I know this topic is probably beat to death, but I didn't find anything recent in my search.
I'll be flying into Dublin with an unlocked iPhone, and will only be there for the weekend. I will need to place some calls & texts to the US, as well as have web access for social media, directions, etc...what's my best option for this short duration?
Who is your US carrier? T-Mobile and Sprint already offer free data roaming, free texting, and 20 cents/min calls. AT&T and Verizon charge $10/day. Do you have some other carrier? (I do.)
If your US carrier has no international roaming plan ($10/day might be easiest just for a weekend), then just buy a SIM when you arrive. I don't know anything about Irish SIM cards but start here:
http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Ireland
For US phone calls, use Google Hangouts - free calls to US numbers, even to landlines. You can use Hangouts on WiFi too to make calls. But you may need existing phone service before Google lets you make calls to numbers with Hangouts - so set it up before you leave the US and make a call. You may need to verify your cell phone number in the US. There are lots of free texting apps. I use Google Voice.
I have AT&T, but since I have one of the grandfathered in unlimited plans, they don't offer the $10 per day option...stupid.
Upgrade to the new plans, and we no longer get our employer discount...
Then I guess I'd either buy a SIM with a minimal amount of data...or just try to live without a SIM for a few days and use WiFi to make the US calls with Hangouts. I assume WiFI is widely available in Dublin as it is in most other European cities. Having a SIM for walking/public transit directions (e.g. Google Maps) is really handy, though.
You might lean toward buying a SIM if you think you'll be back in Europe again within the next year and can use the same SIM in the future. (Because the EU has done away with most roaming, you'd be able to use an Irish SIM elsewhere in the EU without extra costs, most likely.) That probably means adding credit to it before the next trip and buying a new "bundle" for it. I plan to use my Dutch Vodafone SIM (bought on eBay back in April) next year - the SIM stays active for a year after I last added credit to it. How long it might stay active depends not just on the company but the country - Vodafone Ireland may have different policies from Vodafone Netherlands for example.
A SIM card is the logical choice. Vodaphone is one of the big carriers, just go there and explain what you need. You can get quite a bit for 20 euro so far as data, but with calls to the US you will need a cash balance in addition to the basic fee. For a weekend, you will likely pay what would work for a week or two, but maybe only 30 euro or a bit less, if they have a deal on, then maybe under 20 for a gig of data and some cash balance.
Why even bother with a "cash balance" on the SIM for calls to the US when you can call for free with Google Hangouts?
If google hangouts works, great, but you need to be familiar with it and while now you can connect to most any number, some people just prefer to dial direct
Paul, I agree, I'd rather spend a few buck to be sure I have a back-up plan. Wireless is great, but not always available, or reliable.
Hangouts works like just another dial app. I can type in a phone number to call someone in Hangouts just like I can with the regular dialer, plus it has has access to my contacts.. Sure, it's something different to become familiar with, just like becoming familiar with the dialer app on a new phone that was probably different from the one on your old phone.. I use Hangouts in the US as well as when I travel and I also receive calls with it (with my Google Voice number) as well. It's not perfect, but for what it is, it works quite well, and for a weekend in Dublin it should be more than adequate.
I guess it depends how many calls you'll need to make from Ireland or how important they are whether it's really essential to get a SIM that can call the US. But I think the people nervous about using Hangouts to make calls just haven't used it very much or ever. I use it every day at home. It's not perfect as I said earlier, but it works pretty well on a variety of WiFi networks in my experience. Voice calls really don't use that much data, so you don't need an amazing WiFi connection to make calls. I suspect if the skeptics tried Hangouts a few times they would stop worrying about it.
