For Americans Going To Europe Or Overseas

[CrunchDude]

I am very interested in purchasing/signing up for this, or any other, service. I make and receive a lot of calls. I also text a lot. I also know, as I am well-traveled, that European cell phones are a pain the neck when it comes to cost. Here's the deal: My U.S. wireless provider is AT&T (formerly Cingular Wireless), and I would like to know what the best rate is for getting a local SIM here in Germany (I read something that it can make a BIG difference as far as the rates go) when choosing a wireless operator for the purpose of getting a local SIM card. One website said to get a T-Mobile one if I remember correctly.

Please let me know what the best way/(deal?) is for me to go about that. I will be staying 2-4 weeks, my Treo 750 is unlocked, and has all the world's GSM frequencies as well as the 3G bands.

Any responses from experienced travelers would be highly appreciated.

[Motel75]

Actually, the choice is pretty obvious. If you're going to be placing international calls (back to the US), you'll want Blauworld or one of its clones; all other German prepaids charge ridiculous amounts for international calling.

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by CrunchDude

I am very interested in purchasing/signing up for this, or any other, service. I make and receive a lot of calls. I also text a lot. I also know, as I am well-traveled, that European cell phones are a pain the neck when it comes to cost. Here's the deal: My U.S. wireless provider is AT&T (formerly Cingular Wireless), and I would like to know what the best rate is for getting a local SIM here in Germany (I read something that it can make a BIG difference as far as the rates go) when choosing a wireless operator for the purpose of getting a local SIM card. One website said to get a T-Mobile one if I remember correctly.

Please let me know what the best way/(deal?) is for me to go about that. I will be staying 2-4 weeks, my Treo 750 is unlocked, and has all the world's GSM frequencies as well as the 3G bands.

Any responses from experienced travelers would be highly appreciated.

Do you intend to call mainly to the US or domestic calls? That makes a big difference in choosing the right sim-card for you.

for domestic calls you can for example buy a "fonic" SIM in a lidl supermarket. they charge 9.9 ct/min and 9.9 ct per text to all german networks, but calls to US are 99ct/min.

for international calls the market is smaller. There are some sim that charge around 9ct to the US as well. E.g. the BlauWorld card (www.blauworld.de) or Solomo (www.solomo.de). Sometimes these SIM-cards are also available at calling shops in the bigger cities as well.

Chris

Chris

[andy]

I got Sunsim for cheap calls within Germany, or that newer Fonic SIM also looks useful, and for international from there use a callthrough service with a local access number, from 0.5c/min extra

[Motel75]

Originally Posted by dg7feq

for international calls the market is smaller. There are some sim that charge around 9ct to the US as well. E.g. the BlauWorld card (www.blauworld.de) or Solomo (www.solomo.de). Sometimes these SIM-cards are also available at calling shops in the bigger cities as well.

Hmmm, I wasn't aware that Solomo is available in stores, or I would have recommended that one, too. Blauworld can be bought at Saturn, and clones can be found at a lot of calling shops.

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by Motel75

Hmmm, I wasn't aware that Solomo is available in stores, or I would have recommended that one, too. Blauworld can be bought at Saturn, and clones can be found at a lot of calling shops.

I meant these calling-shops in dark corners around the train stations They sometimes have SIM's as well...

[jlbaer1]

You guys all helped when I needed to decide what phone card would be best for my daughter who is studying abroad in Milan. She got Wind9 and that has worked out great for her. Thanks. Now maybe you can help me...

I am going to visit her for about a week and a half. My phone, unlike hers, is not a quad band. With hers, we just went to Tmobile here in the states and had them unlock it so while she is there she is using the Wind sim card and it has worked great for her.

I would have to borrow a quad band unlocked gsm phone or buy one. If I buy one from Tmobile, they'll make me activate another line in order to get a discount on the phone. We don't need another line and my phone still works fine too so I am not really in the market for a new phone per se. Of course, now that I have said that my phone will probably die.

Alex, my daughter, is wondering why I would even need a phone but I figure it would be nice to be able to reach her if I had to call her from Malpensa airport, the train station, from my hotel or her apt while she is in class and I am out exploring Milan while she is in class or at her internship. Anyways, what do you guys recommend? My husband also said I could probably rent a phone for a week once I get there.

Just looking for some practical cost effective ideas.

Thanks in advance.

[Bossman]

Definitely do not rent. You can buy a phone and sim for your duration for less than how much it will cost to rent. First, what type of phopne do you have? It may be able to work there. it does not have to be a quadband to work there. It just needs to have the 900/1800 bands. If you do nto have one that will work there. Either get an unlocked from ebay or buy a tmoibile locked phone from walmart or tmobile prepaid page and have tmobile unlock the thing. You know it's free to unlock via tmobile.

For example, I have tmobile payg as backup that I rarely use. Not too long ago I bought the Moto V195 quadband brand new from their prepaid page for $14 ($39 - $25 refill that came with it). This deal is no longer there, but you can get an okay phone that will do from there or the other outlets I mentioned.

Originally Posted by jlbaer1

You guys all helped when I needed to decide what phone card would be best for my daughter who is studying abroad in Milan. She got Wind9 and that has worked out great for her. Thanks. Now maybe you can help me...

I am going to visit her for about a week and a half. My phone, unlike hers, is not a quad band. With hers, we just went to Tmobile here in the states and had them unlock it so while she is there she is using the Wind sim card and it has worked great for her.

I would have to borrow a quad band unlocked gsm phone or buy one. If I buy one from Tmobile, they'll make me activate another line in order to get a discount on the phone. We don't need another line and my phone still works fine too so I am not really in the market for a new phone per se. Of course, now that I have said that my phone will probably die.

Alex, my daughter, is wondering why I would even need a phone but I figure it would be nice to be able to reach her if I had to call her from Malpensa airport, the train station, from my hotel or her apt while she is in class and I am out exploring Milan while she is in class or at her internship. Anyways, what do you guys recommend? My husband also said I could probably rent a phone for a week once I get there.

Just looking for some practical cost effective ideas.

Thanks in advance.

[Stu]

Bossman,

I've purchased phones on deals similar to the one that you are mentioning, but don't you think we should make it clear what unlocking a prepaid entails?

[Bossman]

The poster is a tmobile USA contract customer. So, unlocking it should nto be a problem. That's why I specifically responded so. If it's a prepaid customer, the acct needs to be in good standing and at least 90 days old. I have not topped up my payg acct. Since Jan of this year, and I got the unlocked code for the phone I bought in may/June immediately I received the phone.

Originally Posted by Stu

Bossman,

I've purchased phones on deals similar to the one that you are mentioning, but don't you think we should make it clear what unlocking a prepaid entails?