Renting a phone to take to Europe
 

Last year when we went to Europe I rented a phone from a company that was suggested on this forum. We have moved - I can't find that file and I can't remember the name of the company. Can anyone out there help me with this?
Thank you

Perhaps one of these: http://goeurope.about.com/cs/cellphones/

Though I have been more pleased with the decision to BUY a phone (best for a trip that is all within ONE country) - - and then "sell it forward".

Best wishes,

Rex

I used planetfone.com last year for a trip to Italy, and it worked well; it was easy to sign up and return the phone. Calls are quite expensive, though, and I intend to explore other options as well this year.

We just used TravelCell and they were reasonable.

If you are traveling to Europe regularly, I would consider purchasing an "unlocked" GSM phone. Here is a disertation I wrote about this a number of months ago:

If you will be traveling in Ireland for two weeks or more, cell phone rental is very expensive and you are better off purchasing a phone and getting a prepaid SIM. You can buy them from sites in the US for between $60-100. If you rent a phone, you will likely pay that much for rental, plus a much higher per minute rate. Rental phone rates run .99-1.99 per minute and pre-paid rates run .19-45 depending on the plan. If you travel to Britain, pre paid rates are very low.

If you have T-Mobile Service, you can get a tri-band phone from them and have internation roaming turned on. I believe a few other companies are doing that now. Again, the roaming is pretty expensive.

Here are some links to companies that sell GSM phones:
www.gandhiappliances.com/gsmguide.htm

www.220giftcenter.com/motorola.htm

www.220giftcenter.com/motorola.htm

I purchased the Motorola Time Port becuase of the much longer battery life since I was going to be on a boat. It paid off!

Here is the skinny on what to do when purchasing. Double check that the phone that you are buying is unlocked. That means that you can replace the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card in different countries. When you get to Ireland, you have to purchase a SIM there. You can do that in the US but it is much more expensive. The Shannon Airport no longer has a phone store, but Dublin may. I drove into Limerick to get mine. For E20, I got a SIM, E10 worth of calls and for filling out a two minute registration card, another E10. In other words, the SIM was free. You will pay $50-60 in the States to but it. The two phone companies in Ireland are Vodafone and O2. Vodafone prices are better for pre-pay. Below is a link to their site which lists store locations.
www.vodafone.ie/buyonline.../index.jsp

If you travel to NI, you will either pay roaming or have to buy a UK SIM. You simply snap the SIM in under the battery. The store will probably do it for you. If you run out of time you can "top up" your phone at news agents all over the country which simply entails purchasing a code that you punch into your phone.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but I'm on the way out the door. Feel free to ask more questions.

You can get SIMs for other countries though I'm not sure of the cost or the amount of credit that comes with it, but I'm guessing it's similar.

Bill

I believe that you can rent a cell phone from AutoEurope; they ship it to you in the USA.

AutoEurope threw in a mobile phone for "free" when I rented a car from them for a trip to France this past October. I paid about $35 to have it shipped (which included a pre-paid return mailer.)

My current AT&T contract is about to expire and I intend to switch to T-Mobile and get a GSM phone from them.

The critical word for a phone that will function both in the US and in Europe is: triband.

This refers to the bandwidth on the spectrum. The US uses a different bandwidth, whereas Europe uses two different bandwidths. Thus, you need a triband phone.

If you get a GSM phone, you could get a phone that functions only in Europe, but not in the US.

For almost the same price, you should opt for a triband phone.

Thanks for the clarification, ET. I think I knew that, but will make sure to use the correct terminoology.

Of course, the idea is to have a single phone that works in both the US and Europe, whatever that is called! :)

I discovered after I rented the phone last year that whoever I rented from (and I can't recall their name right now) did a credit check on me. Also, they sent me a phone for Isreal and I was going to Italy!

This year I may try to buy method.

Anyone have a French phone they want to sell?

Here is a link to a series of very good, very detailed articles re international mobile phones:
http://www.thetravelinsider.info/2002/0308.htm

Along the left side of the page, there are links to further articles re unlocking your GSM phone, reviews of specific phones and phone services, etc. This is the most comprehensive, specific information of this nature I've ever found from a single source, and I thought others might also find it useful.

A couple of websites from previous posts that I have saved are:

mobileburn.com

and

HowardChui.com

I remember visiting those sites and, by the end of extensive reading on those sites, you'll know more about mobile phones than you really wanted to know - lo!