vB Easy Archive - Cell while touring Europe

Pages: 1

Cell while touring Europe
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: tripleb

I'm visiting Europe this summer and need some advice on where to get a really cheap unlocked cheap phone and possibly a SIM card that will work all over the continent. Thanks for any help.

Posted by: Toosloo

Quote:

Originally Posted by tripleb

I'm visiting Europe this summer and need some advice on where to get a really cheap unlocked cheap phone and possibly a SIM card that will work all over the continent. Thanks for any help.

Check it there... They make nice prices when it's for a longer time...
Cheers

Posted by: JEFFJAGUAR

You can get lots of good and accurate information if you go to www.prepaidgsm.net.

Don't rent a phone...in this day and age lots of inexpensive unlocked gsm phones with the European frequencies (900 and 1800) are readilly available on ebay and on internet merchants. Just make sure if it is a tri band phone the three frequencies are 900/1800/1900 and not the bastardized American tri bands (850/1800/1900) since as with so many other things the United States is contrary minded (justified or not).

As far as sim cards, as it stands today and it may be different tomorrow, I would recommend the united mobile sim card (www.united-mobile.com) just buy the cheapest card as you will not be making any calls with it or very few.

United mobile allows free reception of calls throughout all of Western Europe west of Russia and other places such as Australia, South Africa and in theory China. Couple this with a free account with callbackworld (www.callbackworld.com) and you will have the perfect combination which you can use again and again and again unlike a rental....

You will get:

1. As noted free reception of calls throughout all of Western Europe.

2. With callbackworld calls to the United States from Western Europe as well as most other places are 14¢/minute billed in units of 6 seconds unlike other carriers which raise prices to the next highest minute (talk for 61 seconds and pay for 2 minutezs)

3. Callbakcworld will provide a US toll free number (used with a pin) for free which you can give to your friends to reach you....will be free to them in the United States (assuming that's where you are) and you will pay the same 14¢/minute noted above billed in 6 second intervals.

4. Or you can give them your United Mobile phone number....with AT&T LD's $1/month plan, calls cost 11¢/minute (unfortunately with the nasty raise to the next highest minute)..

Admitedly eu is putting pressure on carriers and there are possibilities in the near future you will be able to buy a country specific sim and get very low rates throughout all of Europe but this will also entail a foreign number and perhaps the use of callbackworld to get low rates (incidentally callbackworld's rate to Liechtenstein where the United Mobile number will be based are much lower than their rates to the rest of Western Europe).

This is by far the cheapest way to go today put it does require a little bit of work (believe me very little, it's not brain surgery) on your part and it's not a 1 step set up but 2!

Posted by: andy962

Quote:

Originally Posted by tripleb

I'm visiting Europe this summer and need some advice on where to get a really cheap unlocked cheap phone and possibly a SIM card that will work all over the continent. Thanks for any help.

Jeff's advice is much better than the previous over-priced suggestion, but if you're not off straight away, just hang around a bit and watch things ...

There are several of the global roaming SIMs with free incoming calls in many countries, but the main networks seem to be joining in

3 has networks in 5 European countries and about a month ago introduced free incoming calls when roaming on their networks abroad, with slightly different offers per country. Their coverage is not good in some countries though, where they add a 2g national roaming deal tnhat doesn't qualify for this.

T-mobile Czech has free incoming calls when roaming on several T-mobile networks (including USA)

But potentially the best so far was launched yesterday - for a £10 fee for a month, O2 UK has free incoming calls in 31 European countries, on both contract and prepaid, outgoing calls at 25 pence a minute.

But the point is, as Jeff says, that once you have free incoming calls you can use callback from another provider to convert incoming to outgoing calls at lower than the card's own tariff. 5 to 7 pence a minute is possible with UK mobiles to several landlines including USA, though 15 to 25 cents is more common

Another choice is Vodafone. Most of their networks now have a roaming deal for the whole EU called Passport or equivalent, which charges a connection fee per call, about €1, then free incoming time, and outgoing calls at the home tariff, but only to the home or roamed country, so for this you'd look for a calling card as well, like Bizon. Some countries' Vodafone networks have better tariffs than others.

