We have a trip scheduled in March/April in London/Paris/Rome/Dublin. I had assumed I would just take my cell phone for communication purposes, but in reading around the site, it appears it might be better to buy one there. Does anyone have any feedback?
By the way, we are from Alberta, Canada, and our cellphone provider is Telus.
Thanks in advance.
Many of the new phones are capable of international calling (my Razor will work). If your phone is capable and you will only do a small amount of calling, use it. It's not cheap per minute but doesn't require any cash investment.
If you will do significant phone time buy a phone there.
Does anyone on this site know if you can get something similar to a WalMart prepaid phone? When Rick talks about buying a phone, it's more expensive than what I would advise a friend from Europe to do when visiting the US.
Greetings
For a cellphone to work in Europe it must be GSM, which most phones in the US are not (not sure about Canada). You need to check whether your phone has the GSM technology.
However, even if your phone would work in Europe, if you are just going to be making calls within Europe, you are probably best buying a cheap unlocked mobile which you can use with any SIM card in Europe (or just about anywhere but the US). You can add minutes or texts via scratch off cards available at just about any newspaper shop or supermarket.
Using local or multi-country SIM cards will be much cheaper than using a Canadian company's international plan - even the cheapest international plans tend to cost an arm & a leg.
As a note, if you are communicating within Europe, a text is often the cheapest method.
Kate
If you have a GSM phone and your carrier (ATT, Cingular or T-Mobile) suggests or tells you that you can do roaming in Europe, then your phone works there, can be unlocked by asking the carrier (assuming you have a contract for 90+ days) and then you can buy a local SIM.
Easy.
Gavin, your company has lots of info about int'l roaming. Go to the home page of Telus, select the "products and services" pulldown at the top, select "coverages and travelling".
as for buying one, I'd advise against it if you have a GSM phone. You are going to 4 countries. SIM chips give you the great rates only in the country issuing the SIM, otherwise you pay int'l roaming rates which you can do today with your existing phone if it is GSM. Now if you are spending a few weeks in each county it may be worth getting 4 SIM chips, spending the time visiting 4 stores and filling out the paperwork, not to mention the expense. But for a week or less in each country, probably not worth it.
Gavin,
You WON'T be able to use your Telus phone in Europe, as Telus uses CDMA technology (as opposed to the "world standard" GSM). Rogers & Fido use GSM but you would need to be on a contract plan to use international roaming. You have a few options.
Check with Telus regarding their roaming plans. They might be able to provide you with a Motorola A840 for your trip (rental?), which works on both cell formats. There's also the Blackberry 8830. I don't have information on what roaming costs they have negotiated with the GSM carriers in Europe? Again, check with Telus.
I've been traveling with a Rogers GSM phone for several years, and it's worked well so far. You'll probably find that the voice rates are somewhat "pricey" ($2 per minute incoming, $1 outgoing in country, varies with country). I normally use text to keep the costs down and stay in touch with family at home (you can text to any cell network).
If you need any more details, send a PM.
Cheers!
Gavin,
A few more thoughts....
Since you're going to 4 countries, buying an UNLOCKED quad-band GSM phone off E-Bay or similar would probably not be the most cost effective option either. The least expensive rate in each country is provided by it's "home" networks. If you roam outside that country, the rates can rise sharply (the Euro cell networks & the E.U. are currently having "discussions" on the roaming rates).
You could also look at one of the "travel networks" such as Cellular Abroad or others, where you could either rent a phone for this trip, or buy one for future travels.
Hope this has provided a few more options for you?
Happy travels!
Greetings
The roaming rates in the EU have already decreased because of new regulation - I think they can't be more than 38p per minute and texts are often far cheaper (though not regulated).
In addition, you CAN buy multi-country Sim cards. So you could either rent an unlocked GSM phone from Telus or buy a cheap one (you can get them pretty cheap and you can use them just about anywhere in the world other than Japan).
Kate
Just take your own - if youre there for a couple weeks. If its a phone and carrier thats compatible - its just easy. It may be a bit $$ but then you dont need to be making 2 hour calls home while on vacation. Use email and short calls home! at $1/min its not cheap - but it sure is easy and I will pay a bit extra for that once or twice a year. (I use ATT/Cingular but your carrier may varry in access)
Ken believes Gavin's Canadian phone won't work in Europe, see Ken's post above.
TOM,
Just to confirm Kent's post, Gavin's carrier uses CDMA technology, and his phone will NOT work in Europe. These are the Cell networks in Canada:
Bell - CDMA
Telus - CDMA
Rogers - GSM
Fido (owned by Rogers) - GSM
Virgin - CDMA (although Virgin in the U.K. is GSM, Canada & U.S. are CDMA)
Telus does have some provision to allow their customers to use phones in GSM areas; I'm not sure about Bell. AFAIK they either provide a rental OR a "dual-technology" handset such as the Motorola A840 or Blackberry 8830 "world edition".
Hope this clarifies the situation.
Cheers!
Have you considered the 49 dollar or 99 dollar phones from Mobal? I got one several years ago and it works everywhere. It'a a pretty stripped down phone, but I don't need custom ring tones or call waiting in Europe!
You "charge" its SIM card with minutes online, and the minutes get debited as you use the phone. Need more? Just add more minutes online on their website. The per-minute rates are fairly expensive, but we only use the phone to call home from time to time, for hotel and restaurant reservations and confirmations, and to call for cabs in places where on-street cabs are dicey. If you use a phone a lot, the cost-per-minute makes it unreasonably expensive. But if you don't, it's great. As long as we use it at least every 18 months we can keep our phone number permanently, so people at home can always reach us. If you were going to be in one place for the whole time, a local SIM would be cheaper. But since you aren't, check the Mobal website.
