Cell phones
 

I am a Cellular One customer here and wonder if I can just take my phone from home and use it in Europe?? Do I have to register with a provider there? Are they compatible?

Karen <BR> <BR>No they aren't compatible. Do a search on this forum. There is a great discussion of it and what you need to do. When we went last Summer we had to rent a phone that would work in Europe. It was not very expensive. <BR> <BR>Sheryl

Sheryl, Thanks for the suggestions. I learned a lot today. I now have to decide if I want to rent a phone for $200 a month, or buy one outright for about $300. It sounds like the European SIM card is better than the $2.00 per minute charge too. I'll keep on researching. Thanks again.

Karen <BR> <BR>You dont mention where 'home' is but I assume it's North America, yes? Your mobile phone , in that case, would probably be single band ie for use only in USA and Canada. <BR> <BR>Many mobiles in Europe use dual band, compatible in the UK and mainland Europe. Some, like one or two of the Motorolas are tri-band (I've got one) and thats has worldwide coverage. They are still fairly rare, though.

To Tony, <BR>Please tell us more about the tri band phone. What does it cost. What can it do. How do you use it in Europe and how do you sign up for service to the states while in Europe. Give us the skinney!

Next question - I can rent a phone for $200 per month, or buy one for $200. Or buy the dual one for $350-400. What do you recommend? Has anyone bought SIM cards in Germany? Where? How much?? Cheaper than in US??

Last year, I rented a phone in the US from Omnipoint (www.omnipoint.com) for use in Italy. It cost $49/month, plus the cost of calls. They sent it to me Fedex, including 2 batteries & a charger with several European plugs. They also provided a pre-addressed & prepaid Fedex envelope for the return. <BR> <BR>I received the same phone last year for Christmas. It's an Ericsson I-888 World Phone. It uses the GSM frequencies (900 Mhz in the US, 1800 Mhz in Europe), and is a dual-band phone, so that I can just take it with me to Italy this year. This is why you can't take your US-based phone to Europe - different frequencies. In addition, many US phones do not use the GSM system. <BR>