We will be going to Paris %26amp; Dublin next month. What is the best thing to do about cell phones? Get one there or (we have ATT/Cingular service) get your phone%26quot;fitted%26quot; for use back home in USA to use in Europe for both calls within Europe and back in USA? Thanks for any advice.
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This is perhaps one of the most often asked questions on this forum. If you make a simple forum search using the words %26quot;cell phone%26quot; there will be pages and pages of information immediately available.
In a general sense, choosing among the myriad options depends upon your personal needs, there is no one best answer.
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In Europe, GSM cell phones use the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz frequency bands; in the US, it%26#39;s 1900 MHz (sometimes 800/850 MHz). So if you want to buy a cell phone that you can use in both Europe and the USA, look for a so called %26quot;Tri-band%26quot; model (900/1800/1900 MHz) or even a %26quot;quad-band%26quot; model.
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Hi Southerngal,
If your cell phone doesn%26#39;t already have the tri band option buying one in the U.S. that does can be a bit pricey. Here%26#39;s what I did - I got one from Telestial (www.telestial.com). For about $50.00 (including shipping) I got a cheap and functional cell phone that I used while in France. It isn%26#39;t fancy but it did the job - the minutes weren%26#39;t the cheapest around (about $1/ minute) so depending upon how much calling you are planning to do may or may not be a good option. For us, I just wanted a way for family to contact us in case of emergency so it was a perfect option and much cheaper than upgrading my existing cell phone.
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We used our AT%26amp;T Razr phones in the UK, Paris, and Italy this summer. I considered buying sim cards to use over there, but decided not to since we would only be making a few calls to hotels, etc. You should call AT%26amp;T to make sure your phones work before you go. The rate for local calls was $1.29/min which is fine if you only need to make a few brief calls.
I have not received my bill yet, but I%26#39;m nervous because I think the bill may be bigger than expected. I was really confused about dialing over there and every call I made, it seemed like I dialed 3 or 4 times before I connected. If I dialed wrong, I%26#39;d get a recording telling me so. Now I%26#39;m worried that all these mistakes were toll calls. Also, I needed to call customer service for my bank and was given a number to call and told to %26quot;call collect.%26quot; However, I could never figure out how to reach an overseas operator to call collect and now I think those calls are on my bill too.
I am not complaining--this was my stupidity.
I would advise you to research how to place phone calls in Paris and Dublin before you leave. It sounds stupid, but sometimes you need to add the country prefix and other times you don%26#39;t . There was no rhyme or reason on when you did and when you didn%26#39;t.
Here is a pretty good explanation from another forum:
http://www.slowtrav.com/europe/dialing.htm
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Have you tried Skype-to-go? I did when I was last in the US and I have saved money. I have been able to call home %26amp; office from my mobile without spending a fortune.
It works in Ireland but not yet in France.
Have a look at http://www.skype.com/allfeatures/togo/
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%26gt;%26gt; one from Telestial . For about $50.00 (including shipping)
Such a phone is forever locked to Telestial%26#39;s costly rates. If your ATT phone is tri- or quad- band, you can ask ATT to give you the unlock code, and then you can purchase local SIM cards in foreign countries for low low rates.
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A forum search is a great place to start, or to make your head spin....!
I%26#39;m going to try %26quot;Call in Europe%26quot; for my next trip...
http://www.callineurope.com/cgi-bin/cie.cgi?b=(null)%26amp;p=how_it_works.html
Good luck...!
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My husband and I have cell service through AT %26amp; T. He travels in Europe for 12 to 14 days per month. Our cell service works in Europe just fine and we don%26#39;t have top of the line phones. The rate is just over $1.00 per minute.
Call AT %26amp; T to ask them about cell service in Europe. You probably already have it. Make sure you understand how to dial while overseas. Your phone recognizes you area code as local. Even though you are in Europe, your phone thinks you are still in Louisiana. You will need to dial and 01 before the phone number to make it work. Thus, even though my DH and I were both located in different parts of Paris, I had to dial 01 then the area code and phone number for his phone. AT and T can give you the dialing details.
Moms
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Oh my goodness! My sister and I will be going to Paris then Dublin next month too (I%26#39;m from Memphis).
How cool is that, maybe we%26#39;ll run into each other.
My cell phone is with AT%26amp;T. I gave them a call to see if I%26#39;d have any problem with my cell phone and they said no, it%26#39;ll work just fine. They did make a note on my account that I will be in Paris from the 3rd through the 9th and then Ireland from the 9th through the 17th.
Pearlgirl
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