So, four of my friends and I are going backpacking in May. We’re going to London, Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, and various cities in Italy. Since there are 5 of us, we might split up on day trips in the above cities and me, beng the worry wart that I am, I’m worried we’re going to lose each other if we don’t have cell phones to contact each other. When I was in Italy this past summer, I also discovered the alarmingly small amount of pay phones that actually work in case we would have to call home for any reason. So I already have one cell phone from Italy (the pay as you go, it’s called TIM) with a little chip/card in it for Italy.
So, my real questions are…
- what is the chepeast/easiest way to get another cell phone that is Europe compatible in the US? (for some reason I can’t remember the name of this function, where you can change the chips in the abck for your location) I was thinking ebay but I need to know what that compatibility is technically called to search for it
- what’s the chepeast/easiest way to get the cards we will need for each country?
- does anyone have experience with refilling the minutes in any of these countries? I know in Italy it was mostly cell phone stores and tobacco shops that would sell you the refills.
- is there some kind of easier way to keep two groups of people in touch that I’m missing? I was thinking radio/walkie-talkies, but I’m not really sure what the radius is on those and if we’re on different ends of say London or Paris, I’m pretty sure they won’t work.
Thanks in advance!
I dont know to much about it…..But I brought a vodophone pre-paid card in Amsterdam, and the guy PROMISED me that I could re-charge it anywhere though out Europe. I spent so much time and money, trying to re-charge, and it never worked. I ended up just giving up and using a phone card.
My suggestion, would be to buy a sim card when you get to LONDON, and keep it topped up with enough credit to get through your time in Europe….you can always rely on the UK cards…I had no problem with mine, only I couldnt re-charge it in Europe.
If they tell you in Europe that you can top the cards up anywhere….they are lieing. Because we tried EVERYTHING. And it doesnt work. So beware.
I would disagree with this – I bought a pay-as-you-go SIM card (the little chip you put in the phone) in the UK (t-mobile)while I was studying there and it did NOT work once I got to Germany! I didn’t actually want it to, since I wanted to get a German number, but still – SIM cards from one country won’t always work in another.
This may have been because it was a pay-as-you-go SIM card – When I brought my American T-mobile (tri-band) phone to Germany with my American T-mobile SIM card (with a contract), it worked just fine, but I had checked beforehand to make sure I had international roaming – each call cost .99 cents ON TOP of the $40/month I was already paying.
It’s been my experience that pay-as-you-go SIM cards usually cost between 10 and 20 Euro (not including the money you have to add to it, and not including the cost of your phone), and if you had to get one for each country, it might be kind of expensive. As other people have suggested, you might just want to arrange a meeting place for the end of the day if your group splits up – after all, people did manage trips like this in the days before cell phones! :) Have fun!!!
My UK Sim was T-Mobile to…and I didnt have trouble getting reception anywhere in Europe. It was just more expensive to make and recieve calls.
Yeah, I was really surprised that I didn’t get reception in Berlin! My friends with British Sims all did…although none of them had T-mobile. So I don’t know why it happened. But I just thought I’d give a warning, since lack of reception can happen with Sims from anywhere… :(
Yea….seems kind of strange. I had no problem in Berlin, but then we could of been in different parts. I think its different for every provider. But to find a reliable network in Europe, is just a pain the ass. Heh
As for keeping in touch with your mates….You can always just make meeting places or something like that. You’ll probly find you wont stress to much about that sort of thing while your there. You’ll most probly all go off in seperate ways every now and again.
I have an Italian sim card (vodafone) and there are a lot of vodafones in other countries (unlike TIM which I thought was only Italian… but I could be wrong) and you can definitely recharge in Seville, Spain. But my other friend had trouble recharging in Portugal for Vodafone…
Europe is kind of funny like that… they say you can do a lot of things but half the time stuff doesnt work.
But anyway SIM Cards are usually fairly cheap to buy… it may just be annoying to be switching sims and numbers all the time.
Also try to text instead of calling because its really really expensive to call…
All cities have internet cafes etc (and usually hotels and hostels do too). If youŕe a little more organised emailing can be a good way to keep in touch. And try to exchange phone numbers of hotels and hostels and then your friends can leave you messages etc at the front desk if they need to.
This is easy.
GSM tri-band phones. 900/1800/1900MHz
Next you need to get the phone *unlocked*
Any phone you get from Cingular, T-Mobile, or another GSM provider stateside will be SIMlocked to that carrier. That means you can’t put a SIM card from another service in your phone.
There are people just about everywhere that will unlock your phone for a nominal fee (usually about $25US). Once you have your phone unlocked it will be useable with any provider’s SIM card.
Getting the SIM cards is pretty damn easy in Europe. T-Mobile and Vodafone stores are everywhere and you can even find the cards in kiosks and other convenience stores. Hell you can get them in the airport when you get there. Once you have one you can then add more funds by going online, calling a number or using an bankomat (ATM).
Basically a GSM phone is generic and the SIM card is what makes your phone yours. You can have a collection of SIM cards that are each a different number and provider and switching between them is as easy as removing and replacing the card (very easy).
I had my old Sony Ericsson T610 with me last year unlocked and used it all over no problem.
Any other questions just ask. Hacking phones to do other things is even more entertaining. =)
yep. tri-band phones. the cheapest way to get one?
1. go to verizon’s, cingular’s, alltel’s, and t-mobile’s websites. look up their international plans/ international phone rental plans (they should all have them).
2. write down the name and style number of the international phones they want you to pay $300 each for.
3. go to ebay and search for the name and number of the phone.
4. find the slightly-used phone for maybe $15. find it unused for maybe $125. just be positive it’s UNLOCKED before you buy it. (although there are guys on ebay who can unlock them for you too, if you need it.)
5. when you get to where you’re going, buy a SIM card et voilà.
I think I would second the suggestion of just finding a meeting place or something… in any case I’d assume you’re all staying at the same place so if all else fails you could meet up there.
It’s just that finding a phone that works, then getting numerous SIM cards (or just one but then you sometimes pay roaming charges in other countries), and then getting top up minutes on top of it sounds like it might start to get expensive…