cell phones in Ireland

We did not have a good experience with leasing a global cell phone from Verizon, but another person using a Verizon cell in Ireland was positive about his experience. The pricing was one reason we chose to lease, as it is reasonable. The bottom line is that the phone was not properly activated by Verizon, and we did not know that until we tried to use it in Ireland. We spent time on our vacation in Ireland trying to contact Verizon and were stymied at every point. We were told by Verizon when we returned that we "should have just called them." Very frustrating, so we were glad we brought our netbook which kept us in contact with family and helped us make reservations as needed. I'm sure other readers who have successfully used cell phones in Europe will give you their suggestions.
Barbara

Yes. We have AT&T, and we simply spent 20 Euro at a Meteor store and put a new sim card in our phone. It takes 2 minutes and voila, you'll have a phone for Ireland.

Vicki, buy a local phone at Carphone Warehouse with a local pay-as-you go plan. These prepaid phones aren't that expensive and they have pretty decent rates even for calls back to the U.S. Other options: Get a calling card from a convenience store or tobacco shop and use a pay phone to call home. Or, find a wifi location and use a service such as Skype over a netbook or a smartphone. Both have better rates. How long are you going and what kind of calls do you need/want to make? The easiest course is to just use your carrier from home so long as you don't make many calls (or don't have many people who may call you). But if you need to make local calls, or be available for only certain calls to and from home, getting a local prepaid number is a good solution. If you plan to use any kind of data connection on your trip, it is really the only option that won't break the bank.

There's no reason to buy a phone unless your current phone is not compatible with Europe or you don't have a phone that allows you to change out the SIM card. Why would you buy a new phone for prepaid when you could just buy a prepaid plan as I suggested above? Again, we would need to know what your current provider is to best make suggestions...

I stopped at a Vodafone store and picked up a "cheap" cell phone (19.99 Euro) that allowed for international calls then added 20 Euro to the account. I called home several times over the week for a family emergency. I have a balance of 7 Euro for a future trip. In US dollars the costs was about $50. We have one global phone but I thought it would be more expensive to activate it and pay the charges from Verizon. By using the Vodaphone, I had a set amount of minutes/dollars. If I needed to add more it was very easy and convenient.

Hi,
I really appreciate everyone's reply. I have verizon for my cell phone. They want me to rent a phone thru someone. It was really hard trying to understand all the different figures he was throwing out. We have checked with AAA and Planetfone gives a discount with AAA. Not sure what we will do.

Amy, unless her Verizon phone is one of the dual technology Blackberries, she doesn't have a phone that will work in Europe. The lowest cost solution, therefore, is to buy a local prepaid phone when she gets there.

Right, Paul. I didn't know until now that she had Verizon.

Vicki, Could you provide some further information on the specifics of your trip, and the expected uses for the Cell phone? Under the circumstances you've mentioned, you have three basic options: > As a Verizon customer, you can obtain one of their global rental phones. I believe these are available for periods up to one month. The cost is very reasonable, however I believe the calls are billed at $1.29 per minute. For very occasional voice use, this may be adequate? > Buy an inexpensive phone from one of the "travel phone" firms such as Roam Simple, Cellular Abroad, Call-In-Europe, Telestial or Mobal. These provide fairly reasonable rates, and billing is often on a "post paid" basis, with calls charged to a credit card. > Buy an inexpensive PAYG phone at Carphone Warehouse as Paul mentioned. You could also pick up a phone from one of the local networks (O2, Vodaphone, Orange, etc.). Cellphone shops are ubiquitous in most cities in Europe, so you should have no trouble finding one. This will provide the lowest cost for "in country" calls, but calls back to the U.S. may be expensive (depending on which plan you choose when you buy the phone). Sláinte!

Thank you everyone for all your answers. We will probably pick up a cell phone once there just to have it in case we need one. Vicki