purchasing a prepaid sim card for cell phone

First you will need to find out if your cell phone is "unlocked", meaning your own sim card would then work. Check out RangeRoamer.com and RoamSimple.com for info. I have used Range Roamer before -- you can get a sim card that will work in 140 countries. You can be more specific with Roam Simple. Each business has it's own rules for "recharging".

I just googled 'universal sim' for giggles and it came up with something you might be interested in. I think I saw something like this advertised in an inflight magazine.

Try Telestial, they seemed to have some pretty good rates compared to Mobal or Rangeroamer

http://www.telestial.com/view_product.php?PRODUCT_ID=MSIM-P01

Cathy, On my last two trips to Europe, I bought SIM cards from Telestial. I checked a whole bunch of web sites and thought Telestial was the easiest to understand and deal with. There are a lot of different options. I bought a SIM card in May that works in a lot of countries. It can be used from year to year provided you make a call from it every so often. I can't remember the details right now, but I'd say get on their web site and read through the options. Good luck.

I don't know for sure where you can buy a SIM card in these countries, but you can try to find Orange logo...it's the US T-mobile in EU.
As far as I know a SIM card will expire if it's not used for a certain amount of time but I don't know exactly after how long.Maybe 3 months...

Hey, you can get global sim cards that don't expire though...

The best thing about the Mobal service is that it isn't country specific, so works throughout europe without having to swap sim cards around in the phone.

Also, it's post-pay, so you don't need to worry about running out of credit and topping up in a strange language.

I bought a phone from them for $49, so don't know much about their sim card - however, I assume that it's the same one that they supply if you buy a handset from them.

Al

Hey al, that was my problem - i didn't want anything post-pay, I wanted to know exactly how much i was spending. i got a gosim card (i think that's what it is) as i could just use it in my existing phone - the less fathing i have to do the better!

x

I've called a few of the places that were suggested and got some great information. I also received an email from Vodafone in Hungary. Their sim card was cheap and rates didn't seem bad either. I'm now trying to actually consider if it's worth paying the cost for the sim card and the time as opposed to just using my GSM phone and paying roaming charges. If I only make a few calls it will be less than what I have to pay for the service...if not...

many SIM cards expire in a year or so, but if you add money to them in the meantime they renew.

The biggest decision is whether you really need a SIM. A big plus is incoming calls are free in the issuing country. And the rates, if you're going to be calling around in that country, are often 5-15 cents per minute. SIMs are country-specific; you get the great rate only in the host country, pay roaming rates (but they do work) in other countries.

But if you only want the phone for an occasional call back home to check in, and to be reachable in case of emergencies, then carrying your US SIM and paying the $1.29 rate might end up being a better deal overall.

I bought a global SIM card through Range Roamer -- have minutes left and will use again this spring. I also plan to purchase a SIM card through Roam Simple (it is compatible with the Sagem-brand phone I have). With Roam Simple you choose the type SIM card that would work best for you. It is a post-paid system. You don't buy minutes in advance so you don't have to worry about running out or having leftover minutes that won't be used.

cathy,

It sounds like you've reached the same conclusion that I was going to suggest. If you're going to be making only very occasional (and short) voice calls, roaming with your normal cell network is probably the easiest and simiplest solution.

I use text mostly when roaming in Europe to keep in touch with family back home, although at 60 cents/text outgoing those can also add up if used extensively. I occasionally make a few voice calls "in country", but try to keep these short.

I've been roaming with my home cell network for several years now, and that approach has worked well for me so far. I don't anticipate changing anything in the near future.

Cheers!

I am also going to Budapest, Hungry and Czech Republic in two week and I would like to know did you find out a company to purchase and Sim Card? Can you pls provide me with the info so I cam call them for a card. (I also have the V3 razor)

Thanks

cynthia

I am also going to Budapest, Hungry and Czech Republic in two week and I would like to know did you find out a company to purchase and Sim Card? Can you pls provide me with the info so I cam call them for a card. (I also have the V3 razor)

Thanks

cynthia

I purchased a SIM card from Telestial that works in most countries in Europe (it was called a Passport or something like that). It will expire with no activity, but it's good for a pretty long time -- around a year. And if you want to keep it active, you can just add minutes to it.

Cathy, If your concern is prepaying, please be aware that you have to pay in advance for minutes on your SIM card if you want to make calls. So you have the option to prepay as much as you want. That seems to offer the same advantage as a pre-paid card.

I never bought the sim card. I decided that the $$ amount might not be any different than paying for the calls since I don't make many calls. I did put an international roaming plan and watched my calls and text.
Cathy

We don't need a phone to call back home. All we need is to have a phone for our use in the UK and France. I was interested in this thread to see what others were doing.

If we were leaving the kids back home, I would need to call the States. Mother and sisters will be in France.

Eli,

Without looking through other Threads, I can't recall your previous comments regarding cell phones?

In your circumstances, I'd probably still use roaming with my home cell network and use text most of the time to keep in touch with other family members in the UK and France (with occasional voice calls where required).

Ken, I am very afraid of those folks who insist on calling when we're out of town in the States, so you can imagine being abroad! Texting is a problem too. My daughter receives texts constantly and even when she tells the kids she's going away, they will forget and text.

So I'm interested in a prepaid SIM card or anything else that sounds reasonable. This way no one will have our number.

Eli, thanks, that clarifies things a lot. No one likes to get calls at 04:00 when they're travelling because someone "back home" forgot about the time difference! That's one of the main reasons I only reveal my cell number to only family and close friends (it's also blocked from call display).

You might have a look at www.maxroam.com and/or www.cellularabroad.com, as one of their plans may work for you. The system used by Maxroam appears to use a "callback" method, but I'm sure this works well and the rates are certainly very attractive (I may consider that in future?).

Cheers!