herrz

I have read some of the amazing posts xyz123 has provided regarding cell phone usage in Europe. thank you!!... However, I am trying to find out if I should go ahead and purchase my SIM cards before I leave or once I get there. I found a site that seems fairly reasonable - http://www.0044.co.uk/uk.htm; 15GBP for the UK card (with 5GBP credit and 5p calling to the US) and 20GBP for the Ireland card (with 10Euro credit and a higher 34p to the US). Does this sound like a good enough deal? I don't want to spend this getting the cards here only to get over there and find out I could have gotten one for half as much.

bo_jack

For what it's worth: About one month back while in the UK, I purchased a Vodaphone SIM card pack for a phone that I had bought in New Zealand. It worked fine. Cost was 15 GBP. Calling within the UK was something like 5 pence/minute. To the US, it was 99 pence/minute. So, the calling rate that you quote sounds good. However, I know so little about such things, that I would wait till there to be sure that it works when installed, before paying.

ciaony

I'm a little uncomfortable with this but I'm going to do it anyway.
As I understand it, I fly to Spain and go to a cell phone retailer where I purchase a pay-as-you-go phone and a phone card, correct?
Now with that phone, I can go to Italy and use it there, too. Do I have to change something to make it Italy-functional? A SIM card? A phone card?
And I can buy new phone cards as I need them? How does the phone card work with the phone?
And finally, I can call to the US using that arrangement?

I know I sound like a complete idiot but I'm actually pretty knowledgeable about some other stuff.
...I swear!


Thanks all.

xyz123

I would wait till you get to the UK and/or Ireland. Ireland especially as their price of £19.99 is a little steep. I bought an Irish sim pack for a friend at Dublin airport on Vodafone IE for €9.99 with €5 worth of service back in April as compared to £19.99 they want.

Also since you're going to 2 countries, have you looked into riiing?

As far as ciaony, the problem is whether the phone you purchase is locked or unlocked. Chances are if you purchase it in Spain, it will be locked and will have to be unlocked which is probably no big deal and then you're basically correct all you have to do is switch your Spanish sim for an Italian one.

You too as you are going to more than 1 country might benefit from doing a little research on riiing.

Sher

So xyz123. I have the riiing SIM. I have Callback World, but problems listed here made me talk to Enlinea.

Enlinea has my phone number from the Riiing SIM. I call them, and hang up. They call me back and I enter the person I want to call.

Thanks

lincasanova

when you buy your phone/phone pack in spain, ask if that particular phone works in italy. they will know. maybe you need another model.
before i travelled out of spain with my spanish phone, i called the free (Movistar)number to tell them i was going to italy/hungary, etc.. and they reconfrimed that my phone would work there.

downside..your spanish sims card will not charge you anything to receive calls while you are in the country you BOUGHT and registered the phone in, but unless you change the sims card in next country.. you will be charged A LOT!!! even to receive calls..
so..
my suggestion is to use a phone card at public landline to call home.. and the cell phone (mobile phone) for emergencies ONLY so people can find you, once you have used up most of your prepaid minutes.

it also costs those at home a lot more to call your cell phone than landline. it does not work here like in the states. the cell phones all have totally different first three digits than the landlines and are charged at a premium no matter what.

hope other posters can add some more ideas. it is definitely not bad idea to buy phone here.. a real bargain usually.
and the phone cards bought in kiosks are a real bargain. 6 euros for 4 hours to usa!

xyz123

Sher...

You've got it...you call the US number enlinea gave you (remember riiing operates on callback system so after you dial the US number (don't forget the +), you geta message something to the effect call is being dialed....you want till it rings back and you should hear either a US ringing tone or a busy signal, this call is not answered so you hang up again and then you get a callback and answer it and a sweet female voice says, "Please enter number including country code you are calling followed by the # sign now", so you enter the # (12135551212) and the sweet female voice says thank you and the next thing you will hear is the phone ringing and voila...

