European phone service

[coastiewifern]

What is the most economical way to get coverage in Europe for 2 weeks as we are traveling there this summer. We will need to have cell and data coverage as we will be making spur of the moment lodging reservations. We have verizon in the USA.

 

[J.Casto79]

I've always heard to just get a prepaid local SIM card. You won't have the same number, but at least your phone will have internet access and you can make calls.

 

[coastiewifern]

OK sounding silly but can you get them at the airport? If not where do you get one when you get over there?

 

[supersnoop]

OK sounding silly but can you get them at the airport? If not where do you get one when you get over there?

Don't get one from the airport. They'll be about 1000 times more expensive. No, I'm not exaggerating.

Check http://www.prepaidgsm.net/ to find your best options. You use to be able to buy some SIM's in advance and have them shipped to you before you travel. I think they've gotten more strict about purchasing in person now, but that will depend on the country.

 

[MomToOne]

Google like crazy on your specific phone (and your service if it is branded to a specific carrier) and what countries you are going to. This isn't as straight forward as it seems as I found out a couple of years ago on a trip to France/Ireland.

I jumped through the hoops necessary to get a local SIM card for France (I ordered it ahead of time online and had it mailed to our hotel due to French requirements and the fact that the services where you can pre-buy a SIM are just major ripoffs). I only got 3G data on my phone because of the system differences between the US and France, and I'd forgotten just how painful 3G (not even HSPA+) could be.

Activating online then didn't work the way it should have for reasons I haven't figured out to this day - I ended up getting it activated, but only through sending codes from the phone itself. Took several hours to get it figured out, when I had hoped it would be a 10 minute thing.

Many US cell phone plans allow roaming in Europe, even with data, at very reasonable prices these days. I'd start by looking into just how expensive it would be for you to just use that service. Unless it is outrageously expensive, I wouldn't bother with the local SIM. And don't forget many places have wifi - even without cell service, you can use your phones on wifi at these places. Look for a McDonalds of all things - they often have wifi in Europe. Buy a cheap soda, sit back and relax, and surf away!

 

[amcnj]

Verizon has international calling plans you can add temporarily. You can view them on their website. You can call the day you come back and remove it. Just be careful of billing cycles and the dates you need coverage. For example, let's say you buy the plan which gives 100 calling minutes and 100 outgoing texts (incoming are unlimited) and 100 mb data. If your billing cycle ends the 15 th of each month, and you are going away 6/10 - 6/24, then if you add the plan starting 6/10 you really have just roughly 5/30's of those amounts to use during your first billing cycle, and 9/30's during the second billing cycle. Going over will result in additional charges. If that is an issue for you, you can choose to add the plan for the full month in either of those two billing cycles, or both. The cost is $40 for a full month. But for example, my time in Europe during my second billing cycle was only 4 days so I called upon my return and dropped it and the cost during the second billing cycle was around $4. They also have pay as you go plans.

See how this compares to the other options you are investigating.

The data is a fairly low amount. If you think you will have heavy data requirements in places you cannot hook into wifi, choose wisely! I was able to use the wifi at the hotels.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Be sure you have an unlocked phone if you want to use a local SIM card.

We travel internationally several times a year and I have found it easiest to just add an international plan to our phone (we have AT&T) for the time we will be traveling. Use wifi whenever possible.

 

[kawc1945]

We just went to UK, France, and Belgium last month. We have Verizon and they have a newer plan than when we went 2 years ago. With this plan, you are charged $10.00 per day per device that you want to use there. You are only charged the $10 per day for days you use the phone overseas. Your domestic plan covers your calls and texts while there, so as long as you don't go over your data allowance, you aren't charged. We used the phone, internet, and received texts daily and had no problems. To set it up, we just called them with the travel dates. It was no issue.

Also, just want to add that we found Wifi in almost every place we ate, visited, or toured. You just have to ask for the password.

 

[Forum Jumper]

Good thread!

 

[jedijill]

I just got back from Australia and used my Verizon Iphone 6. I was worried because its not unlocked. I did some research and found that the GSM side of the phone is unlocked. (GSM is used overseas) and I was able to use a prepaid SIM card in it with no issues. When I go to Europe, I will do the same thing.

Jill in CO

 

[santa's surpriz]

We have Verizon and just spent two weeks in Europe. There is no cheap data in Europe. Verizon has a plan add-on for a month. It's the $80 one - gives you minimal data. 250 megabites. Made sure our phones data were turned off unless we had to use it.

 

[GrnMtnMan]

What is the most economical way to get coverage in Europe for 2 weeks as we are traveling there this summer. We will need to have cell and data coverage as we will be making spur of the moment lodging reservations. We have verizon in the USA.

On option is switching to T-Mobile (though I'm not sure about phone compatibility). International roaming is included in your plan, for free. We've been to France and the Bahamas in the past 12 months, and both times came back to nothing extra on our bill.

 

[hollypoast]

Has anyone tried a JT Hotspot + ekit International Data Service? I just found this online on RailEurope's website. Obviously wouldn't work for phone calls but for texting/email.

 

[tvguy]

Cell phones and service are cheap in Europe. DD just checked with a friend in the U.K. and her phone was $58 U.S., and for $15 she gets 500 MB of data and unlimited calling and texts for one month. It is pay as you go, and they have plans that allow the phones to work in more than one country. The provider is O2. You might wanted to compare the cost of that option to the others with your existing phone.

 

[AquamarineSteph]

We just went to UK, France, and Belgium last month. We have Verizon and they have a newer plan than when we went 2 years ago. With this plan, you are charged $10.00 per day per device that you want to use there. You are only charged the $10 per day for days you use the phone overseas. Your domestic plan covers your calls and texts while there, so as long as you don't go over your data allowance, you aren't charged. We used the phone, internet, and received texts daily and had no problems. To set it up, we just called them with the travel dates. It was no issue.

Also, just want to add that we found Wifi in almost every place we ate, visited, or toured. You just have to ask for the password.

I had seen that Verizon has a new plan that's $10/day when you use your phone. So basically whether you call, text, or use data it's the same as if you use it at home as long as you don't exceed your existing plan's limitations? And then they just charge you $10/day for each day you use it?

 

[kawc1945]

I had seen that Verizon has a new plan that's $10/day when you use your phone. So basically whether you call, text, or use data it's the same as if you use it at home as long as you don't exceed your existing plan's limitations? And then they just charge you $10/day for each day you use it?

Yes, I just checked our bill and saw a $10 charge each day that we used it, broken down by date and by which country we were in. We only added it to one of our phones since each additional phone is an additional charge. To contact each other while over there if we had split up or were in different places, I used Whatsapp on wifi, the other phone just used data. It worked great.

 

[AquamarineSteph]

Yes, I just checked our bill and saw a $10 charge each day that we used it, broken down by date and by which country we were in. We only added it to one of our phones since each additional phone is an additional charge. To contact each other while over there if we had split up or were in different places, I used Whatsapp on wifi, the other phone just used data. It worked great.

Thanks for letting me know! I've spent far too much money in the past with them on phone services when we travel overseas. This sounds like a far better option to me! I'm glad to hear that it works!