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Cellular Phones in Europe
A guide for American and Canadian visitors
Page 3
Continued from page
2
 INSET
PHOTO: When inserted into an unlocked GSM phone, the tiny red SIM card provided
me with a local telephone number and prepaid cellular service in France. (On a
subsequent trip to Italy, I just switched to an Italian SIM card.).
Renting vs. buying vs. roaming
Many companies offer rentals of cellular phones in
Europe, either for delivery before you leave home or for pickup at an airport
abroad. Our car-rental partner,
Auto Europe, is one such vendor, and
Cellular Abroad makes rentals easy with Fed Ex delivery and a prepaid return
shipping label. (You can even rent a satellite phone if you're planning a trip
to remote areas or by sea.)
Buying a phone may be more practical than renting,
though, if you expect to use the phone in the future--as you might very well do,
since GSM phones work in nearly 200 countries. (You can use a tri-band phone after your return
home if you enroll in a GSM network, or you can buy domestic prepaid,
no-contract T-Mobile SIM cards from Cellular Abroad.)
Roaming is your third option if you're already a GSM
phone user in the United States and you have a multi-band "world phone" that
works abroad. With this method, you use your phone overseas just as you would at
home. Calls may cost several dollars a minute, however, and service isn't always
reliable. Sebastian Harrison, the CEO of Cellular Abroad, told me:
"We just set up HBO with a bunch of cell
phones for a Sex in the City shoot. They said the last time they were
in France, not only did they spend tons of money (three months later, they
were still getting bills), but the service was terrible. This makes sense
because, when you're roaming with a U.S. carrier, a call to a person who's
standing next to you has to go back to the U.S. and then back again to
Europe through a number of switches that may be busy or down."
Tips:
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According to the U.S.
Department of Commerce, 78% of internationally bound travelers visit only one
country per trip, with another 14% visiting two countries and only 8% visiting
three or more. This makes country-specific SIM cards a great value for most
travelers, because inbound calls are free. (One Cellular Abroad business
customer used to pay $2,200 in roaming charges during an annual trade show in
Germany; with his own phone and a German SIM card, he now pays nothing for
incoming calls.)
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Although it's possible to pick up rental phones at major European airports, I'd recommend renting or buying a phone for
delivery before you leave home. That way, you can get familiar with the
phone. Even more important, you'll know your phone number ahead of time, so
you'll be able to tell people where to reach you in an emergency.
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