merrytimes

I forgot to ask if anyone has ideas as to what is the most reasonable way to purchase a cell phone for international use.
Taking the girls on this trip is a responsiblity and we would like to stay connected to their parents back home for the comfort of both.
Thank you,
Merry times

christabir

Isn't it only three days? Can't they just e-mail - usually free in the hotel or cheap at a cafe. You can rent a phone, use the hotel phone, but a phone card and use pay phones (cheapest option) or use your GSM phone from Cingular or T-Mobile and spend $5 or more a minute.

xyz123

christabir...

Dont scare merrytimes with misinformation...while I am not a big fan of international roaming on the US carriers Cingular and T Mobile USA, their rates are closer to $1/minute ($1.29 on Cingular actually unless you wish to pay $6/month while T Mobile USA is 99¢) and for a three day trip used only for a couple of emergency calls and hi how are you, it might be a worthwhile avenue to explore.

Fibonacci2358

If you don't have Cingular (ATT) or T-Mobile, you can buy a European tri-band phone on Ebay and buy you a SIM card with an Italian number. I did that. Calling the US from any cell phone is expensive. The lowest cost way is to use an Internation phone card from a land line. Calling with the same phone card from a cell phone will be more expensive.

kerouac

If yu buy a phone card, it costs about 1 cent a minute to call the U.S. from a public phone, in most of Europe.

crosscheck

If you have Verizon, which doesn't work in Europe, you might want to get a Mobal phone. We've had one for several years and has been fine for 2-3 trips a year. (And we often lend it to people.)

Pros:
- Mobal fed-exes phone to you before your trip so you get phone number in advance to give out to people
-You get a UK number with English voice mail instructions
- Don't have to worry about SIM card expiring
- You set up an account and calls are billed directly to your credit card; you can check your bill and current usage online

Cons:
- Rates are not cheap (but are no more than T-Mobile)
- If you're in another country besides the UK, you're charged roaming charges on local calls.

ira

Hi M,

How often will you be calling?

If it is only occasionally, for short calls, I would recommend the $49 Mobal phone (www.mobal.com).

The number is good forever, and you are charged only if you use it.

Otherwise, enter <cell phone> in the "seaqrch this forum" box for a very good discussion of all of the choices.

merrytimes

Thanks for the great ideas re phone. I like the idea of the mobal phone , sounds reasonable .
Iam assuming I can purchase one here in Canada .
This is a great site for getting answers to travel questions.To think I stumbled on it by accident!
Thank you.

crosscheck

Mobal is only available online -www.mobal.com

They ship to you overnight.

Choice of a phone that works in 140 countries for $49 or 160 countries for $99.

I believe the $49 phone covers all of Europe.

pippy4tao

Have you heard of skype? Most internet cafe's have it and it is really easy to use. It's also sooo cheap. All you need is an account which you can get using a paypal. Then for like 2 cents a minute you can phone any phone number whether cell or land line.

Good Luck

www.nomadwannabe.com