Hello-
My parents are going to meet my bro in london, can you all suggest best and cheaper cell phone which can work there. We tried finding ourselves and narrow down to below options:
http://www.snapfon.com
http://www.greatcall.com
http://www.ownfone.com
https://www.flipkart.com/iball-senior-aasaan2/p/itmegvmgguvrrhtd
pLEASE SUGGEST.
THANK YOU
Do your parents have a cell phone at home? The reason I ask is, I have an iPhone 6 and Verizon service. I have used that phone in Italy, Spain and Germany using an International Plan from Verizon. You can do the daily plan for $10 and use minutes/data from your existing plan. This is a good option if you don't plan to use the phone a lot. You only get charged for each day that you actually use the phone. You can also use the phone in airplane mode with WiFi turned on and send iMessages, e-mail, etc. without using any data.
We've had good experience with Mobal phones. They're pay-as-you go phones designed for travelers. You can get them in different models, depending on how sophisticated or basic you want it.
I agree with Stephen. We spent 24 days in Europe and we used our Samsung phones with WiFi whenever possible. We opted for the international plan and I think it was only $40. Actually I'm pretty sure we only got it on one of our phones since we were together the whole time. It came with a very small amount of data but I don't think we used any..... the point is, it was available if we has needed it.
I've never heard of any of the roaming services you mentioned. You could also look at iRoam, Cellular Abroad, Telestial or Mobal.
As others have mentioned, some additional information would be helpful. Your profile doesn't indicate your home country, so it's impossible to make specific suggestions.
Your parents could also wait until they arrive in London, visit the nearest Carphone Warehouse or mobile shop and buy a local PAYG phone.
Why do you want phones? Local calls/texts between travelers ? Calls to hotels and restaurants ? Keeping in touch with family back home (beyond what they could do via email using hotel WiFi) ? Different "best" phones for different reasons.
On longer trips we put our smartphones on vacation hold (no calls/data), use free wifi for emails and data lookup, and carry Mobal dumb phones for the infrequent local calls at pay-as-you-go rates.
In virtually all countries outside of the US, with perhaps the exception of North Korea, every second shop at the airport or in town sells local SIM cards and plans in all sizes, suitable for any mobile or smart phone that supports 900 and 1800 MHz bands. Plans for calls, text and mobile internet start at below €10/month or <10c/minute, cheaper than any international plan you buy in the US. Receiving calls or text from overseas is free. To make overseas calls, use VoIP, i.e. Skype or WhatsApp or any other. Even when hopping between several European countries, roaming fees at least for calls are capped within EU.
