cellphones (europe)

[clickerish]

I am pseudo-international in that I spend part of the year international and part of the year in the US because of work. For the first time ever, my partner is going with me to Europe (yay, no coordinating time zones!). BUT, we aren't going to the same countries...

So, my question is this. I have a cellphone that I use with vodafone. It's unblocked and I switch SIMs depending on my country but always vodafone. However, since she is going to be in a DIFFERENT country than I am most of the time, should I switch to a different company or am I in trouble either way? She, btw, has a company phone so we can't switch her SIM.

[Cheesecake]

It all depends on which countries, how long and whether you have a pre-paid sim or an actual contract. I know my vodafone contract in NL gives me cheaper calls within a number of EU countries once I activate the "passport" service. However that goes for calling while I'm abroad, not calling a phone in another country.
Again, depending on countries, I'd say your best bet would be to get 2 sims from the same country, so only one of you has to pay the international charge instead of both.
Getting some skype credit should still be the cheapest/easiest, I'd say.

[clickerish]

Colour me silly for not saying the countries. We're talking Spain and Portugal here--and I'm not on a contract, but I'll look into using my Spanish card even when I'm in Portugal. I wish the EU would get organised. It's absurd.

[crimsonandclover]

May 12, 2012 14:53:30 GMT -5 clickerish said:

Colour me silly for not saying the countries. We're talking Spain and Portugal here--and I'm not on a contract, but I'll look into using my Spanish card even when I'm in Portugal. I wish the EU would get organised. It's absurd.

That's what you get when you send a German bureaucrat in to reduce the bureaucracy of the EU (Edmund Stoiber, in case the non-German-living INs are wondering who I'm talking about)

[Cheesecake]

The rates have already dropped significantly. The US can be much worse though. The rate my friend had to pay in Texas to receive calls from me in NL on her cellphone, we talked for about 20 minutes, I called her (and paid international charges) and she had to pay an additional 30 dollars or so. International calls are just crazy expensive.

I would just go and check the Spanish and Portugese rates for receiving calls while in a different country, and go with the one that's cheapest.