Cingular wireless use in Ireland
 

I am thinking of adding the International plan to my Cingular phone. Has anyone used their Cingular phone in Ireland and how is the coverage? Does it work okay in between cities?

Also, I have another old GSM tri band cingular phone not in use any ideas how to get the unlock codes if I decide to get a sim card in Dublin?

Thank you!

Does the phone have at least the 1800 mhz frequency...chances are if it's a Cingular tri band it does and lacks 900...if it's a quad band it has 900.

Having said that, in Ireland, like in all European countries, you willhave excellent coverage when roaming with Cingular as you will actually be roaming on an Irish network...there are small pockets in Ireland we ran into where there is no 1800 service but only 900 but those areas are not wide spread.

Do you really need the Cingular $5.99 package? All that does is reduce the price for roaming in Ireland from $1.29/minute to $0.99/minute...you do the math as to how much talking will make it worthwhile.

As far as unlocking the old phone, if it's a Nokia and you know what company it's locked to, no problem. You can download the Nokia unlocking calculator for free off the web.

If it's another manufacturer you have to check with Cingular if they will provide the unlocking code or wait till you get to Ireland where you should be able to find merchants who unlock phones or go via the internet. You will pay from about $10 to $25 if cingular is not willing to provide the unlocking code and it isn't a Nokia.

Thank you soooooo much the info is very helpful!!!
Colleen

I added the Cingular international plan to our phones last year when we visited for a week. We wanted it mostly because we went with a group of 8 in two cars and wanted to be able to communicate with each other. It worked fine, no problems with coverage. But it wound up being quite expensive. Even though, at that time, Cingular allowed pro-rating (which I don't believe they do any more) it added about $100 to that month's phone bill.

exactly as XYZ said- make sure the Mhz on the phone is tri/quad band.

Thanks to Itialian Chauffer I found out that a law has now been passed (for the next 3 years) and it is now against the law for your phone company to refuse to unlock your phone.

I called Cingular and went through the process. You MUST add the FREE international calling plan. (there is a plan that lowers your per minute rate that they have a charge for but it is not needed if you are changing your sim chip).

I did have to explain to Cingular that it was because I was leaving the country and it did take about 4 calls and quite a bit of firmness on my part BUT we did get an email with the unlock code and step by step instructions before we left.

In Ireland we had to find a Cell Phone place as there is none in Shannon airport but it only cost us 10Euro for a SIM and phone #. We signed up on line got extra time and used the phone all over Ireland for 10Euros.

Worked like a charm! (Top up minutes seemed to be available EVERYWHERE)and we had an old MCI calling card that we left with our family here to call us on our Irish # for emergencies.

Hope this helps!
Dawn

12perfect days is right. You must add the international GSM roaming service to your plan to use your phone in Ireland and it is free.

The Cingular World Traveler Plan does cost $5.99 a month, but you can add it before you leave and cancel it when you get back , so that you are only paying for one month. If you talk for at least 20 minutes overall during your trip, then it will cost the same as the normal $1.29 rate. If you talk over 20 minutes, you will save money. So, it really depends on how much you time you are spending in Ireland, how much you will call home, and how much time you will spend on the phone when you call home.

I am going for 2 weeks, and I know that my boyfriend and I will each be calling home to check in with our families, so it will be worth it for us to add the World Traveler Plan.

The cheapest route would be to change your SIM chip. We just didn't want to go through the extra little trouble to do that, but from what everyone else has said on the message boards, it sounds easy enough to do if you want to save the money.

I'm sure you'll be fine whatever you decide to do. Have fun on your trip!

The Cingular system should work fine as you have set it up. There has been a lot written on these boards about cell phones in Europe, but there is still one thing I really have a hard time understanding. Why would people call home on a mobile/cell phone. Seems you can plan these a little, and save a lot of money.

I would certainly buy a cheap calling card to call home , rather than use the cell phone. At $1.29 a minute for the cell, versus about 8 cents a minute, you can talk for a lot longer for a lot less. Keep the cell phone for brief local calls to restaurants, etc.

I also still have a Net2Phone account (they were internet-based calling company long before Skype) and they offer toll free numbers in all European countries. You can just dial an "800" like number in any country and place your call. Could be a pay phone, hotel phone, friends landline etc. It's around 10 cents a minute.

Skype is about 3cents a minute if you are in an internet cafe, and can be free if your party is also on skype.

Just hate to see people pay a lot more than they need to, for chatting enthusiastically to folks at home.

I fully agree that a cell phone is very useful in Europe, but I wouldn't call home with it.

Happy calling, Rouss

roussillon...

Your ponts are well taken and for the most part I would agree for calling out...but there is, like anything else, no absolute generalization of what's best.

1. What about receiving calls from friends, business associates whatever. It is a pain, and sometimes impossible, to leave all friends with a complete list of hotels and sometimes plans change. With a cell phone yu are reachable 24/7; although I know the sentiments of some are I don't want to be bothered while on holiday.

2. You meet somebody and they tell you of this great restaurant; you check yuor guide book and find the phone number...now to call for reservations..ah where is the public phone...with a cell phone, even if you are paying the asininely high roaming fees charged by US carriers, you can quickly call the restaurant..

3. There are situations where it is not at all expensive to call using a mobile phone...the UK is a perfect example...there are cell phone plans available where calling from the UK to the USA is 4p/minute.....given the convenience you are not going to do much better with a calling card plus you have all the advantages of the above.

To each his own and it comes down to what you're used to...having travelled with cell phones to Europe for the past 5 years, personally I wouldn't want to travel any other way.

But I really do not think my way is the only way and people should be aware of all the various options and decide which is best.

Thank you everyone for the help! A lot to consider. I need to really sit down with the family and see what would work out best. I appreciate the info!!

Colleen