Phone help for Europe help needed.
 

Hi all,



Will be in Germany and Austria for 9 days in December. I myself have a Lively S3 phone with no overseas option. Can I buy a cheap, disposable phone with ATT or TMoble service just for my trip, days abroad? I realize the phone number won’t be mine, but I can give the “new, temporary” number to those I wish to stay in touch with at home or may need to get in touch with me. (I’m POA for my mom and for my friend in Assisted Living facilities).



My phone AND service are for U.S.A. Only.

IF I bought a phone overseas, how would I let my contacts at home know that phone number?

IF I can purchase a temporary, disposable phone here before leaving, I can give that number to the people that may need me.

I believe my iPad Mini will work anywhere we have WiFi. For emails, Messaging and such.



I have bought these already…. TESSAN 2 Pack Type E F Plug Adapter USB C, Germany France Power Adaptor with 3 USB Charger Ports(1 USB C), 4 AC Outlets Travel Plug for US to Europe EU Spain Iceland Korea Greece Russia German French

Phone for Europe question.
 

Hi all,

Will be in Germany and Austria for 9 days in December. I myself have a Lively S3 phone with no overseas option. Can I buy a cheap, disposable phone just for my trip, days abroad? I realize the phone number won’t be mine, but I can give the “new, temporary” number to those I wish to stay in touch with at home or may need to get in touch with me. (I’m POA for my mom and for my friend in Assisted Living facilities).

My Lively phone and service will not work outside of the U.S.

Id like to have a phone and phone number before I leave, this way I can give the number to the people who need to get a hold of me, such as the Assisted Living Facilities, doctors, etc.

I believe my iPad Mini will work anywhere we have WiFi. For emails, Messaging and such.

Moved to the Europe Forum and tagged for Austria and Germany

Buy a Sim card in Europe and text your new number to those who need to know.

I looked up your phone type and saw your problem. I think buying a cheapie phone and buying a German and et al SIM card on the ground in Germany probably would work well for you. The phone just has to be an UNLOCKED GSM phone that has bandwidths of 900 and 1800, the type and bandwidths that Germany uses. Look at Best Buy and Amazon for those exact things. You can buy a SIM card for those before or on the ground. I'll look into those options for you next. Then once your SIM card is inserted, just connect with wifi with your mini iPad and zap everyone with the number.

When I saw everything else you bought, I suspect some people have scared you into thinking things won't work there unless you have a zillion gadgets. Take a deep breath. You just need a plug adaptor or adaptors for EUROPEAN (non UK) plugs. If those also include a USB slot, you're golden.

Most hotels have their own hair dryers. I never bring one anymore, but the travel ones I used to own were DUAL VOLTAGE where I turned a screw with a dime when I landed. I now never bring any time of power adaptor because 99% of electronics are dual voltage.

Once I look into your pre-flight and post-flight SIM card options, I'll post again. WHERE ARE YOU LANDING?

We land in Munich and depart from Munich. Staying in both Germany and Austria. Thank you for all the detailed info. Much appreciated!

Id prefer to have everything before leaving home. I’d like to call and text everyone I may need to have contact with from my phone number they’re all used to seeing.

We were in Germany and Austria earlier this year and used this SIM card with no problems:


You activate it online a few days before you leave and they email you the phone number a couple days before your trip. As you are only going for 9 days, you may find cheaper options available for shorter time periods or with less data. If I recall, not all SIM cards we looked at would send you the number before you arrived in Europe.

As mentioned above, you may need to buy a cheap unlocked cell phone that uses the appropriate bandwidths.

Hi Brian,

Thank you. They have a 6GB card also.

I went online before I left and got an eSIM from Airlo- it was pretty easy even for a tech idiot. The service is through Drei and it has been great. Inexpensive compared to other plans. If you have an unlocked phone it is the best option, and the plan automatically activates when you turn your phone on after landing. Just google esim and you’ll see many options.

There is a service called Google Voice which will forward your calls to another number anywhere in the world. You can register your own number as the Voice number and the link it to your European number. This would be the easiest option for your contacts at home, because they would just call your regular number and reach you in Germany. (You would probably want to inform them of the time difference so they don't call you unnecessarily in the middle of the night.)

Google Voice is only available to people living in the US. I live in Italy, so I haven't ever been able to use it. I know they have a free version and a paid version, and I think the free version would be sufficient for your purposes. You can get information here:
https://voice.google.com/u/0/about

Thank you!