We are flying in to Brussels in June. We plan to spend three days in Paris and then two weeks in the Netherlands. It's important to me to be able to call home as well as to friends in the Netherlands. I'm planning on buying a phone in Europe. Does anyone have any tips on what kind of phone to buy that will do these things?
Posted by
San Jose, CA, USA
3 posts
We just spent two weeks in Europe without a phone. We used Skype on our netbook to call home and other countries.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
If you just want to make calls (and will need to make them when you are not in WiFi zones), then any basic phone will work. These are similar to the "Go phones" sold in the US, and start at about €20 (usage extra, but cheap). A phone bought in one country will work in all of them, but outside of the country of purchase, you will be roaming at somewhat higher rates (capped within the EU). You may also have problems refilling a phone outside its country of purchase. And you have to check carefully for rates to the US; sometimes these are actually lower than for domestic calls, sometimes they are very high. Will you need to buy it in Brussels, or are you going to wait until Paris or the Netherlands? If you tell us which country you are buying it in, people may be able to advise you on the best deals and purchase locations.