Students traveling abroad - phone options

Lorraine,, 20+ yrs ago my friend and I travelled for a few months around Europe,, with no phones.. , we would just use pay phones to phone home.. which of course we did infrequently. We also never worrried about what if we got seperated , and I am not sure why,, but likely as we both knew where we were heading each day , and likely thought we could just meet each other at destination or hotel.

I know cell phones are all it now,, and since the technology is so available and cheap people will use it, but, just a thought, a person does not NEED a cell phone to travel safely or happily through Europe. We were safe and happy for three months, and had the bonus of not having to worry about losing or having the phone stolen.

I know this doesn't help you much, but I guess I am just saying ,, the boys could just use telephone cards and pay phones,, , I still use that method to phone home, and it still works..and I never have to worry about bring cell phone chargers, or losing or having stuff stolen.. just a thought.

Aren't you lucky your boys are travelling together, many brothers are not so inclined, its nice to see siblings who get along so well.Hope they have a wonderful time, I know out of all the many many trips I have taken in the last 25 years, that one was the most fun!

I appreciate what Pat is saying, but I think it could be useful to have a phone for the reasons you mention...I don't know about how much it is in England, but you can get a pay-as-you-go phone cheaply in most places, in France I think I paid 50E for a phone and a sim card...

About which phone to get, I only use Nokias because I find those to work the best...

If you're not a Verizon customer, you can probably use your existing cell phone with an international SIM card (even all the free phones these days can work overseas). Then, just pick the most cost-effective SIM card for the countries they will be in. Here's a sample (I don't know if this will have the best rates for where your sons will be going): http://www.ekit.com/ekit/MobilePurchase/Sims. You can usually text for cheap, receive calls for free, and make calls for more as needed.

The catch here Lorraine is that the sim cards only work in one country, so you'd be looking at them possibly each buying a phone for 75ish, and then 2 x sim cards in 5-6 countries = 12 sim cards - not too cheap of an option.

Some others could comment on whether that has changed recently, *my last trip was 2006), but Rick's 2009 guides still say it is the same. FYI.

Check out www.mobal.com. For 49 dollars you get a phone that works in 150 different countries. You only pay for the calls, no monthly fees etc. You use it for one trip, then put it away until the next trip. YOu keep the same phone number no matter where you go. The rates vary by what country you are in, and if you are just using it for making reservations, emergencies, making contact with someone etc. its great. If you want to call home and chat for a long time, a phone card would be cheaper. This option has been frequently recommended on another forum where the issue of cell phones comes up frequently.

What Chris said about SIM cards only working in one country is not true...

I had a sim card from Orange in France, and it worked everywhere I went (including Austria, CR, England, Switerland, Spain...), provided I had enough credit, of course.

This company's rates seem a lot lower than Mobal but works the same way. I've never used them but they look interesting:

Call In Europe

From Call in Europe's website: "Your SIM card line is activated for one year from the date that we shipped it to you. The service will automatically renew at no extra cost provided that within the 12 month period you have made $60 worth of line usage*. If you did not reach that usage amount after the 12 months, then we will contact you and will offer you either to renew the line for $29 or to disconnect your service. Note: If we disconnect the service and you would like to renew it at a later date, you will be assigned a new number and will not be able to keep the same cell phone number that you previously used."

This is the difference between Mobal and Call in Europe. With Mobal you pay once -- one phone purchase with SIM card -- unless you make calls, when your credit card will be charged. The SIM card and phone number are permanent. They don't expire, and you don't have to make any certain amount of calls to be able to keep your number. $60 of calls is a LOT of calls, and if you don't spend that much, you pay again to reactivate it.

In Austria I bought a Turkish SIM card and used it in Austria, Germany, and England. I would have used it in Italy recently but I forgot to bring it & had to buy a new one. The one I bought in Italy - I don't know if it could be used in other countries. I think it just depends on which one you buy.

Lorraine,

You might have a look at the Phones and calling plans offered by Call In Europe, Roam Simple, Cellular Abroad or Mobal. They can supply just the SIM card if you already have quad-band GSM Phones, or Phones as well.

Be sure to study each of the rate plans carefully, so that you have a clear idea on what your costs will be. If your Sons use text to keep in touch most of the time and keep voice calls to a minimum, the costs should be reasonable. One important caveat, be sure to stay away from Phones that are capable of E-mail or Internet use, as the data rates will likely be very costly!

The fact that they'll be travelling in 5-6 countries means that a "travel SIM" would be a better option as the rates should be more consistent. If they were to buy a SIM in one of the countries and then use it the other countries, they would be subject to roaming charges when out of the "home" area.

Good luck!

With Calls in Europe, you pay $29/year for the Sim card, and call rates between .29 and .69 depending on the country you are in.

With Mobal, you buy the Sim card for $49 and have call rates between $1.25 and $1.50 per minute.

You decide which plan is better for you. If during the two month period they talk over 30 minutes, the Calls in Europe plan is the better deal.

As an example, if during the time period they talk 60 minutes. Even at the highest rate, Calls in Europe is $70.

With Mobal, at their lowest rates, it's $123.

That's a $53 saving. Now, if you were planning numerous trips to Europe and had to keep the same phone number, Mobal would be a good choice. But do they really need to keep the same phone number for future trips?

Chris,

SIM cards bought anywhere in Europe work in any other country with the right phone, it's just that the rates are higher in the countries where the SIM card wasn't bought from.

Lorraine,

The cheapest way to do it is this: you get a cheap unlocked tri or quad band phone from ebay. Then they buy a SIM card from the fisrt country they are going to need to use the phone in. Some companies have deals. For exemple alst year when I went to Italy Vodafone had a deal like spending 10 euroes and getting double minutes.
The more you spend on the SIM card the cheaper per minute is.

ONe thing I forgot to mention was to check with your service provider at home. The company might have specials deals for international service.