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Mobile Phone in Europe

2K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  danmiami 
#1 ·
I use an android with verizon. They did have, months ago, a Europe package for calls and data, but now you can only buy a data plan:cry:. So...

1 - what do roaming calls cost in Europe and do you pay to call or even just to roam?

2 - can you buy a european version of a throw away phone that is cheap and has a minute package

3 - Is it possible to buy a package for Europe by T mobile for example and then use my GSM verizon phone?

Any experience from fellow android/verizon users that have been to Europe is greatly appreciated. I will be travelling in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France.

Thanks in advance
 
#2 ·
We bought the datapack through Verizon. $25/100mb. On verizon's website, there is a list of countries and their per minute charge. We travelled Germany, Italy, Austria, and all of those countries were $1.29/minute for phone calls. Unlike you, we don't have global phones, so we "rented" phones from Verizon. Had I known we would have been leaving the country 9 months after upgrading my phone, I would have opted for a global phone. This isn't the cheapest option, as I hear you can buy pay as you go phones there for a lot cheaper, but this gave me more peace of mind, knowing I didn't have to search for a phone once we stepped off the plane.
 
#3 ·
You can buy dirt cheap pay-as-you go phones from almost any phone store or grocery store in europe. At the Munich airport there is a small electronics store that I have used for all my phone/data needs in the past. They are friendly and explain the different plan options. I didn't look into minutes as all we cared about was data for skype/web but they had a bunch of pay-as-you-go phones on display.

You can always call verizon and find out, though I don't know what CDMA coverage looks like in Europe so you would likely have to find a GSM phone anyways.
 
#4 ·
Verizon CDMA phones will not work in Europe unless you have one of their newer dual-mode CDMA/GSM phones.

When we did our ED in May 2011 we had the HTC Droid Incredible and VZW didn't have any GSM phones. Although I think all of my e-mails with them have been archived and I can't find them, what I remember is that they had a European loaner phone program which cost $25 and included free shipping of the phone and charger both ways via FedEx. Once the phone was activated in the US prior to departure, your phone number was transferred to the loaner phone. We got it just for emergencies and I had my laptop with me so I didn't get a data plan. Voice calls were pay by minute. If you didn't use the phone at all, you were just out $25. Once you returned to the US you called to have it deactivated and your phone number was activated on your regular phone.

As it turns out, we had a flat tire in Trier on a Saturday afternoon and had to use the phone to call the 800 number that was supplied at BMW Welt. There were several phone calls between us and the Allianz response center both on Saturday afternoon and on Monday morning when we took our car to a BMW service center. I'm glad that we had a phone and definitely wouldn't do it without one.

I don't know what Verizon currently offers but they now have dual-mode CDMA/GSM phones (the Droid Incredible 2 is one) with which you can use your existing voice and data plan but I understand that using it in Europe is expensive.

If I were to go again this year I would just buy a cheap GSM phone with a pre-paid SIM at the Munich airport.
 
#5 ·
Vodafone

"can you buy a european version of a throw away phone that is cheap and has a minute package."

This past June on our trip we picked up a Vodafone CallYa Smartphone in Munich. Cost was equivalent to $69 US. Came with 1 hour of minutes and the charge rate was 9Euro cents per minute in the German networks. We never needed to use it, so I don't know the cost of the roaming charges.

Hope this helps.
 
#7 ·
I was misled, the plan is still active and cost me 30$ for 100 mb of data and 0.99 minute calls in all countries. So I will stick with that for the convenience of using my phone.
We have Verizon and used a Blackberry Curve Worldphone. If you pay $4.99 per month for a global package it reduces your per minute cost to $.99 in most of the countries we visited (Germany, Austria, Italy and England). However, Switzerland was the exception cause it was over $2 per minute there. The Blackberry was almost two years old and Verizon will give you a Vodaphone Sim card for use in Europe.
 
#9 ·
I am a Verizon user... I have an iPhone 4S which I took with me last year and used it with no problem - but I did NOT pay Verizon rates. I called them and said that work was sending me overseas and giving me a SIM card for each country I was visiting. They unlocked my SIM port over the air and all I was to do to have it work was put in the foreign SIM, connect to iTunes and it would work. As they said - it did...

I am going for my ED now in another week and already have my German SIM ready to go (I used FONIC) for use in my iPhone 5 - which is totally unlocked by Verizon by default.

Now, with that said, if you want to buy foreign pay-as-you-go SIMs, I *highly* recommend this site to assist in making your decisions...

http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/Prepaid_SIM_with_data

Have a great trip!!
 
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