Mobile to Mobile charges?
 

I've been studying the Europe SIM information here any elsewhere, and I'm having trouble understanding all the features. Sorry if it's been asked before, but I can't find anything similiar to my situation online.

I'm traveling from the USA to Europe (France, Belgium, and Germany) with my wife and daughter, with my parents joining us for the second half of our trip. We need to keep in touch when we go our separate ways.

Are there any pre-paid SIM options that offer discounted mobile-to-mobile calling? Most SIM's seem to offer free incoming calls, but calling a mobile is 2 or 3 times the initial quoted rate for airtime.

To make matters more complicated, I have an unlocked iPhone and Blackberry. I'd like to get data service on both; the iPhone for travel apps and the Blackberry for Telenav. Any advice on service for these is appreciated, too.

All do here in Europe.

What do you mean? There is a cent per minute charge that is quoted for calling a mobile. That is the charge. You should not pay more. So I'm a bit confused by what you are saying...have you got any examples of the 2-300% price increase you can share?

Many networks and MVNO's in Europe offer free on-network calls, or where you only pay a connection charge and you can talk for a fixed period, say 1hr. It would be a good idea to start a thread where these sort of offers are listed. (e.g. Simyo, Yoigo, and pretty much all the smaller MVNO's in Spain have this). However you are not going to Spain, and I am unsure of the MVNO deals in countries that you are visiting, but it may be worth checking a few sites. All the links are here on the site. Just follow them through. Also somebody from one of these countries is also bound to reply here.

There is plenty of information on this site about how to get cheap data tariffs for your mobile devices. Just look in the relevant boards.

In Germany........
 

In Germany you will find services that offer lower cost "mobile to mobile" rates to the same SIM-service. Our German friends can point those out. Mind you this will only work INSIDE Germany when both parties are in Germany. When one or both of you are roaming outside of Germany, you will pay the regular roaming rates.

I cannot speak of the other countries on your itinerary. Some may have discounted rates within the country.

Howefver, as I understand your question, none of this will be your solution. Sorry, Europe is not (yet) like in the US where Verizon to Verizon calls, for example, are free.

Well.. to make that clear...when the person calling is in his 'home country', and the other is out, then the person calling pays the normal rate, and the person receiving will pay no more than 19c/min for the incoming call.

Sorry if I was unclear in my original post. We should all be in the same country at the same time.

petkow - I meant that most Prepaid GSM SIM's advertise "0.19 per minute" but, when you find the "to a mobile" price, it's "0.49," or 2.5 times higher.

snaimon - I'll dig deeper on the German SIM's. That sounds like exactly what I need.

I'm still confused!

What operator is this? Can you post a link? Are you sure you are talking about normal European Prepaid SIM's from National operators? e.g. PrePaidGSM.net: National GSM Operators

In the past it was quite common for mobile operators in Europe to have a rate for calling landlines and same network mobiles, and a separate rate for mobiles on other networks, but as far as I know, hardly any mobile operators anywhere in Europe now make this distinction.

Or are you taking about the rates for specialist roaming SIM's, such as EKit, GeoSIM, TravelSIM etc.? i.e. the ones that appear on PrePaidGSM.net: International GSM Operators
These all have much higher prices for outgoing calls, and in many cases do make distinctions between landlines and mobile. This is because usually these rely on outgoing calls using callback technology, and generally wholesale rates of calling a mobile are more expensive than a landline.

However, I do not think a product like this is what you really need! As you are just going to a handful of countries, just pick up some inexpensive national SIMs in each country you visit, or if worst comes to worst, buy them in the first country and roam with them in the rest and be prepared to pay a small incoming call charge plus slightly higher outgoing rates. As long as you stay within the EU, the rates and incoming charges on these when roaming outside of their home country are now capped by legislation. Also, as your parents are only joining you later (I presume Germany), just pick up another bunch of SIM's there. SIM's are so cheap these days, that you can almost treat them as disposable items. They often come with at least the same amount in call credit than what you paid for them! You can also buy them in all sorts of convenient places like supermarkets or "grocery stores" to you Americans... e.g. The Medion (Aldi) SIM can be bought in Aldi supermarkets and gives you 10 Euros of credit for I think 15 Euros purchase price. Calling from one Aldi Mobile to another is only 3c/min. I am sure our German members will suggest even better deals!

And here is an article in another thread about why mobile calls can cost more.