Need advice. Backpacking Europe, Best Prepaid Service Questions.
 

After doing a lot of reading and comparing the many global roaming sim options, I feel like my mind is about to explode. I am still throughly confused but at least know the difference between sims that charge connection charges, and have free incoming minutes. My question is as a traveler planning to go through: UK, France, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. Which provider would suite my situation the best. I plan on using the mobile primarily during travel going country to country reserving accommodation's and confirming the museums and sites are open before arrival. I don't plan on using the mobile to call back to the USA too often. I am currently leaning towards GeoSim because of their low rates, and the 30/6 billing method, it also gives me free incoming minutes in most of the countries I plan on traveling through. Any advice or comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

You might also consider a VF card with travel promise.

The call charges will probably be a bit higher, i.e. with a german Callya card you pay 0,29€/min plus 0,75€/call for calls within the specified countries.
Calls to the States would be more expensive though.

However aquisition costs are much lower, you have to pay £30 (€45/US$60) to buy a GeoSIM compared to about €12 (US$16) for a Callya SIM.

not easy.......
 

sounds as if most of your call will be WITHIN country. and so many countries. ideally one for every country, but that is going to be too expensive. cannot possibly buy a sim for every country. makes it hard. does not sound as if you EXPECT many inbound calls. not clear from your note whether you will be spending more time in any one or two countries. voda may be an option. calls will probably be short so the voda option may not be as valuable as it seems.

i notice in germany there are several new "roaming" sims on the market (sunsim, che-mobil, tourist mobil, etc.) inbound is 9 cents on many and outbound 39 cents per min + 19 connection. beats united mobile. don't know how that compares to geosim.

http://www.teltarif.de/arch/2007/kw13/s25438.html (in German)

best of luck.

stan

Well to see all these countries I plan on visiting for about 2 months. The countries I plan on staying the longest duration would be Germany and Italy with about a week and a half to two weeks each. For the most part incoming calls as I have planned it are not a big concern. The phone for the most part is a safety net for me, where I will be calling ahead while on the train to reserve a hostel bed, and do confirmation on open hours for certain sites I want to see.

For these prepaid cell providers such as GeoSim, Will I be able to purchase them from a shop or other venue while in Europe/UK?