Has anyone used the Mobal phone service?

Janet,

In addition to Mobal you could also check the websites for Roam Simple, Cellular Abroad, Telestial or EuroBuzz and compare the rates. If you're planning to use any travel SIM cards with your phone, note that the handset must be unlocked.

Thank you!

Eurobuzz is owned by Mobal but has cheaper rates. I have used it many times - Finland, Spain, UK - with no problems.

Janet,
I use Mobal's Freedom Plan with my iPhone year round. $39/month, unlimited calls, text, data on T-Mobile network. No contract - I pay month to month. Outside of the U.S., calls are 20¢/minute. I've used it on two 5-week European trips and one trip to the Caribbean with no problems. I'm very happy to have the data for GPS apps when we're traveling.

Nancy - so you used your own phone? I thought you had to buy a phone.

Yes, I used my own phone. I recently upgraded to an iPhone 6 and transferred over to that with no problems.

You don't have to buy a phone, only a SIM card (if you have an unlocked GSM phone). If not, the basic phone with SIM is $39 complete.

Janet,

You can use your own phone if it's a quad-band, unlocked GSM phone. There are lots of them for sale on places like E-Bay, Amazon.com or whatever.

If dealing with the travel phone firms that I mentioned above, if you have your own phone you can just buy a SIM card from them. If you don't have a phone, they also sell inexpensive basic phones for very reasonable prices. The basic phones are fine for voice and text, but usually don't have data capability. I used a basic Motorola flip phone for many years prior to buying an iPhone, and it worked well.

Thank you all for the clarifications!

A good source of information about the subject is Prepaid GSM. Here's their page summarizing International SIM cards: http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/international.php

And here's their International SIM Card Forum: http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=25