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Disposable Cell Phone for and in Ireland?

Later this year my wife and I wll be traveling to Paris and Dublin. While just the two of us will be involved in the first part (Paris) of the trip and, based on half a dozen previous Europe trips, see no need for cell phones for this trip component (we're retired and own just one prepaid T-Mobile cell phone, i.e., we bought the phone and the minutes and have no monthly charges), we will be meeting relatives in the Ireland leg of the trip, which will involve arrival in and departure from Dublin, cross-country rail or bus travel to Sligo on the west coast, and auto (Irish friends driving) or rail travel from Sligo to Galway and back to Dublin. The relatives we'll be meeting are regular cell phone users and do so in the US as well as on visits to Ireland. They suggest that we'll be more able to coordinate with them if we also use a cell phone.

Our little T-Mobile phone is literally held together with a rubber band and we don't really want to mess with "unlocking" the phone or with chips, etc, and so we think that some sort of prepaid and disposable phone plus a practical amount of minutes we could purchase on arrival at the Dublin airport would work for us, much like the "Tracfone" we used for a couple of years before we "upgraded" to the T-Mobile phone.

We'll only be in Ireland for 8 or 9 days. Is our cell phone straegy workable?

Posted by
9371 posts

You can probably buy a phone on arrival, with minutes included, for less than $40. The original minutes will be more than you will need for the use you are describing. Have fun!

Posted by
61 posts

X2 on Nancys comment. Maybe not at the airport, but once you hit Dublin proper there should be tons of mobile shops. I'd check with the relatives now and see which carrier the majority of them are using - phone to phone and text within the same network are generally the cheapest. Then when you pick it up, all you have to do is program in their numbers and you're golden. When I visit the family in the north, they're pretty much all on O2, so thats the SIM I pickup as best bang for the woefully expensive pound/euro. :)

Last trip to london I picked up a samsung "chocolate bar" style non-smartphone for I think 15 or 20 pounds, and it included text and airtime. Still worked months later in the US when I texted it for amusement - it hadn't run out of time overseas, and was able to register roaming in the states.

Glenn

Posted by
154 posts

You would probably have a much easier time buying a cell phone in Dublin (as recommended earlier). I personally find that the basic phones are cheapest at cellphone stores on the main shopping streets. Once you buy a basic phone you can get a prepaid sim-card to work with that phone. Just tell the clerk what you plan to use the phone for and I expect they could help you pick the best combination.

Posted by
6 posts

My wife and I will be touring 3 weeks in Ireland and No. Ireland. We will arrive in DUB and immediately start going north. Can we get a cell phone at the airport or in a little town as we head north (-- up towards Drogheda)?