I think these postings are great! Thank you, everyone for all the great information on cell phones. I want to rent the Mobal but need to decide between the $49.00 new phone or the free previously rented phone. Which is the best choice? I would love your thoughts. Thanks!

Re: "want to rent the Mobal but need to decide between the $49.00 new phone or the free previously rented phone."

You don't rent the Mobal phone; you buy it. The $49 phone is a good bit smaller and is 900 / 1800 mhz, as opposed to the free one which is only 900. I'm not really sure what that means as far as usability; but I'm sure you can get more info from someone else here.

Opps! I meant to say "buy"!

And, thank you for the information!

nonnafelice:

Modal now has "previously rented phone" which you can now get "free". I guess their catch is that they want you to continue using their SIM card.

These free phone (Nokia 5110 model) are only 900MHz so can only be used in Europe, I presume.

Well, I am either hopeless or my phone is "unlockable"... I got a second set of codes to compare to the first set... Had 3 possible codes from Mobileliberation and 2 codes from unlockme - the 2 codes matched the 1st and last codes from Mobileliberation, so I entered those 2 codes as one string, hit the ending #

and NOTHING HAPPENED!! No responses at all.

My T-Mobile SIM is still not valid.

That makes 4 tries so I am stopping now...might go to a store in Paris and 'see' if a local SIM will work, otherwise, forget it, I will just use Mobal's SIM - we aren't planning to use but for emergency or if we need to communicate while separated.

The phone can always be unlocked with a cable for a few quid or whatever in most any big city in Europe (perhaps Germany excluded according to one poster)...

I have a question about the $29 Mobal phone. I bought two of them, and have them all charged next to my suitcase, but obviously cannot activate them in the States.

Anyone know how many minutes they come loaded with? Can't find that in any of the literature.

My thought was to be able to call our friends when we get to Scotland. They will be arriving on another flight, and being able to call them will make sure we can connect. If there are enough minutes for that, I will not bother to top up in England unless we need to make calls for reservations, etc., but wait until we get to France to do the unlocking/new SIM bit.

With Mobal, your phones do not have a credit or balance of minutes. You make calls and they charge you a per-minute rate against your credit card. Their rate table is on their website.

nukesafe,
I don't think they come preloaded with any value. Don't they bill your credit card for the cost of calls?

yes, we cross-posted. they bill the credit card you used to make the purchase.

I could not find out any information on how to unlock my Samsung phone before leaving for Portugal. It was purchased in Australia.
Upon arriving in Portugal, I tried the Vodaphone kiosk in the Lisbon airport and they said they could not do it but told me a store that would.
The man in Braga spoke perfect English and unlocked the phone for $15. I felt it was worth it. I then could purchase any SIM card. He sold both international ones and Portugal only ones. I decided to purchase the Vodaphone one.
Calls incoming were free, outgoing were .39 and on weekends were .20.
That, of course is in Euro.
It worked like a charm.

xyz123. I do have Callback world service, but couldn't seem to change the number with their automated system, and could not get a representative on the phone. So I am going to check now that I am home.
Obviously, I feel I was not doing something correctly.

www.unlockme.co.uk

For the Mobal 3410 I just bought...got the codes for free with very good instructions on how to input them. You need to know your IMEI number which is under the battery, or on the box the phone came in. And you need to know the network the phone is locked to, in my case Cellnet or O2. I put in the first code and got the message Phone is not restricted. Then I put in the second code and got the message Phone restriction off. I found that you have to be rather quick entering the letter and + signs or you lose them off the screen. And you do put in the codes separately. Very easy.

It must be something to do with my phone unit. I have put in codes 4 different ways and <i>never</i> is there any message on the screen - I key in the final # and nothing at all happens. Maybe it is already unlocked but my USA T-Mobile sim isn't recognized. I'm not going to worry about it any more.

I started this thread after a very good experience with my first Mobal phone. BUT, the second one did not work correctly for either sending or receiving calls and I am now disputing a charge of $282.05 that just appeared on my credit card! BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!

Yikes...now I've talked mother-in-law and sister-in-law into getting Mobal cell phones also! I hope that wasn't a bad idea!! Please keep us all posted on your new, not-so-great experience.

Just to keep the outcome of your dispute tied to this very informative thread...

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34621497

Its amazing what can be found on the internet. I hope someone still checks this post.

I'm going to Spain next month and want to have a cell available. I know about the GSM frequencies and needing an unlocked GSM phone. I have a triband Motorola phone I got from T-Mobile when I had their service. I would like to unlock the phone to use on my trip. I had read previously that the company will unlock the phone if told you'll be traveling abroad. I'm no longer a customer and wasn't sure if they even do this.

Has anyone ever heard of T-Mobile unlocking their phones? Or anyone else have an idea how to unlock it?

OK, Mobal and I have come to an agreement about the $29 phone my daughter had plenty of problems with, along with the $282 phone bill. They are crediting me for every call 2 minutes or less which means about $120 was removed from the bill. In addition, they credited the phone (which my son in Germany has now - but not using!) $100 for future calls. So I'm pretty pleased by their response and commitment to their customers. The end of the saga!

Postal. So glad you got some resolution to your problem.

It has made a lot of us rethink our cell phone usage.