Posted by: _mike_

when i went to europe i used my nokia 6101 and i had rogers wirles provider the phone worked fine there now u can get the phone around 50 + the phone also has fm radio built in and camra phone i liked my nokia 6101 but gave the phone to my parents sinc i got a new phone

Posted by: Limedrink

The United-Mobile and Callbackworld solution seems pretty expensive for a one-time short trip. It seems great for constant travelers.

I'm gone for a week and a half and it seems too costly to pay for the setup, and I doubt I'll use it again for years.

Any way I can just simply get a pre-paid SIM card with low rates?

I was thinking of contacting Vodaphone to see what they can offer me..

Posted by: Real Goose

For occasional travel to Europe I use Mobal. http://www.mobalrental.com/ The cost per minute is relatively high at $1.25/min local and $1.50/min to the US/UK/Canada, but it is cheaper than buying a local SIM if your usage is low. It will be a British number that does not expire. Billing is monthly to a credit card.

I have used it for 3 years now and had no problems from France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, and Spain. They also offer $49 dual band European phones. I received an unlocked Nokia, but I see they now say the phone is locked. If you already have a phone, the SIM is 'free' for $10 shipping.

Posted by: Limedrink

Thanks for the info... It seems like whichever way I go, it's gonna be expensive.

My touring company says that buying a calling-card there and using it to call back is really cheap.

Anyone have any other ideas?

Posted by: Stina

I go to Europe every summer......my advice is get a cheap unlocked phone on ebay....then at the airport(in europe) grab a vodafone chip & you should be good to go. Usually in the airport they have electronic stores that u can buy things like this.

Posted by: Limedrink

Do you happen to know how expensive it is to call back home to the US/Canada? What's the price difference between buying a pre-paid SIM or just a standard calling card?

I'm just trying to make it the least painful. It would be pretty cool to get a pre-paid SIM, but I don't wanna empty my wallet for it.

Posted by: JEFFJAGUAR

Quote:

Originally Posted by Limedrink

Do you happen to know how expensive it is to call back home to the US/Canada? What's the price difference between buying a pre-paid SIM or just a standard calling card?

I'm just trying to make it the least painful. It would be pretty cool to get a pre-paid SIM, but I don't wanna empty my wallet for it.

There is little doubt that using a calling card will make calling from Europe to the USA/Canada cheaper than using a mobile but depending on country well in the UK you can get a sim pack that will enable you to call from the UK to the USA or Canada for as little as 4p/minute.

Posted by: Dster

Quote:

Originally Posted by JEFFJAGUAR

What company offers a SIM that lets you call Canada from a cell for 4p/minute?

Posted by: JEFFJAGUAR

T Mobile UK has an add on plan, even for prepaids, £2 buys you 50 minutes of talk time to the US and/or Canada...by my poor math, that comes out to 4p/minute.

Take a look at:

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/personal/...-the-uk/bundles

Posted by: Dster

Quote:

Originally Posted by JEFFJAGUAR

T Mobile UK has an add on plan, even for prepaids, £2 buys you 50 minutes of talk time to the US and/or Canada...by my poor math, that comes out to 4p/minute.

Take a look at:

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/personal/p...the-uk/bundles

umm I think you entered the url wrong, this gives me an error page at tmobile.

Posted by: JEFFJAGUAR

Fixed it...try it again!

Posted by: Dster

that tmobile thing seems like a pain. You have to buy in £2 chunks, maximum 6 chunks at a time, no mention of when they expire.

Also, I'm going to be travelling across western europe and the uk this summer. The callbackworld + united mobile seems best to me, and gives folks back home a way to reach me.

Posted by: Dster

Hey Jeffjaguar,

are you sure that if you use a united-mobile sim in Spain, say, and then use callbackworld, you will be charged the Liechtenstein rate?