Sky01

I will be travelling in June/July to Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland and Italy.

I have a Blackberry Bold 9720 - unlock phone. To minimize the cost, I am thinking of purchasing a local SIM card at each of those countries. However, after searching via internet I found a global international SIM card company called Go-Sim.

Have any of you used this SIM card? would you recommend this SIM card for me?
I will not use it to call back home (Asia) often. I will use it mainly for making & receiving calls from/to within Europe (friends, hotels, information, taxi, etc...), receiving calls from my home country and browse internet/check my emails occassionaly.

Thanks in advance for your input!

logos999

>Our Global SIM is an international mobile service with its technology based in Estonia; therefore the mobile begins +3725.

Nobody, really nobody would want to call you on you Estonian cell phone number unless he's in Estonia. It works rather well for making calls.

If it has to be an international card, only go for one with a UK number.

xyz123

logos nailed it....termination fees make calls to Estonia more expensive than calls say to the UK but the cheapest of all might be calls to the USA....several of the international sims are based in off shore UK islands say Jersey and give you a number with a +44 country code which is to most telcoms throughout the world simply considered a call to a UK mobile; far cheaper than a call, in most cases to an Estonian mobile but somewhat more expensive than a call to a UK landline but....

Many of these +44 international cards will give you for free a US forwarding number (take a look at e-kit which has a few different cards available on ebay). Now calls you receive on the US numnber cost you 19¢ US/minute unfortunately timed to the next highest minute but, and it's a big but, all calls to USA (and Canadian) numbers are considered landline calls and in most places, calls to the USA are among the cheapest available! You can fine tune the cards to see which is best for you.

The problem with the local sim solution is the sheer number and the constant changing of your phone number so your friends can't keep track and different countries have different policies as to retention. What is consistant with sim cards within the eu are the roaming rates are capped at a fairly low rate for receiving calls and getting lower all the time but as noted any call to a European mobile will be surcharged by the telco of whomever is calling you and some of these surcharges can be large.

Alec

If you can't or don't want to get an eKit or similar global SIM beforehand, buy a local SIM in Sweden on arrival and use it in Europe. As xyz123 noted, roaming charges in Europe outside Sweden are capped by EU and while calling a Swedish mobile (cell) number can be expensive for your callers, it's not as bad as calling Estonian number. Just make sure you top up with enough credit before leaving Sweden, or find out a way to do so when you are out of Sweden. Swedish customer care line should be Ebglish-speaking or ask when you buy your SIM.

MrEd

Checkout GeoSIM. They have SIMs with a UK, or UK & US numbers. We've usedone for years. One of the benefits is that you have the sdame cntact number unlike if you buy a different sim in each country. Also, if you have a different sim in each country you will invariably not use all your credit. This means that he cost of your calls is higher as you have paid for something you have'nt used.

May2011

We are in Italy with quad phones - we spent 35 E when we got here (from TIM) and three weeks later have more than half the time left. It's not the first plan they offered, but probably the 3rd or 4th. It's .08 within Italy and .20 to the US.

Sky01

wow, thank you everyone for your advise and suggestions!

Actually I don't expect to receive calls from my home country in Asia while I am on the trip. My friends and family already know of my vacation plan, thus they will contact me for emergency case only (general communication will be via email or skype).

i will give your suggestions some thoughts and make a decision soon

Thanks again!

Bucerias

I used a Go-Sim card this year while traveling in Turkey. I realize that an Estonian number is awkward but it worked great for an occasional call home and as an emergency contact for family. I plan on taking it with me to Europe next month as well.

Sky01

Hi Bucerias, can you also access internet easily using their data plan?

newventure

May2011, What is a quad phone? and where did you get your plan from? Could you please elaborate.
Thanks in advance

Operaman

We used Onesim card last summer when we went to Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. Got it with their data plan and it worked marvelous. Customer service was very good as well. Cost for their data is very reasonable.
http://www.onesimcard.com/

Remensongalli

Hi Sky01,
There are many companies which provides the international SIM card Services. They provide services like free roaming, low call rates , no incoming charges and 3G internet data also. I like to travel a lot in different other countries. I am using the International SIM Card. I suggest you to buy an international SIM then changing SIM cards again and again for each country.