vB Easy Archive - Bought phone in New Zealand, now travelling to Europe

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Bought phone in New Zealand, now travelling to Europe
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Posted by: VIB

OK, this is all very confusing to me.

So, last month we bought a Vodafone while visiting New Zealand/Australia. Supposedly, the phone is "unlocked?". Now we are travelling to Europe next month, visiting primarily France, Italy, Switzerland, and Holland. Can I buy a SIM when we arrive in Nice that will allow me to use this phone in all these countries for local calls as well as calls to the U.S? Or, do I need a separate SIM for each country?

Any help and guidance will be much appreciated.

Oh, if this helps, I've also got an old Orange phone that we bought for our son while he was studying in London for a couple of semesters. Would this phone be more practical to use in Europe than the Vodafone purchased in New Zealand?

Posted by: mrcamp

As long as the phone is unlocked, it will accept any sim card. But you will be roaming (very expensive) if you buy a sim in one of those countries and use it in the other countries. "Local calls" only applies if you are using the sim in it's native country. Of course, it all depends on how many calls you plan on making/receiving. Receiving calls is free as long as you are in the sim's native country (say using a UK sim in London).

OTOH, you may want to look at an international sim that will give you free incoming calls in all of europe and very resonable rates for outgoing calls.

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/international.html

Posted by: Junglizt1210

It depends how long you are staying. If you're hardly making any calls or reciving any, you may as well roam (I've done this), if you think you might make some more, get an International SIM, if you're spending 2-3 weeks+ in 1 country, you should consider getting a local SIM.

It would be helpful to list what your two phones are, so we can advise whether they can be used in the US.

Posted by: VIB

Quote:

Originally Posted by Junglizt1210

It depends how long you are staying. If you're hardly making any calls or reciving any, you may as well roam (I've done this), if you think you might make some more, get an International SIM, if you're spending 2-3 weeks+ in 1 country, you should consider getting a local SIM.

It would be helpful to list what your two phones are, so we can advise whether they can be used in the US.

Thanks for the replies. We'll be staying about 3 weeks all together. Flying into Nice, then travelling into Italy, Switzerland, back into France, a little bit of Germany and then on to the Netherlands, flying home from Amsterdam. The Vodafone we picked up in New Zealand is a Nokia 1110i, and the old Orange phone we got 4-5 years ago in the UK I'm trying to find in our closet. As I recall, it is a Motorola 800? or something like that. At any rate, it was the most basic handset available.

I'm pretty sure neither of these will work in the US. My local carrier is Sprint, and I know my Sprint phone isn't GSM.

Posted by: Junglizt1210

It'll work in Europe, but as you said, not in the US.