Need prepaid sim advice while traveling to London, Paris, Monaco, Venice, Rome,Madrid

[bylo]

Originally Posted by f13dfx

And YES, my contact (son) in Canada could call me back

Note that long distance charges from Canada to Europe are much higher to a cellphone than they are to a landline. For instance yak.ca charges 3.5¢ to 5¢/min to most European landlines but 29¢ or more to cellphones. (That's still a lot cheaper than going the other way.)

if I can somehow SMS him for FREE beforehand

If you have access to the Internet, say at a kiosk in a hotel lobby, then you could try some of these: http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/anyo...ite-t3536.html

[f13dfx]

Thank you for both of your replies. They have been very informative. The T-Mobile UK sim card seems like a very reasonable option.

I just happened to take a peek at eBay today and came across this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/2-NEW-T-MOBILE-U...2em118Q2el1247

Would these work for what I intend to use them for? The way I understand it, if I buy them, I can give the mobile#s out right away (even if they are NOT activated yet) to the hotels and pickup services that I have booked with so they can contact me if necessary while we're on our trip. Of course, as soon as we get to London, I will use the top-up card supplied for each sim to add at least 5pounds to each sim to activate the service.

I know there's a FREE promo for 2 sim cards right now. I'm trying to contact the Hotel i'm booked at in London to see if I can use their address with my name, and then just have them email me the mobile#s when they get the package. That's if they agree to this, of course

As far as my son in Canada phoning us on our mobile phones, I believe Primus TalkBroadband have an option where you pay an additional $10 for the month that you are in Europe, you get to make a number of calls for FREE to a cell or landline.

Thanks again for your great advice!!!

[petkow]

Originally Posted by f13dfx

I know there's a FREE promo for 2 sim cards right now. I'm trying to contact the Hotel i'm booked at in London to see if I can use their address with my name, and then just have them email me the mobile#s when they get the package. That's if they agree to this, of course

The first half of that request should be OK, I send my visitors SIM's to hotels fairly often. However I am not sure if T-Mo will post to a hotel. It maybe an offer for residential customers only.

Even if it works, the second part is a bit tricky! Good luck with finding a concierge that will open the package, take out the 2 SIM packs, flip them over find the tiny numbers and then email them to you! You'd better be a good customer!

My advice is pay the $8 and get them off ebay.

[f13dfx]

Originally Posted by petkow

The first half of that request should be OK, I send my visitors SIM's to hotels fairly often. However I am not sure if T-Mo will post to a hotel. It maybe an offer for residential customers only.

Even if it works, the second part is a bit tricky! Good luck with finding a concierge that will open the package, take out the 2 SIM packs, flip them over find the tiny numbers and then email them to you! You'd better be a good customer!

My advice is pay the $8 and get them off ebay.

Sounds like a good plan