Cell phones in Europe
 

Hi everyone,
We are thinking of renting a cell phone for our 3.5 weeks trip to Europe (Munich, Salzburg,Brussels,Paris and Barcelona). Do you know how to go about doing this..can we rent it at Munich airport (we are flying back through Munich too)? or should we get it from here? Can we take some phones from here and buy pre-paid cards there?

or is buying a phone cheaper?

I thought writing in the most experieced forum would send me in the right direction.


Thanks so much,

Barna

If you do a search for "cell phones" here, you'll find more information than you'll need. I'd buy a phone. It's cheaper, and you can probably sell it to someone else when you return if you don't plan to go back to Europe soon.

The cheapest phones go for about $75. You recharge the minutes as needed at thousands of locations, newsstands, convienence stores, phone places(obviously). Usually it's about $25 minimum. Also, you will get some credits when you purchase a phone. The amount of credits needed for a call differs depending where you call, but usually you could make about 5 short calls back home before you run out. It is the way to go. Renting will cost you a great deal more. Besides, you could always use the phone again if you go back.

But I am not sure that you can buy an "unlocked" phone for that price. An unlocked phone is necessary for use in all the different countries you mention.

If, pr chance you are in the market for a new cell phone for use "at home" (in the US?), you might look into getting a new tri-band GSM phone bfore you depart.

Best wishes,

Rex

If you are traveling to western Europe ONLY, an unlocked phone is unnecessary. The bigger companies, Vodaphone, Orange and few others are all over Europe.

I believe that even a tri-band phone sold by local (U.S.) carriers still need to be un-locked and those un-locking codes are at the discretion of the carriers.

About 2 years ago, I was able to get the codes needed to unlock my tri-band phone for overseas use from my carrier's nearby store manager. Only then was I able to use the phone in Europe by buying pre-paid phone cards in tabac shops including a replacement SIM card.