Cell coverage for Europe

[boiler717]

What's your general plan for cell coverage in Europe? Buy a prepaid phone, SIM card, use free wifi? Thanks!

[v]

Free Wifi and, if there's an emergency, I'll just suck it up and pay a million dollars to make a call. I make a call like 3 times a month as is, so it isn't hard for me to not call people to just chat. Really, all I want to do is to be able to look up where to go next and to check emails/AW my trip on Instagram, and I can do that from a restaurant with free Wifi or our hotel.

I've done an international data phone plan from my carrier (Verizon), but $20 for 100 mb is pretty expensive and went by really quickly.

I've looked into getting a SIM card, but it seems like with an iPhone that's difficult? (I could be wrong, but it looks like if your phone is still under contract you have to jailbreak it first?)

Prepaid phone seems awfully expensive, particularly compared to paying for Verizon's international plan.

I'm amazed that companies haven't done better on international data plans yet.

[VillainV]

ATT has a decent international call/text plan that you can add just for the month of your trip, then take off when you're back.

[Deleted]

My cell works on WiFi and that works for me in Europe. My work tablet has email service globally so I can use that too.

[scout8]

We have T-Mobile and texts and data are included in most countries. Calls are $.20/minute. We also have found plenty of wi-fi everywhere we have been.

[raangoli]

I have used the wifi and will pay for the data plan on Verizon. Like PPs said, its $20 for 100mb which is good if you absolutely need it.

I don't actually make phone calls from my cell when overseas.

[gt7301b]

We have T-Mobile and use their free data/texts + wifi.

If don't have T-Mobile wifi is plentiful, but SIM cards are cheap. On a recent International trip (not to Europe) T-Mobile had horrible service so we purchased one SIM so we always had GPS for directions etc, it was ~10 for 1 gig.

[aurora]

Free wifi. I've only once felt like I had to make a call from abroad (to straighten out an airline issue that could have cancelled our return tickets), and for that it was worth just paying the high fee for a few min call. We did pick phones that work on both CDMA and GSM to make sure we could call anywhere, though.

[v]

If you actually want the ability to make calls from wifi, there's always Skype (or if you have VOIP at home look into whether your provider has an app... Vonage does so whenever I'm connected to wifi I can make calls from my home number)

[sfy]

Free wifi and whatsapp.

[Deleted]

Wifi and whatsapp. That's all I use whenever I travel internationally. There have been places where I've had no wifi access so I just went without using my phone for a few days.

[drloretta]

Sept 1, 2015 6:31:21 GMT -5 VillainV said:

ATT has a decent international call/text plan that you can add just for the month of your trip, then take off when you're back.

This. I literally just got it for our phones

[cgpm]

We added an international data plan for a month on Verizon (they had two options) and then used wifi when we could. We ended up needing the minutes and the data given I had a medical issue while traveling. You can also rent an international phone from Verizon, if yours is not capable, but you get whatever the equivalent is to your phone. That option was pretty useless for us.

[magpie]

I have tmobile and I get free texts and data and $.20/minute calls. It works great for me.

Before I had free international service, I used to buy a prepaid sim card for my phone on long trips or just use wifi on shorter trips.

[alleinesein]

AT&T international plan.

Prepaid sim cards are also good if you plan on using more data; you can usually pick one up at the airport for around E$20-30. You just need to make sure you have an unlocked quad band phone.

If you travel overseas quite a bit you might want to look into picking up an unlocked Nokia online.  You can get a decent smart phone for around $100-$150.  I've got the Lumia 530 for travel; the only thing it is lacking is a front facing camera.  Other than that it has all the features of a standard smart phone.

[kimibrighteyes]

We called our provider and had our phones unlocked for a one time fee each. My friend had SIM cards for France since she had recently been there so we borrowed her SIM cards and signed up for a short term plan when we went to Paris. It was great having the access and would be worth it for longer trips.

[soso]

Check out Viber for when you have wifi so you can text etc.

[cheezer]

I buy a SIM card in every country once I get there.

I also will turn on an international plan for my phone if I'm traveling and work needs to be able to reach me so I have access there. My cell phone bills haven't been terribly high for this.

[v]

cheezer gt7301b -- how do you find out if your phone can take an international SIM card? I swear I've read that at least if you have an iPhone, it has to be jailbroken? Am I wrong?

If I can do that on my phone, that will become the clear answer for me!

[boiler717]

I think my iPhone is unlocked? I'd be curious. The ATT plan is $30 a month but still $1/min. We can face time call on wifi, I'd use data more I think.

[cheezer]

Sept 1, 2015 17:15:52 GMT -5 v said:

cheezer gt7301b -- how do you find out if your phone can take an international SIM card? I swear I've read that at least if you have an iPhone, it has to be jailbroken? Am I wrong?

If I can do that on my phone, that will become the clear answer for me!

I don't have an iPhone.  I actually just bought a new phone and one of the reasons I did not do an iPhone was I love the ease of use of using a SIM card when travelling.  I had heard the phones need to be jailbroken as well but I'm not 100% sure.

[kimibrighteyes]

Sept 1, 2015 17:15:52 GMT -5 v said:

cheezer gt7301b -- how do you find out if your phone can take an international SIM card? I swear I've read that at least if you have an iPhone, it has to be jailbroken? Am I wrong?

If I can do that on my phone, that will become the clear answer for me!

I have an iphone and called my provider.  They were able to unlock the phone for a one time fee.  Now I can use whatever SIM card I want.

[gt7301b]

Sept 1, 2015 17:15:52 GMT -5 v said:

cheezer gt7301b -- how do you find out if your phone can take an international SIM card? I swear I've read that at least if you have an iPhone, it has to be jailbroken? Am I wrong?

If I can do that on my phone, that will become the clear answer for me!

I think you need to be out of contract or purchase your phone outright.  Previously, when we had AT&T I had to call them once I was out of contract and get them to unlock it.   If you purchase a phone directly from Apple it comes unlocked, but even if you purchase directly from T-mobile you have to call them to unlock it.

[HitchedIn2006]

We used Wifi. Then Skype for texting family and FaceTime. Never had to make a real call... Concierge at hotel made reservations for dinner one night in Paris- good thing because we don't speak French