<p>Fwiw, not very expensive must be a relative term. In general terms, trying to use a US based service abroad IS very expensive.</p>
<p>lol
thats what I was thinking xiggi
D bought a pay as you go phone with rechargable minutes as she couldnt find a SIM card in India for the ATT quad band phone that we bought special ( as we have Verizon… atthispointintime)-because we had been told that tourists couldnt purchase phones- ( I didn’t know- I never travel)</p>
<p>Of course she recently got it stolen, but until then it worked great.
Aside from the time difference I could hear her better from rural India than I can her sister in urban Portland.</p>
<p>You might want to double check that plan - my DD is also going to Europe this summer so I have been looking into this. I think (underline think) that world connect allows you to call other countries but that to call FROM those countries you need ATT World Traveler. </p>
<p>Just returned from Spain and France with my AT&T blackberry. The international calling plan is $5.99 for the month but it only brings calls down from 1.29 to .99 per minute. I paid for a data plan at a cost of $59 for the month so that I could use email. Blackberry messenger is treated like text there and is 50 cents per. Same with Texts. You can shut off the text/data portion while you are there so you don’t get hit with a bill from people texting you.
It is cheaper to get a sim card in the country you are in if you have an unlocked phone and if you think you are going to make a lot of calls.<br>
AT&T International explains all on their website and their customer service people are very helpful. You will need to hold down the 0 until you see a plus sign and then add 1 plus area code and number to call back to the US.</p>
<p>I did extensive research on this for trips to England, and later to Spain. My family all carry iPhones, which we love. Our carrier is, of course, AT&T. Our conclusion: we bought a separate GSM, quad-band, unlocked flip-phone just for the purpose of voice communications between U.S. and overseas. Get a SIM card from the country when you arrive, or if you want it before you go as we did, buy it online. This is the same advice given by several posters early in this thread. Fwiw, my priorities were, in order:</p>
<ol>
<li>Reliable communication capabilities from moment of departure to arrival back home.</li>
<li>Cheaper than the AT&T travel plan, which sucks.</li>
</ol>
<p>We used the above method in England and it worked like a charm, and plan to use it again (with a Spain SIM card) this summer.</p>
<p>[You have to be extremely careful about data/text phones, like iPhones, while you are overseas, so as to not rack up additional charges for data that “flows through the air” to your phone. You can put it into “airplane mode” (turn off internet), and only use internet when you are in a wi-fi place, but you need to be extremely careful to not forget and leave it on when you leave the wi-fi area.]</p>
<p>In my opinion, the phone carriers make all this way, way, unnecessarily difficult. The carriers give incorrect and inconsistent information, and the online info from them is incomprehensible for normal people to understand.</p>
<p>skyhook…does it matter if it is a flip phone? Do you have a website that you like to deal with (reliable)? Has anyone heard of Telestial International Cell phones?</p>
<p>How many prepaid minutes should we get (she will be in France for 25 days)?</p>
<p>Daughter just informed me that the college is giving each student a local cell phone to use in France that receives calls from the U.S. free. Given that information, should I just get her the ATT world connect plan for her to call us (we will call her on her “local cell”)?</p>
<p>Back before the more recent trips I mentioned, I rented a phone to use in Europe for a trip (I think a 2-3 week trip). I can’t remember the company but they just sent me the phone FedEx before I left and I returned it when I came back. the phone came with some amount of prepaid minutes on it that I didn’t exceed but there was a way to top it up. It worked well.</p>
<p>But really, think about how much your D would really use the phone and if it’s very limited, let’s say < 3 minutes per day on average (just to say “I’m here” and to be accessible in an emergency), and if she uses few text messages (if not then it can be blocked for the timeframe), and especially if she supplements the calls with Skype or something, then it’s easier to just carry the phone she already has. We’ve gone this route a couple of times and it’s worked out fine but we were careful.</p>
<p>EDIT: Just saw your last post - that’s really a nice idea for the college to provide that. Given that, her phone won’t be AT&T - it’ll be some other network so there’s no need for you to contact AT&T. She will want to find out what it would cost for her to dial you but you could also just have her give you a quick call to say ‘call me’ or she could maybe send you a text message indicating to call her back so the cost would be on you. You should still consider Skype or Windows Live Messenger though.</p>
