My wife and I are traveling in Germany and Austria (As well as Czech Republic) in October. Coming from the States. Last time I traveled to Europe was some time ago, and we had to rent a Satellite phone for like 400$. This go-round, I know that GSM has changed the game to some degree.

However, my US carrier is small-time (and small minded). No one can guarantee anything and half the 1-800 associates have never even heard of some of the places where we are traveling. Not a good sign. They do not have “agreements” with European carriers to guarantee coverage like I think AT&T and a few others do.

I have a simple Sony Ericsson GSM phone in the States through SunCom. They have, for $5 USD/month, an international GSM roaming. Basically, anywhere there are GSM towers, we should be able to hop on and connect. The 5 USD plan does nothing to guarantee coverage or reception, but will lower than rates if we indeed can get a signal.

My question is this: We are not going anywhere too remote (Munich, Prague, Salzburg, Regensburg (DE), Cesky Krumlov (CZ)…does anyone have experience using a US based cell in Germany, Austria (or CZ)? What are chances I will be able to get a reliable signal? Or one at all. It’s more to call hotels in these countries and such if we get lost. We can call back to the US from the hotel or whatever.

Does it make any sense to rent an unlocked cell phone (or, borrow someone’s unlocked phone) and just get a SIM card for each country as we arrive? I have been told this is an option. But it sounds like a pain (do they have one SIM for all of central Europe maybe???), and could be expensive?

Anyone have any ideas what the best options are here? I generally like to get lost (and not be reachable) when I travel. But having kids now changes some things…and if I need to use the phone, I want it to work…

Any help is appreciated.

Cheers,

Brendan
Charlotte, USA

I would say forget the phone and enjoy your holiday Sometimes phones can be a hindrance. IF this was the last vacation you ever took......................would you really truly need a phone ?

Didn't I see this same post in another thread?

Hi B,

Europe operates on 900 and 1800 MHz, the US on 850 and 1900.

You have to determine your phone's frequencies.

You certainly don't have to pay a lot of money to rent a cell phone. You can buy one for a lot less than $400.

Will you be making a lot of calls?

If you simply wish to call home to the U.S. once from each city, you could consider calling from the hotel or from the town's main post office.

If you plan to call home more frequently, or plan to receive incoming calls, you could consider renting an international phone.

On an overseas trip several years ago, I rented an international phone from T-Mobile. The total cost to me was about $300 for one month's rental + air time, and I did a whole lot of calling home to the U.S.

Enjoy your trip; keep us posted as to what you eventually decide!

...times change...$300 to rent a phone for a month...absurd in this day and age.

For $50 you can buy a perfectly acceptable gsm unlocked phone and then for $50 or thereabout a united mobile sim card that will work in all the countries of western Europe.

Couple that was an account with callbackworld to provide income US toll free service as well as outgoing service at 14¢/minute and guess what...at the end of the month you still have the phone and the sim card.

Hi
We recently returned from Germany. I have a Sony Ericson quad band. We were able to speak with our children in the US without any problem. We get our service from Cingular.

You need a certain band frequency to use a phone abroad. I bought an unlocked tri-band phone on the interent for $100 & got a SIM card in Prague, which you can use all over Europe with activated roaming. You can also purchase a phone when you get overseas (new or used), but a SIM card & be on your way. Even if you can use your own phone over there with your plan, it will cost you hundreds of dollars, as you said, because of connection fees & $1 per minute calls home.

Sorry - made a typo and meant "BUY" a SIM card overseas, not "but" one!!

If you get the right kind of phone, you can use it over here, too, so your $ will not be lost.

Hi
The plan with Cingular we have is $1.99 for roaming and $1.29 per minute. we could have paid 99c a minute and paid a fee of $5.00 a month, but we chose the more expensive plan because we didn't plan on speaking for a long time, just checking in with our kids. It worked for us without buying another phone or a SIM card. I use the phone all the time for my personal use.

We had a Cingular GSM phone in Prague this past January. It picked up whatever service was there adn we were able to use our phones. It was very useful for when we split up on our trip...

Cell phones are fine - and we are all sort of addicted to them. But, if your main purpose is to phone home to touch bases w/ your kids, etc -- then an inexpensive calling card bought in Germany will let you call the States from almost any phone for less than about 8 cents a minute. No SIM cards to worry about, no rental charges. A €5 or €10 card will cover you for the whole trip.