What to do about my phone?

[Jess BK]

Hi, I am heading to Ireland/Europe for 3 months in 6 weeks. I was wondering if anyone can give me advice on what to do about my mobile? It is cheap for sms but seems to be really expensive for calls even if people call me!!! Are there any great deals for phoning home to Australia that anyone can tell me about? Thanks!

[me]

if it's GMS, it should work in Europe. but, that doesn't fix the price problem.

HI has, or used to have, a phone card thing that included a voice mail account. that might help you.

- d

[Shmemily]

You could always buy a new SIM card here. I'm not sure if it will work in your old phone but I'm pretty sure it will. If you buy mobile world (http://www.carphonemobileworld.co.uk/mobileworld/servlet/gben-home-Home) it has super cheap rates from the UK and only costs £10. I can call home to Canada for 5p a minute and I think Aussie is just as cheap.

[MuvverRussia]

An Australian phone should work fine in Europe. That mobile world deal is a brilliant deal, but I'm not sure how roaming would work with it?

I'd be tempted to either look at European networks (e.g. get a UK Pay as you go sim card), or look at roaming with your home network. Looking on Vodafone Australia's website, it's around AU$3/minute from the UK, rising to AU$5/min for other European countries, so not too exorbitant for a quick call, especially considering how cheap text messages are.

Mobile phones are always expensive to run when you're abroad. It virtually always comes to the question whether the convinience is worth it or not.

[Eagle]

Jess BK, a few comments about your phone situation. I'm not sure how many of the previous posts on this subject you might have read, so I'll provide a brief summary of several topics.

AFAIK your Australian mobile should be equipped with the 900 & 1800 MHz frequencies, and therefore should work anywhere in Europe (I'm assuming it's a dual-band phone?). However you will NOT be able to use Euro SIM's unless the phone is unlocked. Unlocking is usually fairly inexpensive, but this depends on which brand / model phone it is. Check the net - there are lots of GSM unlocking sites - often it's only necessary to enter an "unlocking code" into the phone (try www.foneszone.co.uk for information on your mobile).

Since you're going to be in Europe for 3 months, it would probably be beneficial to use a Euro SIM if you're going to be in a particular country for any length of time. One caveat however - if you're going to be travelling on (for example) a UK SIM, the roaming charges could be very expensive while travelling to other countries (Muvver - any comments on this?). IMO it's not financially worthwhile to buy a new PAYG SIM for each country you're visiting, as this can become expensive (also keep in mind that every time you change SIM's, your phone number changes, making it a bit difficult for friends and relatives to contact you). Of course you could also use roaming from your home provider, but as previously noted this can become very expensive also.

One advantage of travelling on a Euro SIM is that if anyone from Oz calls you, they will be paying the long distance. This should minimize your costs somewhat. As far as calling back home, your cheapest option is probably to buy a long distance phone card (usually quite readily available, although I had trouble finding one in the U.K.). That way you won't incur any long distance cellular charges at all.

Another option would be to use a "Talk Abroad" SIM from www.cellularabroad.com or similar service. This provides one rate for calls throughout Europe (based on a Liechenstein SIM, I believe), however the rates can get a bit complicated if you're calling from one zone to another. The bottom line is that there's no "free lunch" in using a Cellular while travelling. There is a cost for the convenience!

To provide some background on my solution to this problem, I ALWAYS travel with a quad-band Cell Phone (Motorola V-551). So far I've used roaming from my home provider, but have the option of using local SIM's if necessary. The roaming charges vary a bit by country, but last year in the U.K. I was paying $0.98/minute outgoing and $1.98/minute incoming (Cdn. funds, plus applicable taxes and fees). The higher incoming rate is due to the fact that my calls are routed from Canada (a caller in the U.K. pays long distance to Canada to phone my mobile, and the call is "bounced back" to the U.K. by the network). I think you'll find the rates are fairly similar among various providers, as these are all negotiated via the GSM Association; there might be some minor variations due to currency differences, but from what I've seen the rates are quite similar.

Anyway, hope this is some help with your mobile question. BTW, you might want to register on the Board if you're going to be stopping by for a visit from time-to-time.

Happy travels!!!

[MuvverRussia]

eagle said:

One caveat however - if you're going to be travelling on (for example) a UK SIM, the roaming charges could be very expensive while travelling to other countries

On a pre pay sim, you're looking in the region of 75 pence (UK) per minute to call the UK from another European country. To call Australia using the same sim will cost £1.50 a minute. Incoming calls are 75 pence/min regardless. Those figures are for Vodafone, but most of them are around the same price anyway.

Looking on Vodafone Australia's site, it'll be cheaper to use an Australian mobile for roaming, especially if you're on contract. That said, these figures are network figures, you may be able to get a discounted rate if you look around.