Probably a very stupid question about using own phone in Europe!

It depends on whether your contacts are stored on the sim or in the phone's memory. You should be able to answer the question if you take your sim out.

Oh, Honey, when it comes to international travel and cell phones, there's no stupid questions.

It depends on your phone. iPhones are supposed to store everything in the phone itself (with a few possible exceptions) and the SIM stores only your carrier, etc., info. But some phones, like my previous Samsung flip phone, gave me a choice when storing Contacts to store them on the SIM or the phone itself. So it depends on your phone.

I don't know what you want to use your phone for - books, phone calls &/or texts, Contacts/addresses, travel notes, camera - but you might consider another option: something like EuroBuzz. My husband and I each have an iPhone 6 Plus that we want to bring on our next trip to use as our camera, plus email/texting/reading/Internet access, etc., but I'm seriously considering bring our EuroBuzz phones with us, also, to use as our dedicated phones for texting and calling. I know that some posters are happy with AT&T's International Plans, but we aren't terribly impressed. We're planning a 5-week trip, so things start to get a bit pricey. Our EuroBuzz phones are very small & lightweight, so that's not a consideration.

Once you're sure of exactly what you want your European phone to be able to do for you, it'll be easier to perhaps consider your other options...and once you know how info is stored on your particular phone you'll have more info on how to proceed.

I forgot to mention that I wholeheartedly recommend EuroBuzz! It performed exactly as advertised. Even if you decide to bring your own phone, I recommend their SIM for 9€. Put it in, and that's it. Hang onto it for your next trip...

Janet, first of all not a stupid question!

Second, let me ask you who your current provider is for cell phone service. The reason I ask is that some of the providers offer excellent international plans that do not involve getting a new SIM card.

I use ATT here as my provider. When I went to Europe this summer I signed up the ATT Passport plan. I paid $30 for 30 days. I had unlimited texting, phones calls were $1 a minute, and there was even a small amount of data 125mb.

It worked terrific. I only used the phone call feature once and relied primarily upon texts. I loved the fact that family (including elderly parents) back in the States could text me or call me as usual with no difficulty. No new phone number was needed.
I used data once or twice when I couldn't be on wifi and it worked as well.

You may want to check with your provider to see if they offer something similar.

Janet,

No "stupid questions" here. To begin with, one important point to mention is that you won't be able to use any other SIM cards unless your phone is unlocked.

As the last reply mentioned, it would help to have more information on your situation. Which cell network are you using and what type of phone?

To answer your original question, you shouldn't lose all your data. I've used travel SIM's over the years in my iPhone, and the data and app's remain the same even with a different SIM. Keep in mind that the main function of a SIM card is to store subscriber data such as phone number, account data, etc. AFAIK these don't have the capacity to store large amounts of other data (nor were they intended to).

Wow! Thank you all for the information! I have an iPhone 6 and I did go to my carrier – US cellular – and it's unlocked. The problem with US cellular is that their international charges are really high. As far as what I'm going to use the phone for, it will be mainly to find out information about various attractions, maps and so forth by searching on the Internet and some messaging back to the US. I'll use it for some of my pictures too and for Facebook, as well as checking my mail and bank information a little bit.

I don't know what country (ies) you'll be visiting. On my last trip to France, I got a Lebara SIM card and it worked well. Only problem was finding a nano SIM card. I went to five different cell phone stores before finding one that die cut a mini sim to micro size. Depending on how long your going, you might also consider signing up for a month at T-Mobile. You get about a gig of data, unlimited texts and sims, 20 cent a minute calls for about $50 and a nano sim installed before you leave home. I used this method on a trip to Spain and Portugal and it worked seamlessly. Though a bit more than I spent with the Lebara card, the extra few dollars were worth the convenience.

On Eileen's excellent advice we got Eurobuzz phones for calls and text, put our AT&T service on vacation hold (read this as "no service, no charge") and used the Android phones for data, email, etc. while connected to hotel wifi each evening. Will do this again for next trip - saved $$$ and our kids still could be in touch, just not immediately (and there's very little we could have done from thousands of miles away)

Janet,

Thanks for the additional information. U.S. Cellular seems to have reasonable rates (19¢ / minute) for calls when using their International Calling Plan ($3.99/month), but I wasn't able to see much information on data costs. As the majority of your use appears to focus on data, using a SIM purchased in Europe would probably be the most cost effective. They don't seem to be as well positioned for international use as some of their competitors (ie: T-Mobile, which provides unlimited data usage abroad, albeit at 2G speeds).

However, one point to keep in mind is that if you purchase a SIM in one country (ie: France) and then travel to other countries, you'll then be "roaming" and your costs will be higher. You'll also need to ensure that you're easily able to top-up the SIM when outside the country of purchase.

You won't have the same easy access to data as you would at home (unless you're willing to pay for it). One way to limit your cellular data usage is to use Wi-Fi as much as possible when in hotels.

"However, one point to keep in mind is that if you purchase a SIM in one country (ie: France) and then travel to other countries, you'll then be "roaming" and your costs will be higher. You'll also need to ensure that you're easily able to top-up the SIM when outside the country of purchase."

Two reasons why I very highly commend EuroBuzz. 9€. Works in all European countries seamlessly. Never needs to be topped off. Never lose your phone number. Easy-peasy. You know exactly what your calls will cost ($0.79/minute and $0.79/text - incoming FREE), and NEW is the ability to use their phone (if desired) and their SIM IN THE USA! My EuroBuzz phone and SIM are about 4 years old and both work only in Europe.

(Having trouble with the Edit function) Some people think that $0.79/minute is waaaay too high. It may be if you like to send several texts consisting of only 'LOL!', etc., and the phone calls could get expensive if you like to listen to your boyfriend just breathe on the phone ;-) Otherwise, it's great for the short-n-sweet calls and meaningful texts. When my return flight was cancelled at the last minute, I made a 5-10 minute call to Dallas, TX, to cancel a hotel reservation. My husband needed to call his father for 5 minutes. Other than that, we sent each other a few texts to coordinate our plans while out and about separately. The next month we got a bill for 10-15 minutes at $0.79. Period. Done. No needing to remember to top-off our plans, etc. No phone menus in a foreign language. Simple. I like cheap and simple.

FWIW, I'd hate to pull my SIM and see if I lost my data :-( Definitely ask a phone company employee about this, and/or check your phone manual (of course, yours is an iPhone, so no manual...)

I would just get a sim card when you get there. In my iPhone I switched SIM cards and did not lose any data/contacts. I couldn't get my messenger to work right (so people got texts from a weird dutch #) but otherwise for google maps, calling domestically etc. it worked great for 15 euro. Plus it was a dutch # for people to call me back.