<p>to blackeyedsusan: thanks so much for that link you posted. D will be in three countries in Europe for a month, and I wanted her to have a cell phone more for emergencies and short “I am here and safe” calls that was all ready to go as soon as she lands. I called that company, they were helpful, and I find the cost very reasonable. In effect we are renting the phone for $59, and minutes will simply be charged to my credit card. It will be fedexed to my home a week before she leaves.</p>
<p>CC is just great for this kind of info I would never have found otherwise.</p>
<p>I just left my daughter at Miami International Airport for her flight to France. We are armed with skype (she brought her laptop and I downloaded it and set it up at home) and she has with her an unlocked cell phone that she will purchase a local sim card for. She also has her ATT phone (NO DATA) and will text me (for .50) when she arrives. I can text her for free. I think we are more than good to go.</p>
<p>Our daughter has been in Europe since Feb. She has been studying in The Netherlands but has traveled to Germany, France, London, etc. She brought her ATT phone on which she is able to make international calls. She has never used it. She bought a cheap phone and plan for while she is there and we communicate with her via skype— which has been fantastic!</p>
<p>AT&T works great in Europe so yes, add the international feature to your child’s phone. When we travel, we add the international data roaming feature so we can access email and websites. (Make sure to turn OFF the data roaming while not in use) There are 2 plans. One is about $25 and the other $50. A tip for emails is to always start a new message otherwise you will be charged for the data on the email thread as it goes back and forth. I do not know how texting is billed.</p>
<p>One time we were “lost” in the middle of no where with a taxi driver. We were able to google the destination we wanted and when the driver saw the image and address, he immediately understood where we needed to go.</p>
<p>We got a phone from Piccell for our daughter for study abroad. The phone is free (has to be returned at the end), and no fees, except $25 activation fee. The calls are reasonably priced. I am not sure if that’s their standard deal, or special one for students though.</p>
<p>We got a SIM card for my daughter’s AT&T phone for study abroad brom cellularabroad.com. We were told that the international plan on her phone would cost a lung. And we wanted her to have a local country phone number so that the program/professors could reach her without paying international rates. Incoming calls & texts are free; outgoing charges are reasonable.</p>
<p>When each of my daughter’s studied abroad, we used Piccell Wireless as that was the provider recommended by study abroad program. The first time we just did straight rental, The second time we bought a phone from them and rented the SIM card. That way we have the phone and whenever anyone travels you can rent a country-specific SIM card from them. They were easy to deal with. I’ve also dealt with a company locally that rents phones for us in Israel, same company that Birthright organizations contract with- think it may be GlobalCell. They also have phone rentals for various countries, but not all. I rented from them for a trip to Vienna to see d#2 and that is good option because that way I was able to give her the phone # and we could communicate immediately upon arrival.</p>
<p>I’m doing research for a friend and thought I’d bump this thread. She’s unsure as to whether she should expect her 21 year-old son to have a phone while studying in Germany this summer. </p>
<p>He’ll only be there for 6 weeks, doesn’t know anybody involved with his program and she’s concerned about emergencies, etc. She’s good with the idea of skyping home to check in with parents, but is concerned about the unknown. She doesn’t want to baby him, but doesn’t want him to be foolhardy either! </p>
<p>Seems we’ve become almost dependent on cell phones and instant communication…
Basically, her question is how important is it for him to have a phone. Is a phone advisable/necessary?
Any experience/advice?</p>
<p>Panhandle, your friend’s son should definitely have a phone to facilitate his social life with the other students, etc., and then the family can also reach him in emergencies. The rental phones people referred to are probably Mobal, but I think it makes more sense to buy a quadband phone (I’ve gotten 3 on Ebay for about $35 apiece) and a local SIM card in Germany. The last time I used a SIM card, in Ireland, it was actually very cheap to call the States (I forget exactly how much), ironically more expensive to call people in Ireland who had different phone service.</p>