Do I really need a cell phone or SIM or whatever?
 

I have been going on vacations for many years and never needed a phone. Do I really need one in Greece? This is my frist trip to Europe and hope I will be too busy enjoying myself and won't even think about calling home.

...then, no.
Just use a phone card.

If for some unforseen reason you need to call home, just buy an OTE phone card and use it in one of the public card phones you can find everywhere and anywhere. The cards cost as little as just a few Euro depending on how many minutes you need.

If you've never needed a cellphone on previous vacations, you are unlikely to need one in Greece. I carry mine with me so I can be reached in emergencies, but seldom use it in Greece other than for a text message or two.

For Europe you would need a GSM 900/1800 band phone, and a sim card from one of the Greek providers before making even one phone call. An OTE phone card would be a lot cheaper.

Actually, I take my quad band phone from the US with me to Europe all the time since it works over there.

Do you NEED to do this? Not IMO. If you are worried about being reached then leave a copy of your itinerary with someone and ask them to call you.

Thanks for the responses. I think I will look into the OTE on an "as needed" basis.

Hi T,

>Do I really need a cell phone ...<

Of course not, especially on vacation**.

Buy an international calling card if you have to call home.

((I))
**If you might need one for emergency use, look at www.mobal.com

Ira, did you used to rent from these folks, but have you now purchased one of these phones?

My husband and I are going on our first trip to Europe without our children, and I want to have a phone by which they can contact us. It says that the Mobal phone will have a UK phone number. So if my girls call from their cell phones I guess they will be charged for long distance UK calls? Thanks for any info.

By the way, I purchased a tri-band phone from Ebay last year when my husband was going on a solo biking trip to Ireland, but the damn thing didn't work. If I remember correctly, the battery wouldn't accept a charge.

If you buy a phone for Europe make sure the charger accepts 220volts! Not all phone chargers are multi voltage.

The only reason I want a phone when traveling is to stay in touch with my travel companions when we separate.

Just topping in hopes that Ira will see my question.

Suki: We purchased a phone from www.mobal.com some years ago. Yes it has a UK phone number and to my knowledge when calling from the states you are charged an international call to the UK. At least that is what our family said when they received their phone bill.

Ira probably knows more as we only use it if we have to call within countries for something.

>www.mobal.com
I fail to understand, why anybody would buy something so outrageously expensive, when phones and SIM cards are soooo cheap in Europe! Not even the minutes are inexpensive.

Thanks, sylvia.

logos, it's the ease of the whole thing. I did try to purchase a phone (ebay)and then it didn't work. Although I know that was just one bad experience, it makes me want to go with a known entity. Lots of people rent phones also, and at least this option is better than that! Anyway, I know this has been discussed in the past, and I'll look up those old posts before I make any decision.

logos, check out the link where they address the advantages of their phone and service versus buying local SIMS cards. I'm sure that a lot of the facts can be refuted, but I don't have any experience to do that.

It's a phone, you musn't use at all or it gets really expensive. :-( To call the police or fire brigade you don't need a SIM at all, any dualband phone will work for that anywhere in Europe, locked or unlocked, SIM or no SIM.

Logos999: The convenience of this phone is that if I have to use it I already have it. I am not going to buy a Sim card in every country that I travel.

If we are going to call home we purchase a phone card and our niece or nephew we take with us each year call their parents. This year we will be in 3 countries. I do not want a Sim card for each country.

The phone is in the event someone HAS to get a hold of us RIGHT NOW or if we happen to be stuck somewhere as we were in the Czech Republic. Otherwise we use phone card.

Try www.globalsim.de for that. Free incoming in Europe and many other places. UK phone number.

logos999: Thank, I will try that for this trip. Our Mobal phone is 5 years old now but come in handy on a few occasions.

Hi Suki,

We bought the $49 Mobal phone for emergency use only, so we don't care what the per minute fees are.

If you will actually use the phone I suggest taking a look at
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34787754

((I))