cipparone

going to France and Italy for 3 weeks. I want to use my cell phone and have heard that you should buy a sim card there and replace the one in your cell phone. I then found out that cell phone carriers are charging you when you remove your SIM card to replace it with a pre paid one from Europe. Any advice? there are several of us traveling together and wanted to be able to phone or text each other. Any info on pre paid SIM cards would be much appreciated.

Robert2533

What type of cell phone do you have? Hopefully a GSM model, which is the only ones that will work. In order to use another sim card, you will have to make sure your mobile phone is unlocked. Your service provider can do that if you've had the phone for at least 3 months. And no, your carrier will not charge you if you use another sim card while traveling, but you will have to pay your usual monthly fee.

Now if you have iPhones, then sending messages back and forth are free if in a WiFi zone, otherwise you'll need a messaging package.

5alive

It also matters what cell phone carrier you have. Verizon phones are locked, not easy to replace a SIM card. There are cheats out there for almost anything that's locked but some are easier to do than others.

If you don't get enough advice from this thread, Google your phone company/model and carrier you use + the word "SIM." Some results should come up.

sparkchaser

<i>Verizon phones are locked, not easy to replace a SIM card. </i>

It's not just a matter of locked/unlocked. Unless you have a dual GSM/CDMA phone, your Verizon phone <b>will not work</b> in Europe because Verizon's network is CDMA.

If your phone is CDMA only then my advice is to buy a cheap smartphone in Europe. You can find a used G1 or G2 for less than 10 Euro. A SIM with 2GB data plan should run you less than 25 Euro.

5alive

Sparkchaser:

You had already covered the GSM point, so I didn't feel the need to say it again. But yes I completely agree with you on that point.

Additionally, even if your phone is compatible, you may need to get it unlocked.

Best,
Five Alive