For Americans Going To Europe Or Overseas

[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

[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...