The Rick Steves guidebook has lots of good information on using phones in Northern Ireland and the Republic. However, one thing remains unclear to me.
If I am using my U.S. cell phone and its number while in Ireland/NI, is it always an international call? Or do I just follow the instructions in the guidebook?
Meanwhile, does anyone have any suggestions on phone use? Buy a debit phone card while in Ireland and use public phones? Buy a phone in Ireland? Buy an Ireland SIM card? The choices leave me scratching my head.
Posted by
Seattle
191 posts
Tesco (supermarket) sells pay as you go cell phones. You can get a cheap phone, load credit on it (top up that you purchase at the Tesco) and make very cheap calls. Only 2 cents from Ireland to US! Plus then you can use it within Ireland as well. If my family wanted to reach me, I'd have them text my irish mobile and then call them.
Taking your US phone can be expensive. Tmobile has the best deal I think in general for overseas use. The most expensive part is the calling so I try to stick to texting on my US phone.
You can find info on Tesco here: http://www.tescomobile.ie/prepay-phones.aspx
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5456 posts
When using an Irish mobile phone you do need to take care in border counties not to roam onto a British network from Northern Ireland. This can easily happen in parts of Donegal, Louth, Monaghan, Leitrim and Cavan. Set the phone not to roam. Charges though are reducing all the time for this and some services have removed them altogether on some plans.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
The instructions on p. 527 of the Ireland book look correct for using your US phone and indicate making each call to a European number as if you were dialing from the US. Instead of typing 011, you can type a + and the cell phone will know what to do. You can also save phone numbers in your directory with a + in front of the country code.