Hi,
Someone please tell me for an Android phone, if I buy a SIM card on arrival (I hear Tesco is a good place to do this) can that same SIM card be used in both Ireland and Northern Ireland? And will I be given an Irish phone number, or will I still use my Us phone number? If I give the Irish phone number to family in the US, when they call me and I'm meant to receive calls for a less amount of money, won't they be charged international rates? Any details that someone can share to answer all the small, small questions associated with trying to use an unlocked Android in the two Irelands would be most helpful. Thank you.
Posted by
Martinez, CA, USA
1547 posts
When you buy a SIM card in a foreign country you get a phone number for that country. In April we bought a Vodafone SIM card at the Dublin airport. It was only good for Ireland. We lost service when we drove into No.Ireland for three days. When we returned to Ireland we had to call Vodafone as the service did not automatically re-connect.
Can't answer your question about having people in the US call your Irish number but it seems they would be charged for the call on their phone as they would any international call. If you use Whatsapp you can set up Whatsapp on your Irish phone number. I think you could then message them at no cost if they also have Whatsapp on their phones but you would need wifi. Hopefully someone else with more experience can help you.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Kirsten, SIM card = phone provider = phone number.
If you get a phone card in N. Ireland it will have a UK phone number (+44), if you get one in the republic, it will have a Republic of Ireland phone number (+353). You can use either card in either country, but remember to always add the country code when dialling to be on the safe side (+44 or +353).
Anybody calling from the USA will have to pay the appropriate charge to call the UK or Republic of Ireland. They will also have to know your new phone number, which you will not know until you buy the SIM card.
In Europe, you do not pay to receive phone calls, the caller pays. Except if you are "roaming", in a different country, then you pay the leg from the phone's home country to wherever you are, but this is not usually much. Mobile phones have different set of area codes (in the UK they are usually +44 7xxx), and the caller will pay a different rate for calls to these area codes.
Posted by
OP
Houston
2 posts
Thank you, Carol and Chris. Both excellent replies full of good information. I'm grateful.