Cell phone usage

Posted by kickinbutkus on 09/04/18 02:07 AM

We are travelling from Canada to Greece soon (yayyyy!!). We are looking for advice on cell phone data packages.

Our local cell provider (Virgin Mobile) offers 3 international roaming packages. The calling and texting are good for all of them, but we were hoping for more data, to use for GPS, or last minute bookings & reservations.
Plan one, for $10/ day, offers 100 MB data per day.
Plan two, $60 for 30 days, gets us 250 MB for the 30 day period.
Plan three, $100 for 30 days, gets us 1 GB.

We are gone 15 days. None of these plans really appeals, so we are thinking of taking an old unlocked phone, and getting a SIM card there.

Does anyone have experience with Greece SIM cards? Do they provide much data?

I read on another thread that there is no longer a kiosk in Athens airport for SIM cards. Is there a kiosk in Heraklion airport, or at locations in Heraklion, or around Crete?

Thanks much!!

Rob

Posted by Lee

Camarillo, California

09/04/18 02:24 AM

3148 posts

The main Greek mobile service providers, Cosmote, Wind and Vodafone, all offer a variety of products. The SIMs are inexpensive and you can add time anywhere they're sold as well as in many shops and markets all over the country. Look for Germanos stores, which sell Cosmote SIMs and etc. At Germanos you can also buy an inexpensive phone that comes with a SIM and some time for around $50 US.

Posted by kickinbutkus OP

09/04/18 03:17 AM

29 posts

That sounds great, Lee. Thank you!

Posted by Dee

10/04/18 05:59 PM

5 posts

Hi,

Can I piggyback on this? I need to rent a cellphone for Greece. Should I do it in the States, or can I rent one at the airport? Is there a particular carrier that someone could recommend? I'll be in Athens, Nafplion, and Santorini.

Thanks,
Dee

Posted by janet

Philadelphia, PA, USA

10/04/18 09:02 PM

3397 posts

Hi Dee the piggybacker --

It all depends on what you want to use the Cellphone FOR. A few trips ago, I just bought a simple flip-phone for about $14 and had them put in a SIM card. However I just used it to phone ahead to my hotels, make some basic arrrangments, and meet up with folks. It didn't have a keyboard, so it was laborious to text. But I've used it for 4 trips, for the basics. For checking/sending e-mails etc, I have found public internet cafes -- although they've almost disappeared ... a few hotels still offer a public computer, most now just offer free wi-fi & you must hve your own device.

If you are someone who basically is on her phone all day, texting, checking facebook, instagram, posting pictures etc, looking up stuff on google, using GPS etc .... then you need a smartphone, and my guess is that they'd be expensive to rent ... too much danger of damage, loss etc. I doubt whether you could "rent" a phone worth $400-700, with unlimited usage options, for an affordable price. You need to check your own carrier plan as to options, and decide accordingly. If u have a tablet you may decide to use that for all purposes except actual phoning.

Posted by Andrew H.

Portland, Oregon

10/04/18 10:35 PM

5687 posts

Phones are so cheap - why rent one??? This is my phone - a Moto E4 XT1768, (now last year's model): fully unlocked and will work in Greece with a Greek SIM card:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1342873-REG/moto_01150nartl_moto_e_16gb_black.html

If you don't want to pay $129.99 for a brand new one, I've seen used ones on eBay for half of that. If you rent a phone, you'll be using a used one anyway. Just search for XT1768 (there are different versions of the Moto E4). There may be cheaper/better options for a phone to buy than my Moto E4, but I do know it works in Europe, and I use this phone at home every day. It's a budget phone but a fairly nice little Android phone.

Here is some info on Greek SIM cards:

http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Greece