Our family is traveling to Europe this summer for a few months and we have an Iphone thru ATT. I have checked and to call home the cost per minute is around 9 centsto call a land line and 27 cents to call another cell phone. I really don't understand how a SIM card works, other than I disable my phone and buy another card in Europe...but we will be traveling to several countries over three months, so not sure if I'd have to keep changing country cards to avoid extra charges? Anyone out there have some insights?
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
Julia....unless your iPhone has been "unlocked," you won't be able to use any other SIM cards. So you're stuck with AT&T's service. Check with them to see what their rates are to call back to the U.S. And be VERY careful to turn off the data service....otherwise, it will cost you a bundle.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
8058 posts
Those sound like much better rates than what I can get via ATT, but I have no Iphone, so maybe you get some other deal. To use a SIM card would require you to "Unlock" your phone, at one time, since ATT was the exclusive service for Iphone, they would not unlock the phone; maybe that has changed. For me, we do not use the phone much, just to have when we separate, to re-connect and maybe for emergency contact for our family. I know in my case, International roaming is more like a $1.29/min which applies for calling to the US and phone to phone, but to call down the street to a hotel in Rome would be an international call. With a SIM, that call to the hotel would be local, calls to other phones with a local SIM would be local, but a call home would be international.
So it comes down to how much you will use your phone and for what.