Traveling to 4 countries and need to be able to call the places where I will be staying. Will be in Europe for 6 weeks. To call back to the US, I can skype. I am considering just ordering a cheap phone from Amazon and an international simm card to use in Europe. Has anyone ever ordered one from Amazon, and will the simm card work in 4 countries? I don't feel like using precious vacation time to shop for a phone at my first stop, but if that's the best way, then I will. I'll take any comments, recommendations, and brand info... Thanks!! Kim
Posted by
Bellevue, WA, USA
811 posts
you can buy a very cheap phone with European frequency band (quad band phone) on line and get a prepaid sim card. depending on which country you're going to, Vodafone, or Orange, or DT are the big companies with roaming agreement throughout Europe.
Posted by
OP
Nashville, TN, usa
27 posts
We will actually be traveling to 4 countries, which is why I'm a little unsure about how to do this the most cost effective way.
Posted by
Northern California
202 posts
I just got back from spending 6 weeks in 7 different countries. I brought my old AT&T unlocked iphone. Do not purchase sim cards at the airport, they are much more expensive there. I purchased a separate sim card in each country. They did not work in other countries (except you could pay high roaming costs in Austria and the Netherlands with a German Sim card). It did waste a ton of time purchasing them (Especially at O2 in Munich)(Italy was the fastest at Timm). And in hindsight I wished I just purchased the international plan from Verizon. It was more money but my time had to be worth something. The cheapest country was Spain. I paid 20E for 1 GB of Data and .04 a min to calls in the USA. I barely made calls within the country. Mostly just calls home. Wherever I was staying would make local calls for me or museum info desks would too. Taxi drivers would call my landlords for directions and to let them know I was on my way from the airport. I used the data plan in Germany a lot since I had a rental car and used my phone as a GPS. The other countries it was sort of a waste to buy data as most places offer free wifi. Hope I was a little help. :)
Posted by
Perth, Western Au, Australia
1 posts
I am in Australia and love to travel. I bought a Travelsim SIM card for $25 some years ago. I put $25 credit on it and can top it up at no cost from the phone. (bought an unlocked $10 Alcatel phone just for travelling). I have used this phone all over Europe and have never had a problem. The call costs vary but are around 70 cents per minute. You can also buy the SIM card online from Travelsim.com.au Hope this helps! Ps. You can also get a Travelsim card for your IPhone. The card never expires but you must use it very 6 months. Regards
Brenda
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32345 posts
Kim, You could also look at phones and SIM's from the travel phone firms such as Roam Simple, Cellular Abroad, Telestial, Mobal, EuroBuzz or others. That will provide you with consistent rates in most countries in western Europe and usually no need to top-up as the calls are billed to a credit card. You'll have to check each of their websites for specific information. If you don't already have an unlocked, quad-band GSM phone, you could order one from E-Bay or Amazon and then just buy the SIM and calling plan from the travel phone firm. Using a travel SIM is a simpler approach to buying new SIM cards in each country, as each time you change cards your number changes. Providing one number to the hotels you'll be using will be easier. I should mention that many of the travel phone firms use numbers based in the U.K. Happy travels!