Eurobuzz phone

Great ~ I am going to France and Spain. Thank you!

I'd also consider checking out Truphone (truphone.com). They have just begun offering a "local anywhere" SIM card that gives you a local number in different countries (with local-ish calling rates) all on the same SIM card.

I've just read about it, but it sounds like someone could call your U.S. number and it would ring you in the U.K. if that's where you were. Your U.K. number would work in the U.K. for local calls.

Truphone was a Skype-like phone company that routed all its calls over the Internet. What I've read about is an expansion of the type of service they offer. It sounds tempting to me, but I'll admit I haven't tried it. I may do so just to see if it works. It would sure beat my old method of forwarding my U.S. number to a Skype number that would then forward to a U.K. SIM.

Kathy,

I haven't used Eurobuzz so can't offer any comments on them. However you might also have a look at Call In Europe, Roam Simple, Cellular Abroad, Telestial or Mobal to compare rates and features.

Do you presently have a Cell phone at home, and if so which network are you with? Your answer may provide other options.

Cheers!

I do have a Verizon blackberry. However, when I called Verizon to talk to them about using it in Europe, the rep told me it is very expensive and she wouldn't use her Verizon phone over there. She said there are no Verizon towers in France. That's why I'm looking at different options. However, if I have to purchase a phone (as with Eurobuzz, $60 including shipping) that obviously has to factor in to the per minute price. Any comments are welcome!

Kathy,

The Verizon rep. was "sort of" correct in that "there are no Verizon towers in France". To be precise, there are also no U.S.-based AT&T or T-Mobile towers either. The difference is in the technology used by the different networks, and the fact that roaming is possible with phones that use the same technology.

Verizon uses CDMA technology, while the other networks (and 85% of the rest of the world) use GSM technology. Therefore, many AT&T or T-Mobile phones will work just fine in Europe, either in "roaming" mode with their home network or with a Euro SIM card (the SIM card contatins the phone number and subscriber information, and is easily used in any compatible GSM handset).

Getting back to your original question....

I believe Verizon has a "world roaming" rental option. They provide a compatible phone that will work in GSM areas for a fee. If you're only going to use this very occasionally, the cost should be manageable. Note that it's not a good idea to use "smart phones" such as Blackberries in Europe, as the data roaming rates are horrendous!

I'd suggest checking the rates of the various "travel phone" services that have been mentioned in this Thread, and find one that fits your budget.

If the phone will be used for future travels, you could buy an unlocked, quad-band GSM handset off E-Bay or other sites, and use either with a SIM from one of the travel phone firms, or buy a PAYG SIM when you arrive in Europe.

If you're expecting calls from family or friends and you use one of the travel phones, in many cases your contacts will have to call long distance, as the phones are usually "based" in the U.K., Lichtenstein or other places in Europe. If you're roaming with a US-based phone, they simply call your home number and the network will "find" you.

Good luck!

Hi Kathy

I have a Eurobuzz phone and think it's great.

In my opinion, using local SIM cards is a pain because you have to top them up frequently and it's not so easy if you don't know the local language. Also, you'll find that some of the minutes you buy won't get used up - meaning you've wasted some money.

I hope you have a great trip!

Al ;-)

So, if I have a T-Mobile phone, would I just be able to purchase a pre-paid SIM in Europe and use it with my phone?

Anna,

That depends. Your T-Mobile phone must be a quad-band model, and it must be unlocked. If those two conditions are met, your phone should work just fine in Europe.

Be sure to check the Charger supplied with your phone, to determine if it's designed for "world" operation.

Cheers!

A tri-band phone might also work okay in Europe in a pinch. For example, on some occasions I used my U.S. Sony phone from T-Mobile in the U.K. It has only three bands: two that work in the U.S. and one that works in the U.K. This worked okay for me because I used a phone with the one frequency that T-Mobile U.K. uses and I used a T-Mobile U.K. SIM. Anyway, if you have an account with ATT or T-Mobile here, the phone might roam on just one of the two usual European bands.

Don't mean to complicate things. It is always best to have all four of the normal bands for talk just to be sure.

