Taking my cell phone to Europe ?

[paraman1]

Need some help figuring out how I can take my cell phone to Finland and still using it while there (obviously I am trying to do this affordably) . Anyone with experience traveling overseas and using your phone there as well as being able to recieve calls from the states ?

 

[shooter6.5]

Depends on who your carrier is. Regardless, get on the international plan. I have used my cell in Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Jordan and some other rather remote areas. I use it for texting=primarily, and it is about 50 cents a text when I send. Nothing when I recieve. Talking is costly so I use it sparingly for that. Your carrier will fix you up with the best plan.

There is no cheap plan, Those calls add up fast. I would use it sparingly.

 

[Southbreeze]

+1 on text is reasonable, talk will rip your nuts off. My last bill from Turkey was $1800 US.

What kind of phone you got? If it aint a global ready and GSM capable it wont work. You going to use it locally or for calling back and forth to the home front?

depending upon your phones capabilities, you can buy a local SIM card and put it in your phone for local use. Then just pop your other card back in to call home.......or you can buy a cheap pnone for $20 and put your local sim card in there.

I'm typing this from Trinidad, so I'm not trying to be a schmuck; I've worked in 50+ countries in the last ten years. I spent two christmas's ago in Stavanger, Norway. Be careful, there is some beautiful eye candy over there!

Cheers,
Breeze

 

[paraman1]

I am with Verizon and have a Droid Razor . My plan was to leave the phone at home and use Skype but my Wife wants me to see if I can take my phone . Personally I like the idea of trimming down who can contact me and just using Skype but a Happy Wife=Happy Life . Heck even if there was an emergency I would be a minimum of 2-4 days out from home .

 

[Sportin Wood]

Payphones...

 

[pawprint2]

Need some help figuring out how I can take my cell phone to Finland and still using it while there (obviously I am trying to do this affordably) . Anyone with experience traveling overseas and using your phone there as well as being able to recieve calls from the states ?

Talk to your carrier-they can usually make you a "special deal" if it's in advance. I went to Europe several months ago, checked with my carrier in advance, although I didn't need to use my phone while there, I wanted a cell phone for the "just in case". They sent me a "special phone" to take and if I used it, the rate chart (fairly high, but not that bad), all I had to do when I returned home was send it back, no charge. They even sent me a return box. If you are going to need to do business, and can't get a deal, try to get by on your pad. Are you going to Vihtavuori-Oy by chance? If so take some photos-have a safe trip.

 

[Redmanss]

I swap out SIM cards when I travel. If I'm going to be there for a while, it's worth it and far cheaper to call international back to the States that way. Look around at the airport when you arrive, ask at the customer service or whatnot and they'll probably be able to point you in the right direction for what you need. Prepaid SIM cards is the way to go, otherwise you might end up like many folks I know who were surprised with a $1000+ phone bill because of some fine print.

 

[rrflyer]

Most carriers will allow you to buy a plan for a short period of time that adds a certain amount of minutes overseas.


I usually buy a couple hundred minutes for the month and then use Skype/FaceTime for the most part.

Just make sure you turn the data off or you'll get raped.

Wifi on, data off, buy a plan for the month.

 

[Anvil_X]

dude, when I was stationed in Germany, I used that Magic Jack thing. there's an option. Calling back to the states is the problem, your razor probably is a 4-band cell, so it will physically work with the towers over there. T-Mobile is the big company on the continent, so if you can't get Verizon to do something, T-Mobile should be able to square you away.

 

[ZLBubba]

Honestly, when in Europe don't take any calls from a number that doesn't safe "Wife" or "Kid" on your caller ID. I made that mistake a couple times thinking it was someone from my home office and it ended up being any number of yahoos from different organizations, all on my bill. Absolutely not worth it.

 

[paraman1]

I will be there for 9 months so I will talk to Verizon and see what kind of deal they may have . My buddy is going to Germany and he said he is gonna do the SIM card deal just so he has a means of communicating within the country but plans to use Skype for day to day communications with his family .

If we get a down day in the middle of the week I will see if I can get a tour of Vihtavouri . If so I will definitely post pictures for you guys .

 

[Redmanss]

For that long? Magic Jack for sure, and I use Facetime on my iPad to talk too. Having a local SIM for your phone there would help you the most. Get a cheap cell phone to throw it in, prepaid cards to charge it.

 

[Yasherka]

Call your provider. I did that last time I went to Russia, explained I was going overseas and wanted to use a sim card over there and put my US account on hold for a couple months. AT&T sent me an unlock code for my phone, and I was able to buy a sim and account in Petersburg with a local number for the time I was there. Had no problems with AT&T and had an unlocked phone to sell when I upgraded later. Win/Win

 

[okrebel92]

I swap out SIM cards when I travel.

This.

I picked up a special sim card from a PX in Stuttgart, Germany that I used while in Europe. Coverage was spotty as hell in some places but it's better than nothing. I think it was like 20 bucks for the card and something like 25 cents a text message. Didn't use it to talk. I mainly wanted it to check in with people and for emergencies.