Roaming in Europe + SIM Question
 

Sorry, for yet another question.
My other son will be traveling through Europe in a few months, and I want to make sure he gets the best solution while he is in Europe. I am letting this one take his AT&T sim card so he can have a US based number, but I want him to get a local SIM card to get down on calls back to the US, and for calling/texting his friends he is traveling with. He is ok with buying SIM cards in the local countries, but don’t think it would be economical to buy one in every country he goes to. I am thinking about United Mobile, or Travel SIM and would like everyone’s opinion on what the best solution might be. I am attaching his travel schedule, and would appreciate any help on the best option (not married to United Mobile or Travel SIM). I have seen Vodafone passport, and at this point just confused and need help.

4 Days in the UK
3 Days in Spain
5 Days in France
2 Days in Switzerland
2 Days in Czech Republic
2 Days in Germany
2 Days in the Netherlands

Thanks again.

...by the time the other son travels in a few months, the newly minted European roaming rate caps will be in effect and it is possible his best bet might be to get a sim in the UK which apparently is his first stop and then roam for the rest of the trip on the UK sim card.....so our advice at this point is just to wait and see when the EU roaming caps take effect and just how economic they will be.

United Mobile is indeed a good option and most of us using it here have had pretty positive experiences with it especially coupled with an account at callbackworld or some other callback service, however rates to Liechtenstein are going up so it might not be the best choice in the future.

No best soultion
 

A technicality, but there probably is no SINGLE best solution for everyone.

I would be VERY careful with the ATT SIM. I don't know what ATT's practices are, but if the SIM is active and receives a US call, you will be billed call-forwarding to Europe. If no answer, you may then be billed for the call EU to US voicemail. Could be quite expensive for a missed call.

I would agree that, for the moment, the VODA UK passport option looks very good. One # for the whole trip with decent roaming. Most (if not all) of the countries you mention have VODA providers where the passport can be used.

Make sure he has a tri- or quad-band with adapters and a good calling card for land-line / toll-free calling. He should PREFER to make outbound calls to US from the calling card...... if you can get that thru his head.

Stan

Yackie mobile has a prepaid sim that roams to many countries that you can get with a US number.

You could also get a toll free number from kall8 or one of the other places, forward that to the local number he ends up with (changed instantly online when necessary) for way less than what you will pay to roam with AT&T.

Yackie mobile has suspended all services at teh moment. Their current sim cards are dead!

It doesn't matter which SIM he has, he isn't going to have time to answer the phone. This schedule is insane!

As long as you son only needs the phone for voice, not data, United Mobile is probably the best combination of price, convenience & reliability. Since incoming calls are free he can use a callback service such as callbackworld.com for outgoing calls that will give pretty low rates all over Europe.

Rather than have him bring the AT&T phone to have a local (US) number, forward the AT&T number to the United Mobile number before he leaves instead. If you order the UM SIM card in advance you can activate it in the US and you will have his UM phone number before he leaves. He will pay long distance charges for any calls forwarded, however the rates for calls from the US to Western Europe are much lower than the roaming rates he will be charged by AT&T for incoming calls if he brings the phone with him. You can check with AT&T, but they may have some international plan he can sign up for that will give him lower rates. I know Verizon offers a LD plan that is an extra $3.99 per month and calls to cost $.20 per minute and use minutes on your plan. It is a pretty good deal. AT&T may have something similar.

What are the 'newly minted European roaming rate caps'? Do you have any more detail on this?

It's been all over....roaming rates within the eu on an eu sim will be capped...the number I remember is 0,24€ to receive calls...don't remember the cap to call but that's within the eu....it wouldn't affect calls to the United States but it sure would help in receiving calls especially with the rates to call any of the international sim cards from the USA skyrocketing through the roof despite the free reception (take a look at the rates to Estonia, Liechtenstein, Iceland and UK mobiles!)

A law was established that limits the cost for outgoing calls within the EU to 49ct/min and incoming calls to 24ct/min.
It most likely will get active by the end of summer.

Chris