My advice is to use the Mobal only for emergencies and urgent dealings -- and tell your friends/family to call you only in an emergency. The rates are very high when receiving a call. My dear daughter called me in Santorini to wish me a happy Mother's Day. I wouldn't for the world have told her to cut the conversation short, but boy did I have a huge bill when I got home! Worth it - I'm not complaining -- just sharing some info.

Never had a Mobal phone, but I own a Motorola tri-band, and a T-Mobile quad band. Did you make sure that you are on the right band/frequency for the US?

Mobal rates are very high period! Receiving or making calls are just so expensive, so use mobal if it's really an emergency. The only advantage of mobal is that the sim does not expire. However, there are several other sims (yackie, maxroam, UM+, etc) out there, that have been discussed here,and will give you free incoming in lots of countries, and very reasonable outgoing rates.

bookmarking

To review, I'm the guy from another thread who doesn't know which bathing suit to wear during my trip to Greece...

...I just bought the $99 Mobal phone, based on an advertisement in the Skymall magazine. (The $49 phone does not work in the US, the $99 does, and in about 20 additional countries too.) Don't know if it's still going on but I bought directly from Mobal and received a set of adapters (plugs) and a $99 call credit. Haven't tried it out yet -- my trip's not until late August -- but I decided to go with it because there's no hidden charges -- all you do is buy the phone and you're only charged when you make or receive a call. When the trip is over just stick it in the drawer until the next trip.

Supposedly voicemail is an expensive proposition -- you pay once when the call comes in, twice for it to deflect to the voicemail center in the UK, and a third time to retrieve the message. I'm just going to tell the family my phone will be turned on from say noon - 2 (US time) each day, and if they need to call, do it then.

Just to follow up on this, I did go on the trip and used the Mobal phone to call people back in the US and in Greece while I was there. It worked flawlessly. Call quality was very good. Even sent an SMS or two.

I received a $99 call credit when I bought the phone so I don't have any idea how much of it was used, but if I had to guess I'd say about $35 or $40. My longest call was about 5 minutes, the shortest was about a minute.

I like the fact that the phone works in 170 countries and I'm not charged for anything unless I make a call, so I'll just put it back in the drawer and wait for the next trip...

Hi jj

We use Mobal in Europe, but only for emergencies.

The per minute rates are very high.

If you are planning to use the phone every day, it is not a good choice.

((I))

OMG--MOBAL works too well. We sent ours with our daughter to Europe a few years ago and she got very homesick her last week. She also put it in her backpocket and her "butt" called me on the train from Milan to Venice and I could not get the damn thing to disconnect once I realized what had happened. But then I realized that I could overhear the two young men in the compartment trying to pick up my daughter and her friend so I listened in fear until they must have gone through a tunnel and lost the signal. Therefore, the $700 bill was partly my fault.

yep, mobal is quitre expensive. It's good for may be a call or two here and there. Anything above that, it's NOT worth it. There are too many sims out there that will only cost a fraction of what mobal charges.

My Mobal has been the perfect solution for my purposes. I use it only as needed and am able to call home to check messages, the bank and credit card companies if needed, etc. Ease of use cannot be beat and it is a great little Nokia, too.

Anyone have any up-to-date information about this Mobal Cell phone? Any pros or cons? I know it is more expensive per minute but we may purchase one just for emergencies.

<I>Travelnut on May 9, 08 at 11:46 AM

You control the phone - keep it turned off and just check for messages. Turn it on only if you get separated from your travel partner.</i>

But ... if you both have your phones turned off, they won't be very useful for staying in touch, <I>n'est-ce pas</i>? Continually having to power up to check for messages is a PIA.

The advice to SIM-lock any phone when in Europe is sound. The worst-case scenario is not pretty.

We will just have 1 phone and use it just for emergencies or checking in with elderly parents and children as necessary. I don't know if this Mobal phone can be locked. We want just one number and don't want to buy new sim cards in each country. This phone looks like it would work for us.

Telestial has a terrific unlocked Europe phone bundle for $39.

http://www.telestial.com/promo/packlite.php

Robes, what I was saying above was in response to the poster who implied having a phone could be a nuisance or intrusive while on vacation. My point was, you don't have to be at the mercy of a phone, you control when to be interrupted, otherwise just check for messages.

My husband and I have no problem turning off our phones until we part ways, then turning them on while apart. Typically, though, we just leave them on since we don't have anyone back home pestering us.

The mobal offer makes little sense in this day and age. They want you actually to pay to receive calls while in Europe. What a laugh.

Well, The Mobal does make sense to me because I don't have a US cell phone that has access in Europe. I also don't want to spend my vacation time trying to buy sim cards in every country I am visiting. We will just make quick calls to check in with family members in US periodically or emergency calls. We certainly don't plan to chit chat on the phone during vacation. Other options may be cheaper but sometimes cheaper isn't always the best option.

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I just posted another question on the same general subject. Perhaps someone following this thread has an answer.

I used Mobal phones on several trips to Europe, but threw them out earlier this year, as the advice on this forum said they were stupidly expensive; and that was correct for the usage I put them to. Anyway, no sooner had I done so than my Daughter announced she is going to the UK, Belgium, and Germany to visit relatives. She has some medical problems, and I want her to have a phone for emergencies, arranging transportation, and etc. I also want it to work in the States, so she can contact her relatives from here.

I have bought a quad band phone on eBay, and am looking for the best SIM to purchase that will work both in the US, and Europe. Does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks,

:-)

Jayne111-your story about your daughter almost sounds like the movie TAKEN. Have you seen it? Scary.

Just bought the Telestial suggested by Robespierre above (thanks!). I have the Mobal and for my 2007 Europe trip paid over 1k in phone bills. Don't intend to make that mistake again. Hopefully I can figure this one out, no way to test til I'm there as it doesn't work in US.