I am a senior female who will be traveling alone to Paris in September, I neither have nor do I want a cellphone in the U.S., but on recent trips to Europe, I've felt the need for a cellphone that work in Europe so that I can call back to the U.S. and also make local phone calls.
I want a cheap, easy to use phone. Should I buy the phone in the U.S.? If so, any suggestions for vendors? Or should I wait until I get to Paris and find a place where the seller speaks English and set the phone up for me and show me how to use it? If Paris, any suggestions for sellers in the Blvd. St. Germain/Odean Metro stop area?
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32198 posts
Caro,
Have a look at one of the travel phone firms, to see if that might work for your situation. Some that you could look at are Roam Simple, Cellular Abroad, Telestial, Mobal or EuroBuzz. They typically have basic phones for a very reasonable price and some can be renewed from year-to-year.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
Our telephone tips online at http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/phones-tech are moving away from discussing the purchase of a cheap phone in Europe, since many more Americans now have suitable phones they can bring that will accept a European SIM chip, or that offer an affordable European roaming plan. However, I think that cheap, talk & text-only phones are still for sale pretty readily, salespeople will set them up for your, and the Odeon Metro stop is a good, busy, retail area to look. The phone that I bought in Italy, I used for many years, usually buying new SIM chips each year, for a different region and/or because they expire after a period of disuse.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
784 posts
I bought an unlocked phone from Amazon.com for about $30, then bought a Pre-paid SIM card once I arrived in Paris.
BTW, Caro, I too am a senior female and traveled solo to Paris in September 2013. I'm now very excited about my next trip coming this May - this time with a friend. Anyway, you might get some insight from my blog at www.cjtparis2013.blogspot.com
A couple of things I would suggest: if you have any knee, hip, foot joint issues, do take a collapsible cane. You might find it useful as the pavement is uneven. I also took a gel-pack which I could put in the freezer (I stayed in an apartment). When I returned "home" after a day of sightseeing, I would pour myself a glass of wine, put the icy gel-pack on my knee, and work on my blog.
I'm sure you'll have a wonderful trip. Paris is magical and, I think, even when you are there alone. Bon voyage.
Posted by
Chicago
8035 posts
We just went to an Orange store and bought a couple of cheap flip phones and got sim cards for them -- we re-use the phones with each trip. It is cheap and easy to pick up a phone there that you know will actually work in Europe. My husband now has an unlocked Iphone -- we will see how that goes on our next trip.
We got ours after my husband ended up in the ER in Paris and had no way to contact me -- so we got them to be able to reach each other.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area
5697 posts
As Ken noted, you can buy a phone with SIM installed (we used Eurobuzz) which can be delivered to your home before you travel -- with instructions in English.
Posted by
Los Angeles
1825 posts
You might be better off with a tablet or Netbook. Calling home is easy with Skype and for $10 worth of credit on a Skype account you can have hours of talking to anyone back home even if they do not have a computer. You could use it to make local calls but I found I rarely needed to make local calls, language was usually an issue and I could always have my hotel help with things such as reservations.
Obviously you can use a computer and if you are making plans online, changing them without online access can be difficult.
Posted by
OP
11 posts
Thanks to all of you who replied to my question about cellphones in Europe. Now my problem is to choose from among the good suggestions you gave me.