rosaleendark

We'll be travelling to Ireland, Italy and back to Ireland and visiting friends in each country so was thinking of renting a cellphone so I could be reached and retreive messages etc. Is it possible to rent a phone at Dublin airport when we land and will the Irish cellphones work in Italy also without roaming charges? I'd ideally like to rent a Blackberry-type device so I can access email etc. My current cellphone is technically a work phone and I'd prefer not to use that in Europe as (a) my company would have to pay for any upgrade or fees etc and (b) I'm going +3,000 miles away in order to escape my office and don't really want to have to deal with work issues while I am gone! Thanks for your suggestions.

kayd

Why not buy a cheap quad-band GMS phone and a SIM for either country? Roaming charges have been limited by an EU rule
that took effect several months ago. The max per minute Euro-wide is now E0.43 outgoing, E0.19 incoming, with per/second pricing after the first 30 seconds.

Here is official info on prices:
http://ec.europa.eu/information_soci...g/index_en.htm

Also search this forum for discussions that poster xyz123 contributed to - s/he offers a wealth of information on the topic of cell phones in Europe (don't bother looking back more than a year because of changing markets and technoogy).

SUMMAGOLD

if your current cell from work is a blackberry, then u can use it international. i think they all work international? we use my husband's blackberry all the time. its worked all over europe and the caribbean. yes he reads his emails, and occasionally replies and forwards his emails to his co-workers or calls work, but its a small price for convenience of having a phone with us on our travels. i call my mom, his mom, my friends, update my facebook status... its great. the reception is great, i feel like my mother is just next door. and we dont even pay for it. i do remind him from time to time to stop checking his emails during dinner.

rosaleendark

Thanks Kayd and Summagold. Summagold: From what I understand there are different kinds of BlackBerries. I think you need a US BlackBerry with "world phone" capability (probably what your husband has) in order to use it abroad - I've tried in the past and my particular unit is not useable in Europe - I (i.e. my office) would have to buy a new BlackBerry that is a WorldPhone model. I'll check for xyz123's postings. Thanks again!

greg

Let's categorically look at your concerns of using your current phone.

Assuming your current phone is GSM phone with 900,1800MHZ capability, and that the phone is already unlocked or you are allowed to unlock the phone,

- Company incurring fees: addressed by getting a SIM card in Ireland.
- Not dealing work work issue: addressed by a SIM card from Ireland.

Not able to use a U.S. phone can be a limitation of a roaming agreement of your current carrier with European carriers. I use a local SIM in Europe. My colleague commented that his U.S. phone roaming in Europe with a U.S. SIM did not get signals when other Europeans around him did not have any problem getting connected.

rosaleendark

Thanks, Greg

njsusan

We rented from http://www.rentaphone-ireland.com/.Picked up/droped off @ Dublin Airport.