I will be going to Europe, almost all of it, for an extended vacation. I would like to get a cell phone while I’m there so that I can call for reservations, emergencies etc. I would be willing to pay extra for the minutes as I do not expect to use it very often. I would like to know about the following:
Can I buy a phone here in the US and have it set up to use in Europe? I have seen that Virgin offers something close to what I want so can I buy one here or have it shipped here?
Can I get a phone number for any country? I have friends in Ireland that I would be talking to more then anyone else and wouldn’t want them to be paying long distance to call me.
How wide of service can I expect? My plans include most of Western Europe and possibly as far east as Romania.
What companies have plans like this besides Virgin? And are there places that show the differences is services.
I am not looking for a great phone, just something that will allow me to make a few calls here and there, but having one number and something on the road is something that I’d like to have. I would also like to get one before I leave so I do not have to worry about it when I get there. I also seem to be going to Europe once a year so it might be nice to have a phone I can keep, or loan to people who may go as well.
In Germany I owned a phone (I think it was with D2) that allowed me to put credit on the phone and call where I pleased. The only problem was that you had to set it up special to roam across countries, which involved at least a passport and credit card, and may have (it’s been a few years) required that they could bill to a local address. But I’d check for something like that in your first stop country. This was fairly cheap, maybe $50-100 bucks, including the phone, to set up.
Now you can also get a phone here that will work in Europe, but I think that they’re more expensive. Plus your friends would get billed like they’re calling the USA and (I’m fairly certain) you’ll get billed for the long distance charge to wherever you are. I’m pretty sure T-mobile has this and I’d be surprised if most of the other major US players didn’t also.
Sounds like you’re getting pretty cranked up for this trip. Have a great time!
This may not be much help (as you want it organised before you go) but you can pick up a “pay as you go” mobile in any number of stores in any street in any town. There would be nothing to it at all. Ditto the “top up” cards for phone credit.
Sounds like what you want is a pre-paid phone. You pay upfront for the phone, and then buy vouchers that recharge the phone as you go. No monthly bill, no mailing address needed. You should be able to pick one up at the airport when you arrive.
The subscription will be for the country you get the phone, so long distance and roaming still applies. However, you can always get a second (or third) subscription as you go to other countries. You only need to buy one phone. You switch the subscriptions by swapping the little SIMM card behind the battery. You will want a GSM phone for this, although I think this is pretty much the only kind available in Europe.
Here in the UK you can buy pay-as-you-go phones for as little as £40 for which you just pay (more expensive) call charges - there is no line rental. I believe that some of these plans allow international roaming. I imagine similar things are available in other european countries. You can buy a pay as you go phone pretty much anywhere - even supermarkets sell them.
I wouldn’t know about this, but you would have to buy a tri-band phone as the US uses a different GSM system to Europe. It would probably be cheaper to buy a pay as you go phone when you get here. Or you could buy a tri-band phone in the US then just buy a sim card (£10) for the phone in Europe to use it.
Your phone number stays the same (incl the international code) if you take it abroad.
Any dual-band phone will work thoughout Europe.
If you are going to buy a pay as you go phone when you arrive then T-Mobile and Vodaphone are pan European operators. Orange, O2 and Virgin are (i think) only in the UK, but offer international roaming. There’s also Three, but they’re a 3G service so are expensive.
One offer that should work for you is Vodafone Ready to go.
They have an Ireland-based plan and operate networks in several european countries which can make your international roaming cheaper. Vodafone is the biggest cell phone provider in Europe (the world actually.)
They offer you a low-end phone including your card and a few euros worth of time for about EUR 100.
You will need a GSM phone operating at 900/1800 Mhz (not 1900) but that will be good for all of Europe and almost anywhere in the world except the US and Japan.
In Ireland vodafone claims a coverage of 99% of the population (not area).
It has been a while since I was in Ireland but here in Germany my vodafone cell phone works in all “inhabited” areas.
I have been looking into this a bit more now. The SIM cards, at least as I understand it, are cheap, but they change your number on the phone. I will not really be in the country for more then a day or two in most cases so a new number is not the best idea for me. Plus having a number of SIM cards would not be fun. If I have this wrong please let me know.
The reason I want one now is because I will be landing in London, borrowing a motorcycle and high tailing it to Italy. I will need to be there in a few days so I really don’t want to spend much time looking for a phone, plus I can give out my number before I leave so I don’t have to worry about someone needing to call me.
So far the info has been great, hopefully I can find something that suits me.