I am sure this question has been asked before. Once in Germany can I purchase a calling card to use while we are there? Or is there a better solution. Our cellphones do not have a SIMS card that can be removed by us. Any advice would be helpful.
Posted by
Bay Area
3551 posts
I bought small denomination calling cards last yr in Germany.
Which worked well. However you do have to be on the look out for public telephones as they are becoming more rare like in USA. Sometimes a business hotel is a good bet for public phones like Hotel Ibis, Hotel Mecure or Hotel Sofitel. They will also sell you computer time which we did in France this yr at Hotel Novotel of the same chain as the hotels above.
Posted by
OP
Waterloo, IL, United States
20 posts
Thank you so much for the info about calling cards and getting the phone on e-bay...this helps a lot.
Posted by
Philadelphia, PA, USA
17 posts
HI Catherine, I'm not an expert here, but I did get local SIM cards in other countries I have visited (most recently Italy, Greece & Argentina). It was not an easy process to get SIM cards in Italy and Argentina. For both places, I had to visit a mobile phone store & wait in line & then show my passport & fill out some paperwork. I'm not sure about Germany. Besides, the voice prompts will be in German, so unless you are fluent, it might be a challenge to check voice mail, etc. I'm trying to decide what to do myself.
If anyone has advice out there, I'd be interested in hearing your suggestions regarding the easiest thing to do...
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
9411 posts
If you buy a phone over here, even the cheap ones for 20-30 euro, the sales clerk can switch your phone over to English very easily.
There are internet cafes all over the place in the cities and they have phone booths in them where you can use your calling cards. Buy the 5 euro ones, make sure you use the correct number on the back, and you will be able to call the states for about 1 cent per minute.
Posted by
Springfield, VA, USA
283 posts
Just got back from France. For 7,50 euro I bought an international phone card in a Tabac. (With recommendations of what to get from RS) It worked for every call from the hotel and the house we rented. It was a good deal and was great--you do not need a pay phone, as the card has access numbers you scratch off like a lotto ticket.
I have done other thingsin the past, but this is the easiest and cheapest.
Posted by
OP
Waterloo, IL, United States
20 posts
Thank you Marla, Jo , and Sue,
All great information regarding the phone cards. Sorry I did not respond sooner...work is crazy! Thank you again.