One other thing: If you do use your phone over there, be sure that it has been activated with your carrier here for international roaming. With T-Mobile, for example, it is OFF by default. Call your carrier and find out what you need to do. It costs nothing to activate international roaming -- or at least it used to be free. ATT, and maybe now T-Mobile, have an option to pay a small monthly fee to get a discounted rate on international usage. It is a very, very small discount, so it may not be worth it.

==
Anna: Sorry, I just reread your original post. You were asking about using a SIM bought over there. The first part of my answer applies. T-Mobile has a web page that shows you the carriers it roams on (which would likely be the same carriers from which you could buy a prepaid SIM). That page shows you the frequencies the carriers use. (http://www.t-mobile.com/International/RoamingOverview.aspx?tp=Inl_Tab_RoamWorldwide)

To find out the frequencies your phone has, go to one of the numerous cell phone sites and call up details about your specific phone. I recommend phonescoop.com.

I bought a Eurobuzz phone, which worked fine for the first half of my trip. Halfway through, the text messaging quit working altogether. I spent hours on the phone with their support team who couldn't figure out the problem. Their answer was that, sometimes text messages just don't go through. (I guess a dozen not going through is normal?) They assured me they would take care of the additional charges I had including messages that I sent to test my phone when I returned from my trip. When I got back and contacted them again, they said they wouldn't refund any charges (which were quite steep compared to the first half of my trip since text messages are much cheaper), but could give me a future phone credit. When I asked them to at least replace the phone, they said the phone was fine and it was the network that I was using (used at least 4 different networks during the time). They agreed to refund my money as per their 60-day money back guarantee. I sent the phone back, and never received a refund. I spent so much time dealing with terrible customer service people who were argumentative (Roxy), that I have no energy to try anymore so I'm just writing it off as a bad investment. There are better alternatives.

We were really pleased with our 2 Eurobuzz phones this summer. I'll be interested to see how long they last after reading about Jessica's experience. I don't remember if we texted or not but our calls cell-to-cell, domestic and to/from US were fine. We used them for 3-1/2 weeks in Italy and France and then for 1 week later in the summer in Switzerland.

This phone wasted a lot of my time and money. It worked fine in the Czech Republic. In Austria it stopped working. It would act like it got strong signal, showing 4 or 5 bars, but after trying to call, it would show "no signal". When I finally got to an internet cafe and sent email to Eurobuzz, I got a reply with a workaround: "forced registration". This did not work very well. I'd see a list of detected networks, but there was no way to tell signal strength, and many of them didn't work. So I'd have to find a network by trial-and-error. I'd get a lot of "network busy" messages, so this took time. And if I turned the phone off, I'd have to do it all again when it came on. Again, the signal indication on the phone was useless; the phone would show strong signal [INVALID] all bars lit up [INVALID] but when I tried calling, it was dead.

We just tried to use them in Italy. We were only able to make 3 calls. After that, the phone always went to an "Emergency Only" mode and we could not make calls. We were in Florence and Rome and tried them in many places in both cities. I returned them and got a credit on my credit card. The company seemed unsurprised and said that sometimes they cannot connect???? Allen

'just got back from Europe. We were 2 couples, each with a Buzz Phone. In Paris, both phones stopped connecting to the network. A call via the hotel phone to Eurobuzz told us how to try to reconnect to the network. Again in Munich and during a Danube cruise, we had the same problem. Sometimes the phone would connect a network and sometimes not. The connection always had to be done manually. It's not a good way to contact another Buzz phone inEurope and it's not good for making/getting calls to/from the US if it is not connected to a network.

If you are looking for a simple solution with no hassle and very low rates check www.travel-n-call.com

This is a 3 year old thread.

Just for grins...the 'EuroBuzz is the Devil' posts were made by people with a grudge; they only posted once each, and I'm guessing you'll find their verbatim posts all over Fodor's, Frommers, Trip Advisors, etc. We had a great experience with EuroBuzz in Autumn 2011 - voice and text within several European countries, and voice back to the USA. Great phones, great service. YMMV. We'll definitely take them on our next trip. (Thanks, Darcy!) Kathy, I hope you found a soultion that worked for you.

Eileen-thank you! You have set my mind at ease! I recently purchased a Eurobuzz phone for our upcoming trip to Europe in a few weeks and was a bit concerned after reading this post when it popped up again recently. I appreciate you sharing your experience!