it may well be there are mobile phone stores in the airport of the various companies or in most large European cities you will find them on most any corner....they will be able to take care of selling you a sim package and activating it for you if necessary. Again, many cards can be used right out of the box without any formalities whatsoever, it depends on the company and the country.

But of course, if you have money to burn, then by all means deal with companies such as telestial. I don't.

xyz123-
If I wait until I arrive in Rome to buy a TIM card, am I likely to face the multiple day delay in getting it activated as daveesl describes?

I am arriving very early on a Sunday morning. Do you think I'll be able to buy a card in FCO and have it activated right away?

My trip is only 8 days, so a delay of 3 days might not make it worth it to buy a card once I arrive.

Truthfully...

I can't answer your question...Sunday is a day where so much is closed in Rome and the early arrival at the airport might be a problem...that being the case, I would admit you might have to swallow their rip off rates and use a firm such as telestial.

I can only tell you that when I bought a TIM Sim card in Greece last May, I inserted it and activated it in the store before I left. The guy at the counter actually did it for me since the activation recording was in Greek.

Kristina,

I don't know about buying a card Sunday morning. You might try the train station if there's nothing open at the airport. However, in regards to waiting, almost certainly it will be activated instantly. I bought 2 TIM cards in at a TIM store in Venice (EUR 5 each including EUR 5 in talk time, so effectively free) and they worked right off the bat (including calling back to a US number). It was very simple and fast (~5 mins after ~10 min wait for a salesperson). Just remember your passport. (I forgot mine at the apartment and had to go back and get it.)

Paul

bookmarking

I agree with what others have said. You MAY find that your card is activated immediately. You MAY not. For me, I had 3 groups of people arriving on the same day at different times, so I wanted to make sure the phone was working and activated.

The delay MIGHT be 5 minutes, it MIGHT be 3 days. Search on this board and you will find a significant number of people that have had waits of UP TO several days. Additionally, you may not wish to have to run around finding a store to sell you the card and activate it.

I for one believe in the "6 P's"--Prior Planning Prevents Pretty Poor Performance. If I can do something earlier and it isn't cost prohibitive, then I may well do it, one less thing to worry about when I arrive.

dave

If you buy a local sim card from a US company at inflated prices, it MAY work as advertised..it MAY NOT...people on another message board have told of buying a Norwegian local sim from one of these firms not knowing the Norwegian government was now requiring registration..it was useless.

I would rather work with a local store who can put the card in the phone with me, help me set the voicemail and menu prompts to English if possible and paying 1/4 of the price although from time to time there are circumstances that might make being ripped off a more desirable way of handling the situation.

In general, though, this is one area where buying in advance is a costly very costly alternative.

I have a phone from when I had a one-year contract with Cingular. Is it possible to unlock this phone instead of buying another one?

Brand? Model? Already asked Cingular?

esm...

A definite maybe...what frequencies does the phone have...is it a US dual band absolutely useless in Europe, is it a US tri band partially useless in Europe is it a quad band can be used in Europe.

logos and xyz,

I haven't contacted Cingular and have to find the phone and look at specifications; it has been awhile. Didn't think I could use this phone until I read this thread. I was going to donate it as I heard it could be used for 911 calls.

OK, it seems it is useless. It is a basic Samsung X427 dual band.