We will be travelling in Ireland and then in the UK. Our cell phones don't work outside the US, but I might be able to get the carrier (TracFone) to unlock the phones. Are we better off buying SIM cards or just new cell phones? Will we need to buy new SIMs/cells when we reach the UK? I saw on another thread that there is no place to buy cells or SIMs in Shannon airport, so we would have to wait till we reach Galway. Or can we buy something online in advance? We will be returning to either Ireland or the UK for future trips. TIA for any advice.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA ☔️
6788 posts
A lot depends on the exact phone, which you don't specify.
I believe "TracFone" is not actually a carrier, they just sell phones and re-sell service on other carriers (usually AT&T, I believe). I don't think they have anything to do with locking or unlocking phones, but that may depend on what actual phone you have. And AFAIK Tracfone's service (or rather the cellular service that they re-sell) won't work outside the US.
(I say this because my wife and I own iPhones, and have for years. For cellular service we have always used a company that (I think) is related to TracFone (StraightTalk Wireless). Our iPhones (and a bunch of iPads, too) have always been unlocked, and we just used StraightTalk SIMs in them; StraightTalk (like TracFone, I think) simply re-sells cellular service that uses AT&T's network (you basically get access to AT&T's network minus the AT&T customer service, at a deep discount). On our phones, the service shows up as "TWF" or sometimes "TracFone". Out StraightTalk SIMs do not work outside the US, and in fact can't even make a call to an overseas number if we wanted to. Since our phones and iPads are all unlocked (by Apple, the manufacturer who sold them to us), we just buy SIMs overseas and generally have no issues. YMMV)
Bottom line: You are going to need to better understand the players, what your phone really is, and who actually does what (and who doesn't). I'd start by looking at your phone and getting a clear idea of who makes it and what model it is, then contacting TracFone to ask them about your options.
As long as your phone is "world ready" and unlocked, adding a SIM in the country you arrive in should be a simple matter. If you plan to travel much, you might want to take a hard look at the phone you have now and see it if's really the best choice for you going forward. Rather than buying a second phone just for travel, it might make more sense to simply upgrade to a better "world ready" phone at home and use it overseas, too -- just have one phone for here and there. It's certainly less hassle to be able to use your own familiar phone overseas if you can just pop in a local SIM.
Posted by
Florida, USA
12172 posts
If your phone doesn't work, unlocking it may not make a difference. I'd google "Does my xxxxx work in Europe?" and see. Before I started using my smartphone for all my electronic needs, I'd just buy a little phone when I got to Europe. It was about 25 euro for the cheapest phone, SIM card and some minutes. The cheapest phone didn't use data because it didn't run apps. It worked fine for calling locally but didn't accomplish much else.
Posted by
1 posts
I'm about to head out on another international motorcycle ride -- Dublin-Liverpool-Glasgow-Aberdeen-Edinburgh-Northern Ireland!! My riding buddy got a SIM from giffgaff.com! For 8 pounds, I get 2GB of data, 500 phone mins and unlimited texts. They mail me the SIM and I pay when I activate it! Good in just about every EU country. And I get to keep my current number! Easy peasy Balinesie!
https://www.giffgaff.com