Renting cell phones in Europe

Hi Tom,

I've rented a cell phone in England, but the same may apply for continental Europe. The cheapest option may be to get a Pay as you go phone. I got one for 10 pounds. Usually, it will require a 10 pound/euro "top up" where you buy minutes (15-20 cents/minute).

I used Orange Mobile, which when you top up 10 minutes, gives you several options including 300 free texts, low international call/text rates, unlimited music, etc. included in your 10 pounds and valid for 1 month. Since you are traveling to several countries, the low international call/text rates may be best for you.

Otherwise, you could buy an unlocked cell phone in the US/the first place you visit and buy a cheap sim card in each city (something like carphone warehouse) and then top up there since it will be "in country"

Look on ebay for an unlocked tri ban phone, buy it and put chips in when in Europe OR wait til you get there, buy one at one of the 100's of phone shops and use it. I have done both, and one of the bad parts of buying one in France, the on the phone instructions were in French. Not a good thing. I had to stop 3 girls on the street and get them to change it to English so I could read them. We all had a good laugh at my expense. Phone was 10Euro and I bought 20Euro worth of talk time, which was enough to make calls in country and home once in a while. I chose to use internet cafes for most of my communications home.

Most airports have kioks where you can rent a cell phone. The downside is that if you fly open-jaw, you have to make sure the company operates out of both airports.

Tom,

You might have a look at the "travel phone" firms such as Cellular Abroad, Call In Europe, Roam Simple, Mobal or Telestial, as at least some of them offer rental phones.

For such a short period of time, this might be a better solution than using multiple SIM's, as the travel phones are provided with a SIM that provides the same rate across numerous countries.

Check the websites for details and rates.

Happy travels!

I've found that the problem of buying a phone or a SIM for "just in case" is that you have to spend the money whether you use the minutes or not. When you come home the SIM expires so you have to do it all over next time. I usually only use 10 or 15 minutes of time for two-week trip so I got a Mobal SIM - its number never expires (so I can give it out to people at home and people who I may be meeting during the trip) and it just goes on a credit card (at a pretty steep rate - over $1 per minute). Still I think the total cost per trip is equal or less than finding a new SIM each time I go to a different country.

I'm with Peter.

Mobal is the only way to go if you're not a motor mouth. I use the thing all over europe, asia, south america. No pocketful of sims to keep track of or add money to. No monthly fee. Bought it years ago, so capital outlay is spent and long-unremembered.

Typically, if I'm traveling alone, I call home once every couple of days for a minute or two in the interest of marital harmony. That works out to a buck a day. Toss in a call to snag a hotel once in a great while and it's still less than my coffee budget.

You can buy one in one country and use it for your whole trip, no need to get a new one when you cross borders.

I'm sure Steve mean this but to clarify any SIM* will work in multiple countries, so you never need a new one when you cross a border. The advantage of changing SIMs is you get local rates rather than international roaming.

*You may need to enable international roaming with the operator, AFAIK SIMs sold in Europe have had this turned on by default for ages I understand this is not the case with US carriers.

I got the pay as you go phones. Phones were free with 10 Euro top off. I had the whole family and we got several phones to stay in touch as we separated. Worked well and did not cost much at all.

I used the phones for two weeks in UK and Paris and never even had to top off minutes. Total bill for three phones was 30 Euros.

Does your U.S. mobile phone work in Europe? Do you just need to be able to call each other if you get separated or plans change? You may find that you don't really need the phone much. You can typically agree where you want to meet (and what time) before you split up for the day.

I have a quad-band phone and T-Mobile and their international roaming rates run about $1 a minute in Europe. That is way too expensive if you are planning to chat on the phone. However, if you are simply using the phone for "emergencies" and occasional convenience, this might be sufficient. I always take my U.S. phone. I have used it occasionally to call a friend in Europe to figure out where to meet or call ahead to a hotel. I use it rarely and have never spent more than $10 - $15 on a trip.