We are meeting people at various stops on our travels this year. Three couples are arriving on different days at CDG. Either at the airport or relatively soon thereafter each couple will need to purchase inexpensive phones so we may keep in contact with each other. Simple phones with voice and possibly text capability is all we each need. We will be in Paris for half of the trip and then travel to Trier, Germany and then Luxembourg for just one day. Is there a phone that will suit our needs for service? If we manage to get the correct phones, we will be able to use the internet to trade phone numbers but our devices and the internet are not going to be available at all times.
The trip is happening in June so we have a little time to coordinate this.Sadly, we all have different lodging plans for most of the trip.
I would appreciate any recommendations/ experiences which could help us with phone selection.We would like to do this as cheaply as possible.
Posted by
Freedonia
16422 posts
Do you have phones here? You may be able to use them in Europe.
Who is your carrier and what phone do you have?
Posted by
Chicago
8182 posts
Rick Steves covers this common topic
https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/phones-tech/data-roaming
Posted by
OP
Springfield, IL
58 posts
Sadly, we have older locked phones. I have not upgraded my personal phone and may not use my work phone which is my main phone. I believe we are going to have to purchase phones.
Posted by
San Antonio TX, United States
2393 posts
For your minimal usage it would likely still be cheaper to just pay your carriers rate for texting. A phone does not need to unlocked to function in Europe - it just needs to be global capable. A quick call to your carrier will get you that answer.
Posted by
San Francisco area
1891 posts
Since your personal phone is older your carrier may be willing to unlock it. Doesn't hurt to ask.
Edit to add: EU roaming rules are supposed to go into effect mid June 2017. A plan purchased in one country should be able to roam EU wide with minimal (?) to no roaming charges.
Posted by
Freedonia
16422 posts
Again I ask, who is your carrier? And what carriers are your friends with? If it is T-Mobile, then you may already have international service included. AT&T and the phone will probably work in Europe. With Verizon and Sprint, unless they are quad band phones, then they will not work.
I believe, and I'm not sure of the time line, that if you have been with our carrier for more than 15 months they have to unlock your phone if you request it.
It is possible to buy an unlocked phone before you leave as well as a sim card. The card won't be the best deals but you will have the phone number before you leave.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
If you can't get your US phones to work, when you are in Paris you can go to the nearest FNAC and buy basic phones. The catch is that, while a phone bought in France will be easy to refill in France, once you are in another country, it can only be refilled online - IF you can get online refills to work. This isn't guaranteed; I was never able to refill my plan online with Mobiho (an inexpensive French provider), and a friend was only able to refill his UK T-Mobile with American Express, not Visa or Mastercard (so I, not having Amex, would have been out of luck).
I agree that if you post EXACTLY which carriers and phones ALL of you have, we can propose a solution. If one or two of the couples already have phones that can work in Europe, It may be easier for the others to get something here. Or, if both members of two of the couples have phones that will work, that's four working phones; maybe someone could loan their phone to the third couple for the trip.
Posted by
OP
Springfield, IL
58 posts
At your request, one couple has Sprint, one couple has Verizon and the third couple has a small carrier located in the San Francisco area. The name escapes me at the moment. The San Francisco phone is employer provided.