Vodafone Sim - Help
 

Hello,
I have been reading many posts about cell phones and am left beyond confused!

We will be traveling a total of 1.5 months to:
Netherlands (3days)
Germany (5 days)
France (3 days)
Italy (3 days)
Croatia (1 day)
Belgium (3 days)

My thoughts are to purchase a vodafone sim card from ebay based in the UK since customer service to the other vodafones is nearly impossible for me to understand. I will then purchase a vodafone passport.

The plan is to call to the US and another UK based vodafone.
Is this the best/cheapest route?

Which country are you arriving at first? Usually, you need to activate the phone by using the phone in the country of origin. Therefore, getting a UK SIM won't help you unless you're arriving in the UK first.

I also found the forum on prepaidgsm.net to be particularly useful if the info here isn't enough for you. But xyz is very helpful in the ways of cell phones...

You'll find a lot of of threads on this but I will vote for the Riiing Sim card. I just got back from France and it was a breeze to use, mainly because you can select English as the main language. It was very easy to top off. You can do it by phone or internet ( www.riiing.com )and the credit posts immediately. Way easier than having to buy a scratch off card at a tabac.

It works in just about every country (except here in the U.S.). If you use it once every 9 months you don't have to get a new Sim and the number will stay the same. I usually loan the phone to a friend between trips to keep it active. I program my home number and family numbers so I can use the quick dial feature.

All the countries you list except Croatia are covered under the Vodafone UK Passport scheme (75p plus the UK call rate). This is for in-country calls or calls back to the UK. You should be able to call the other UK based Vodafone, but calls to the US will be billed at the international rate. See http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatc...pageID=GM_0337.

thanks for alls posted messages. Is there a vodafone at Schiphol airport in amsterdam? since i actually wont be in the UK perhaps i should purchase a netherlands card?

i have a vodafone cell, could a riing sim card work in there? which has better rates?

If you already have a Vodafone cell, do you also have a Vodafone SIM? Or did the SIM expire?

The Riiing card would work if your Vodafone cell is unlocked. I don't know much about that as I have an unlocked phone which accepts any SIM card. I would recommend you going back to the place you originally got the cell phone and asking if it's unlocked.

the sim card has expired. how do i know if its unlocked??

I'm unsure. Sorry, I can't be of help on this front...

The sim card being expired doesn't have anything to do with the phone being locked or not. Usually, if you buy the phone from a service provider rather than a retailer who sells phones not connected with a service provider, they will "lock" the phone so that it only works with that provider's service.

But, almost any phone can be "unlocked" so that it will accept another provider's sim card. There are internet companies that will sell you the unlock code for a few bucks, but the easiest way is to ask the company you bought the phone from.

But back to your question, if the sim card has expired you'll have to get a new one. The easiest thing would be to get one from the same place you got the first one.