cell phones in Europe

Lynda, Nancy has laid out the options in a pretty succinct fashion. If you want to read more, copy and paste the line printed below in google and do a search. It will show most of the recent posts with questions about cell phone usage. (This is the type of search you'd do after reading the "search the archives" message thread.) Here is the line: site:ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline "/11" cell phone I include the /11 to try and limit responses to ones posted this year. There may be other ways to limit the search, but this works. Here is my new bottom line, though, that I think is true for most U.S. travelers: The best value? Stick with your U.S. cell provider so long as your phone will work overseas (it has the 900 and 1800 MHz radio bands). You must be a T-Mobile, AT&T, or possibly Verizon customer on a contract plan. Verizon users may need to borrow a special phone from Verizon for this to work. You'll need to let your cell phone company know you'll be using the phone outside the U.S. This likely is not the absolute cheapest approach, but it is the easiest. This advice only works, however, IF YOU DON'T USE YOU PHONE HARDLY AT ALL. Don't use it for data. Period.

Lynda, The information provided in the previous replies will give you a good starting point to research the question. You might also look at the "travel phone" firms such as Roam Simple, Call In Europe, Cellular Abroad, Telestial or Mobal to see if one of their plans will work for you. As Paul mentioned, DON'T use the data portion of U.S.-based Smartphones EVER, as the data roaming charges can be ENORMOUS. AT&T does offer plans which will reduce the charges somewhat, but only limited use will be possible. Good luck and happy travels!

This is almost a weekly question here, and there are many opinions. If you click on the link above to "search the archives" you will no doubt come up with numerous recent posts. In short, there is no "best value" overall. You have to consider how you want to use your phone (long calls or short, emergencies only, multiple trips or just one, etc.). Is it better value to rent/borrow a phone from your phone company, buy a local PAYG phone once you get there, buy a travel SIM with a permanent number, or use phone cards? Only you can determine that once you look at the options.

Hi Lynda, I'm sure you'll get lots of different responses. We're just finishing up a 5 week trip to Europe. I bought 2 unlocked quad band cell phones on eBay for $25 ea. In London, I bought 2 SIM Cards for £10 ea. We've only used them for quick calls to each other, and the cards have lasted us the entire trip. That would be my recommendation: bring an unlocked, quad-band phone to Europe and purchase a SIM card there.

Last month wife and I spent two weeks in Europe. We made the total of ONE call to each other, when we'd become separated at a tube station (I got on and doors closed before wife could follow me inside). We brought our iPhones with us, which worked out well as we were able to find free wifi at any Pret in London (register with The Cloud for free to get your login and password). If you're planning on making a lot of calls in Europe, I'd just get a pre-paid phone once you arrive. Otherwise, if you have a GSM phone (AT&T wireless or T-Mobile), most likely your phone will work over there. But call your cell-phone provider to check first. Just because your phone says "3G" on the screen doesn't mean it will work in Europe.

I took my iphone to Ireland and England last month for 2 weeks. I had a plan for 50 Mg of data as well as int'l roaming. I made several essential calls to the US (Chicago and San Francisco) and used my phone to check email and surf the web as much as I wanted to. Most of the time I had data roaming switched off though. My bill for last month was a little over twice what it usually is. ($70 more). To me it was more than worth it. For a longer period of time in Europe, I might choose another option.