questions and an idea re: cheap limited cell phone use in France and England

Sounds like a perfect plan.

Are you sure that it won't work in Europe? It could be that it just needs to be unlocked. Have you contacted US Cellular?

mg,

How old are your phones? You may be able to use them in Europe, according to this website.....

https://www.uscellular.com/services/international/roaming-travel-cell-phone-plans/index.html

The customer service rep's at US Cellular should be able to help you determine if your phone(s) will work in Europe. Do the phones have a tray to accept a SIM card?

Could you clarify if you're taking one phone to Europe or two? You mentioned "our current phone" and later in the same sentence you mentioned "they are CDMA". That's a bit confusing.

Sounds like you will have internet access. Google Voice for calls and Hangouts for texts use internet, are very cheap per minute and only require creating an account. You can look up the rates online.

My last time in Spain. I bought a couple of basic phones, chargers, SIM cards and minutes for 25 euro each (I think Vodaphone but may have been Orange, it seemed like everyone offered something similar). We were there a month, mostly using the phones to call ahead and book rooms. There was a choice of 8 cents a minute or 60 minutes free then 20 cents a minute. I chose the lower per minute charge.

The only bad thing is you have to stop at a store to add minutes, but they were all over and I had enough minutes with the original purchase that I didn't need more.

I also took an Ipod touch from home and used Skype to call home and email (using WiFi signals). I put $20 down to set it up for calling landlines and probably had $10 left when I got home.

Thanks for the information.

I'm sure our Samsungs won't work in Europe with a new chip because US Cellular tells me the have the CDMA system and Europe uses GSM. Galaxy 6 and 7 phone, newly on the market, can use either system but not my 5.

Thanks for confirming for me that my plan should work.

mg,

"because US Cellular tells me the have the CDMA system and Europe uses GSM."

While US Cellular does use the somewhat non-standard CDMA technology, some models of the Galaxy S5 are also designed for use with GSM systems. Several versions of that phone are produced according to spec's from each network. Since there's no way of knowing exactly which version you have, your original plan to buy cheap basic phones is probably the best idea.

I'm assuming that France will be your first stop? Once you're settled in your first hotel, ask the hotel staff where the nearest mobile phone shop is (it will probably be fairly close, as mobile shops are ubiquitous in Europe). Be sure that you're clear on the method for topping the phones up when you're in England.

The other option you could use is to buy a couple of basic phones from one of the travel phone firms such as iRoam, Cellular Abroad, Telestial or Mobal. That would provide you with a working phone as soon as you step off the plane, the phones would work throughout Europe with fairly consistent rates, and billing would be post paid so you wouldn't have to be concerned with topping-up.

Verizon has had the largest market share in the US for the past 6 years with approx. 80 million subscribers. It's hard to think of that as non-standard when it's considered the most desirable option in my metropolitan area and state.