Prepaid Cell Phones in Ireland
 

Hello.

Will be visiting Ireland next month and need a cell phone. Am wondering if I should rent one or if there are places around Ireland where I can purchase a prepaid cell phone and just buy minutes and top up as needed? Help is appreciated. Thanks!!

I have had some au pairs who came to Ireland with this problem and they bought a sim card for their foreign phone. This cost about €15 (incl some free credit).

I bought a 10 Euro phone card while in Ireland, lasted me the whole trip. I dialed in from public phones, I was never too far from one. Worked like a charm. I cannot imagine paying far more than that to add just a little more convenience.

Viajero2 writes: "I bought a 10 Euro phone card while in Ireland, lasted me the whole trip. I dialed in from public phones, I was never too far from one. Worked like a charm. I cannot imagine paying far more than that to add just a little more convenience."
If it's not absolutely imperative you have a Telephone # at which people can reach you, I agree with Viajero2. But my preferred Phone Card is the Eircom one with the I/C Chip imbedded on the card. They're sold in several denominations and calling to the U.S. using one is cheap & efficient. The only problem: you have to be calling from an Eircom Phone; but I've never had a problem finding one. Vendors will try to sell you the kind you have to call an 800 number first - inconvenient and more expensive in the long run.

If you do not have a cell phone at home then you may disregard the rest of my post.

fairplay12, have you called your provider to ask if your cell phone works in Ireland? Unless your phone is more than 5 years old it probably does work overseas so ask how much it costs per minute for each call. If it does work then people at home can call you in case of an emergency. If you need more use than that, you might consider the pre-paid phone card mentioned above or possibly a SIM card for your current cell phone. I only use my phone for quick calls home or emergencies so I never buy a SIM card. However there are many knowledgeable posters who can help with SIMs if that is of interest.

How common are pay phones in Ireland? Big cities vs littler ones? I've been trying to figure out what sort of cell phone rental thing I needed to do, and pay phones hadn't even occured to me, as they're all but gone here at home.

You can purchase a phone card with a PIN number that you can use from any phone, probably what NEDSIRELAND was referring to.

Fairplay 12,

Have you checked out www.rentaphone-ireland.com
Instead of you having to purchase a cell phone when you get to Ireland, these guys will send you a phone number in advance and have the cell phone waiting for you at your hotel or at Dublin Airport.

I purchased an unlocked phone over the internet. this is what the rest of the world uses. The USA seems to be the only country where your phone only works with your carrier. You buy the phone and then purchase a sim card for each country you are visiting. I went to Ireland, Israel and India. I purchased a cim card for each country over the internet and slid that card into the phone when I got to that country. I also purchased one for the USA so I had a usable phone between home and the airport when going overseas. It worked great. You buy a small amount of minutes and if you need more you can usually just add it over the phone when you are in that country. You can shop for deals on the SIM cards. Some allow incoming calls and only charge for outgoing calls. So you have flexibility in getting what fits your needs.

Rentaphone-ireland looks to me like an expensive option; you can buy a phone outright for less than the price of a week's rental. See https://www.vodafone.ie/df/prepay/ne...erSelected=ALL for one service provider's deals.

With a little bit of help, you can convert it into an unlocked phone if you later want it for use elsewhere.