Mobal/Cell Phone Question
 

Hi.
We will be traveling to Paris and London soon. I've read through all the topics on cell phones, but still have a few questions. We want to take a cell phone with us primarily so that people here can reach us and otherwise for emergencies. If we call home, we will likely just buy a phone card. The most important factors in the cell phone we use are:
#1. We know the phone number before we leave and the number stays the same throughout our travels
#2. Calls made TO us are free or a minimal charge.

The only people who will have our phone number are the kids/other family members and we don't want them to have to pay long distance/international rates as they will be calling from their cell phones (sprint)

We have sprint pcs for our cell phone service, so to my knowledge, there is not an international option with sprint.

I'm thinking given conditions #1 and #2 above that we should:

1. Buy a mobal phone - have a consistent phone number and it seems we pay for both incoming and outgoing calls

2. Buy a mobal sim card (free + $10 shipping) and an unlocked tri-band/quad-band phone on ebay. My thinking is we'd likely get a better cell phone, but if I understand how it works, would still have a set, known phone number and would still pay for incoming as well as outgoing calls.

Any other ideas or suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

wanderfar

ps. We travel often so will continue to use the phone in the future

In thinking about this further, with Mobalphone, do you pay a set fee per minute for incoming calls in addition to whatever the person calling you is paying? I looked at Mobal phones website and couldn't find a clearcut answer. Is the Mobal phone number a European number?

It is very important that people calling us are only paying the price of a local phone call. Again, they will primarily be calling from sprint pcs cell phones.

Thanks again!!

I just found that the number would be a UK number. Thanks.

Cell Hire (cellhire.com) has an option called "follow me" or some such. It allows you to either forward your current phone to your Cell Hire 800 number or for people to directly dial the 800 number.

Free to them - you pay per minute

If you buy the Mobal phone, it is a UK number, there is no monthly or flat cost. You are only charged for the minutes you use (yes, both inc/out) and those charges are posted to the credit card on record with Mobal. So you make 5 calls this trip, then nothing for 8 months. No expiring SIM, no monthly fees, and the phone will still work next time you go. It's not a terrible deal for limited use.

Well, there's no need for mobal or other rip-off companies. Phones and card are unbelivably cheap! Or you could get a www.united-mobile.com SIM and any unlocked dual band phone. It's so easy!