Urgent Phone Question

With my ATT cell phone it costs just 50 cents for a text message from Europe to the USA, so I did that when finding an internet site was not easy.

Sharon, could you give us a little more information? What company are the SIM cards with? We can give you more information if you can answer that question. Because of your husband's feelings, I'd agree that you should just keep and use the phone for emergencies, but there are other possibilities. You can use your iPad to connect with wifi signals, which you can find in lots of places (McDonalds is a pretty reliable source), and then use the iPad to send and receive email. Anyway, let us know, is the SIM with a U.S. carrier (AT&T, T-Mobile, or possibly even Verizon) a foreign carrier, or a travel phone company (Telestial, etc.).

Thank you, Paul, for your response!! This is all I know right now - my husband will look at this later. It says on the SIM package (Mobal - World SIM User Guide). Does that mean anything? We do plan to use the I-Pad to communicate home with people - as I mentioned, this phone is only for emergencies. If I discover something else about the carrier, I will let you know. Thanks!!

Mobal calls are billed to a credit card as you make them. In most areas, they cost $1.29 a minute, so you really do only want to use this in an emergency. Chatty, lengthy calls should be made with a phone card at a payphone or your hotel. Since you don't say where you are traveling, you can look up the rates at www.mobal.com yourself for the area you will be in. One good thing about a Mobal number is that it never expires. Just put the phone away till your next trip. It never needs to be reactivated. If you don't use the phone, there is no cost, so it doesn't hurt to carry it.

Thank you, Nancy. This explains what this is - sounds like it will work for our needs. We will be in England for the entire time.

On our recent trip to Great Britain, we took the same electronics you are taking. We carried an international phone with a Mobal sim card for emergency calls, and so we would have a phone number where our family could reach us. We took Skpe on the iPad and purchased $10 in Skype credit before we left. We were able to make "chatty" calls home from hotels that had good wifi connections. Cost for that was only a few cents a minute and with Skype credit you can make internet calls to land lines and cell phones.

Thanks again. This Helpline has been so useful to us so many times.

Sharon, Mobal's website says that for the U.K., incoming text messages are free. Your son-in-law can send you messages to keep you updated on anything happening at home. Text messages sent by you, however, are $0.80 a message so you'll likely want to use those sparingly. I would double-check on the free incoming, though, just to be safe.

Since you are taking your IPad, there is an app called TextNow you could download. All you would need is wifi connection and you are able to text for free, for incoming and outgoing texts. I have found that most hotels have wifi, as well as many cafes. I have a mobal phone, for emergencies only. I know how it feels to have a loved one taken ill. Last year, while on a trip, my dad was hospitalized. The phone was very useful, along with my Itouch.

I agree with those that state to use Mobal sparingly...they're on a great network, clear signal....the exact same network as www.roamsimple.com....difference being that roamsimple is about 1/3 the price per minute,(69cents) and 29cents per text out. Also no charge for incoming calls or texts in UK. Use your ipad and Skype.