Enlinea is 12¢/minute to Liechtenstein numbers (which is what you are charged wherever in Europe you are) billed in 6 second intervals...beats many phone cards (but not all) too!

xyz123

Yup..

The caveats are correct...

1. Phone has to be unlocked.

2. Whenever you travel outside country sim was issued in you are considered to be roaming and will pay for all calls whether you are making or receiving an arm and a leg (well maybe just an arm)...

3. Be aware it is quite true that calling a European mobile from a US number will add a surcharge to the cost of the call emphasizing the European idea that with mobile phones, caller pays.

In this day and age, the recommended card is of riiing. A little different to get (have to go through on-line merchants or through ebay although it is not all that difficult) but if you check it out you will find...

1. No international roaming charges throughout all of Western and Central Europe and many Eastern European countries and such unlikely countries as China, South Africa and Australia!
That means you do not pay to receive calls and callers pay to make calls to Liechtenstein (country code 423)...now these surcharges vary greatly so you have to do some research.

2. You can couple this with a callback account with www.enlinea.com. Callback means you ring a number in the US, hear a ringing tone and hang up. The system then calls you back and asks you what nunmber you are calling. Charge..nothing on the riiing phone as the triggering call is never completed and nothing to receive the callback. Enlinea charges 12¢/minute US for its service for calls to Liechtenstein mobiles billed in 6 second intervals (talk for 65 seconds and pay 13¢)..

2. You can also get a US 800 number from a call fowarding service such as kall8. They give you an 800 number and you can set the number calls to the 800 number are forwarded to on the web. Calls to your riiing phone in Liechtenstein cost 20¢/minute so you can give your friends and neighbors your US 800 number, they call it and pay nothing and you pay the 20¢/minute for the forwarded call. Works very expediteously and your callers will not realize they are calling you wherever.

Calls on riiing are a little expensive without the callback service but much cheaper than international roaming charges. There is also a small problem with riiing voicemail which you can read about on www.callbackworld.net but it's no big deal.

Hope this helps everybody.

ciaony

It is very helpful. Thank you.

But how is a phone "unlocked"?

And how much should I expect to pay for a phone?

The bottom line here is: I'm trying to figure out why it isn't worth it for me to rent a phone from Verizon, here in NYC, lke I did last year and just pay the 6 dollars per day rental fee and $1.50/minute rate for the 20 calls I'm likely to make during my 10 days abroad once or twice per year.

Thanks, again for your obviously well-informed opinions.

I'm not challenging you, I just don't see how it's right for me or any other infrequent user.

Alec

For the year's rental of $60, you can buy an unlocked (or easy to unlock) phone useable throughout Europe for many years. By getting a local sim card, you can call US for less than it costs you through Verizon and you pay nothing to receive calls. And by setting up a callback system you can call US for a few cents.
Certain locked phones (chiefly Nokias) can be unlocked yourself by downloading a small unlocking program to your PC, which works out the code you tap into your phone. For others you take it to an independent phone store for a fee of around $10-15 or 10-15 euro in Europe.

ciaony

Well.
When you put it like that...

pixielily

here's our plan for cellphone usage while in london (sept '05):

we both own multi-band phones, and have service through t-mobile. my phone will keep its local (US) #, and will be used for incoming/emergency calls only; this is so our family here can contact us easily, using my regular #, without having to pay long distance charges. t-mobile will charge 99 cents per minute for roaming, but as it'll be the "emergency calls FROM U.S. ONLY,"
i'm *hoping* it won't be used at all!

we've unlocked the other phone, using the code and instructions we received from t-mobile. we'll buy a UK SIM card when we arrive, and will use that phone to make/receive in-country calls. we'll make our calls to home (just to say we've arrived, and to check on the dog!) on whichever phone will be cheapest.

after several months of research & trying to figure out a logical solution to the "how to stay in touch" question, this seems like the most logical plan for us. i know it wouldn't work for everyone, but it seems like our best bet.