Phone for my wife in Europe

Stephan, first of all, have you checked with AT&T regarding using the DATA PORTION of your IPhone in Europe? The costs can be horrendous for data roaming! It would be a really good idea to turn OFF the data roaming before you arrive in Europe. Regarding a phone for your Wife, you might consider buying an inexpensive phone from one of the travel phone firms, such as Roam Simple, Call In Europe, Cellular Abroad, Telestial or Mobal. Some of these have phone and SIM card packages for as little as $49 - check their respective web sites for details. they provide consistent rates for most countries in western Europe. Many of these use SIM cards and plans based with UK networks, so you'd have to dial a UK number whenever you called your wife. If you'll be roaming with your US number, she'll have to dial the US to reach you. Texting would be a MUCH cheaper solution! You could of course buy a phone when you arrive in Europe, but as you're going to be travelling in multiple countries, your costs will increase when you use the phone outside the country where it was purchased (as you'll be "roaming"). Happy travels!

It's easy to buy an unlocked quad-band GSM phone on various websites, such as eBay and Amazon. I bought one from Tiger Direct. I use Range Roamer for my SIM card as it works in so many countries, then we just buy a SIM card for my husband if we plan to be in one country for a week or so. We got separated in the Louvre once, and I didn't like that sensation [INVALID] luckily we both had phones that day which got us reunited.

Thanks for your responses. It seems that buying (or renting) a phone for my wife is the best idea. But are you two suggesting I also buy a separate phone for myself? Or can I buy another SIM card for my IPhone? AT&T has a deal where one can use an AT&T phone overseas by spending $6 for a month; then the charges are .99 for roaming rather than the 1.29 which is usual for them. They also have various data plans where I can access emails, use applications (e.g., one called Sit or Squat that enables you to find a bathroom, another that tells you how the Paris Metro is running) and receive text messages). I don't have the plans in front of me, but if I remember, it starts at 24.95 for 20 MB. I don't know if that would be enough but it can get pretty expensive.

My son and I just spent a month in Paris. We each got a prepaid phone (very nice one) from Orange (like at&t here) which cost us $60 each. I used mine a lot and still have time left on it.

Another thing: does it need to be a quad band phone? They seem to be a lot more expensive. And we're just going to be gone for 18 days.

If you use a phone from the U.S., it needs to be AT LEAST a tri-band phone. European GSM frequencies operate at 900 and 1800 Mhz, while in North America, they're 850 and 1900 Mhz. So you need a phone that will cover at least one of the European freqencies.....unless you choose to purchase a cheap phone and SIM card over there, as suggested earlier.

Stephan, I can't help with a phone for your wife, because I've never delved into that process. However, I did travel with my iphone this spring and can give you some info on that. My overall impression is that it was WONDERFUL to be connected while I was away. I was gone for 2 weeks and used the phone less than normal, but still as much as I wanted. It was great being connected to facebook and email, and being able to download maps and access internet. You need to know the plans are based on your billing period pro-rated daily. So if you sign up for 100mb of data, you get about 3mb per day. Texts are also pro rated. In my case, I signed up right before I left and then cancelled right when I came back, but it cost me a little more because my trip straddled the billing cycle. I used the data as much as I wanted (except in Morocco) and ended up spending about $120 for data and texts (over the 2 billing cycles). I also made some calls from Paris and Spain and it averaged $1 per minute. It was worth the extra expense to me.

Thanks, Cyndy. That's helpful information. I definitely plan on using my IPhone, just have to decide how much data I want to pay for and what phone to get my wife.

Stephan, just to help you decide on data, I signed up for the 120mb plan, which I think was waaay more than I needed. According to my bill, I used 48,898 kb of data. This included uploading about 80 pictures to facebook, chatting with people on facebook, reading emails, using maps to find may way, etc. One thing I was careful to do was to turn off my email retrieval. Then when I wanted to check mail I turned it on, used it and immediately turned it back off. That kept my phone from constantly trying to upload and download data. The other thing I tried to do was use hotel wifi as much as possible. Have fun. Hope you find something great for your wife's phone.

I ran across a company called Eurobuzz where you actually buy the cell phone and the cost is only $49 with the calls being only.79 a minute. Planetphone seemed good because their fee, including shipping, is only 47.35, but the incoming calls are 1.25, the outgoing calls are .99 (local) and 1.98 back to the States. I think the shipping fee for Eurobuzz is $10 but you actually end up owning the phone and it can then be used for subsequent European trips.

Oh, and with PlanetPhone I would just be renting the phone.

I have Verizon and just borrowed 2 phones from them for our trip. No cost to rent but the minutes are expensive, about $1.29 to $1.99 per minute. Txt messages are alot cheaper, especially if received. There is a delivery cost of $9.99. This is Verizon's World Travel plan.

Stephan, "does it need to be a quad band phone?". To answer your question, it NEEDS to be at least a tri-band phone having at least one of the Euro frequency bands. However, I would strongly recommend a quad-band as that will provide better communications overall. Some of the European networks use a single frequency, so if you happened to be using one of those networks your coverage could be somewhat limited in some areas. The others have provided some good information concerning use of your IPhone (and especially the data portion) in Europe. I find that text messaging is the least expensive way to keep in touch, and that can be used without the data portion of your IPhone. Happy travels!

Call Verizon and find out if they have any offers. I had a friend who went to Europe with his Verizon phone and he used either it wiith a different sim card or a loaner from Verizon. Now, I don't know what the costs were. And it's not hard to turn off your data go to Settings, General, Network, and turn off data roaming. There is also a program that will reduce European phone calls. Check the website. Pam

Verizon has a phone that you can have for about 3 weeks (30 days total with shipping). .All you do is pay shipping which is 9.99 or overnight shipping of 14.99 and you can only keep it 30 days and that includes shipping time there and back.. Minutes are I believe 1.29 or you can add 4.99 to your plan for the month to get .99 cents a minute. That's what I'm doing. I'd call them.. they answered all my questions for me right away and even emailed me a list of rates for the countries I'll be in. http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Global_Travel/index.html

I found out that, because she's on a pre-paid plan, she's not eligible for the World Travel plan.