Using walkie talkies for the group versus cell phones?
 

Hello- looking for advice in trying to keep a family group of 11 adults in communication around Italy since cell phone usage will be limited and used only for emergencies (to avoid ridiculous fees that ATT charges)...we are all taking a road trip through italy and since we're a large group, we're renting 3 cars and will try our best to stay together on the road. However, as we all know, there could come a time where we need to pull over and need to flag down the other cars so that the group stays together. So, i had this crazy idea of purchasing a few walkie talkies so that we can radio each car if need be...do you think that'll work? I was also thinking we could use the walkie talkies around town- for example, if one half of the group wants to hang out at one store and the other half wants to go to the other side of the plaza....just a thought. Call me crazy, but I was just curious if anyone's ever done this in Europe and if it worked...

If you buy them in Europe, it might work. Otherwise, it's illegal, as they interfere with the signals of emergency vehicles.

Walkie talkies in town would just be annoying to everyone around you. They'd work okay in cars, depending on their range, but in public would just be obnoxious.

For using a cell phone, take a guess at how much you would use them. Paying through the nose for 10 minutes of use might be cheaper than many other options. However, instead of taking your AT&T phone, why not simply buy a cheap phone online (or when you get to Italy) and put in a local SIM card? I bought a quad band unlocked phone for about $50 a few years ago and simply buy a SIM card when I get to a new country. In Italy, simply hit a local tabacchi shop and you can pick up a SIM card to pop into the cell phones. This might be cheaper for you depending on how much you want to use them and if you're going to travel again.

Do a search of this board for topics discussing cell phones. I think that would likely be a much better way than dinking with walkie talkies. It never fails that someone is in a shop or church, being polite and quiet, and then their walkied talkie screams out some message from their friend/kid/whoever. Walkie talkie phones were popular around here for a while and those went away quickly for many reasons.

Walkies-Talkies also have limited range and work poorly when in building. And I would think customs would look twice.

you're right..i didnt think about how obnoxious it would be to use them in town..and i would hate to come across like that because i myself hate obnoxious people. I was really leaning towards using it more so for the car rides....as far as being illegal, i never thought of that. Although emergency officials use high end models that cost a lot of money. I was thinking of buying the cheapy ones that arent strong enough to interfere with the emergency officals.

I have looked into buying a cell phone, but i would need to buy three sets so i thought it would be more cost effective and less of a hassle if i just purchased a few walkies...

Thanks for the input- i appreciate it.

In the UK I can get an unlocked mobile from www.play.com for about £25.....if you then get local sim cards, it should keep the cost down....especially of you text.

As StCirq link implies the interference with emergency services has nothing to do with high end or low end model - it's all about the radio frequency. You could be transmitting on the same frequency that they use.

When traveling with more than one car we've always found it much less stressful to just meet at the final destination each day. Trying to keep track of each other on the road was difficult and, with cell phone communication, costly. We always agreed that we'd call if problems developed, otherwise, meet for drinks on arrival.

We recently bought a basic unlocked phone in Naples for 29E and that included 5E of talk time.

U.S. walkie talkies use a different frequency and are therefore illegal to use in Europe. You must buy European walkie talkies to use them there.

This article might help:

http://www.amherst.co.uk/walkietalki...nal-issues.htm

Here are some topics on cell phones to get you started. Likely just buying a basic handset and a SIM card for each would be fine. If you only used them for calling each other then you'd hardly spend anything on the talk time portion and unlocked handsets are pretty cheap online ahead of time or once you get there.


http://www.fodors.com/search/results...2F2010&author=

The best solution is for the group to buy rechargeable sim cards all from the same mobile phone company. There are on offer some special tariffs which enable you to talk or text for an almost unlimited time/number between each other.

I will try and post further details tomorrow on all the various providers.

We have tried walkie talkies here in the States, but they are subject to so much interference that most of the time we'd hear other peoples' conversations! Really not feasible.

Cell coverage is everywhere and airtime costs so reasonable in Europe, that it makes sense to just buy a SIM card over there. Don't want to just use your local cellphone and roam, unless you will be using minimal airtime.

eBay has lots of phones for sale. You just have to be sure it is the right technology.

I appreciate everyones input. I think i'll look into ebay for some phones/sim cards that can be used in Europe. I had no idea about the legal issues behing the walkies...id rather not cause problems so im gonna axe that idea.

Thanks again! Its really great info :)

You can buy the SIM cards when you get to Europe.

you can buy the phones on eBay if you want -- but definitely wait til you get to Europe to buy the SIM cards.

Need to either buy, or get done, phone that is unlocked.

We went to Turkey with same idea. two cars. Got SIM card at airport from major carrier, then re-filled on the road as needed. SIM on landing, re-fills are just some keystrokes at the shop.

If you buy the Sim card in UK, what is the cost per minute?

This web site was in Budget Travel magazine for cell phones for Europe but their minutes didn't seem any better then T-Mobile etc.

www.eurobuzz.com