What's up with verizon wireless and Europe!

[amy417]

I am checking for rates in Europe and do not see any. I remember a post long ago mentioning that verizon phones were useless in Europe. Is this still true. Can any one suggest a good substitue. Possibly a prepaid cell that we can use for just this trip. We only need the phone to contact our tour drivers and ech other if necessary.

thanks

[VonChap]

Verizon does have an international plan now. It does not work for all of the phones and BlackBerry devices but certain phones are covered under their plan. You need to sign up for the plan but it is a month-to-month plan. You need to call Verizon to make sure that the phone that you have will work in Europe and then also tell them when you will need the plan activated. For Blackberry devices, it is unlimited data for about $65/month and then a by the minute plan for phone calls. For phones, it is a by-th-minute plan.

 

Your phone will not work if you dont sign up for the international plan prior to your trip.

 

Hope this helps. Have a great cruise!

[DeltaOne]

I am checking for rates in Europe and do not see any. I remember a post long ago mentioning that verizon phones were useless in Europe. Is this still true. Can any one suggest a good substitue. Possibly a prepaid cell that we can use for just this trip. We only need the phone to contact our tour drivers and ech other if necessary.

thanks

 

Verizon (and Sprint) use CDMA technology, while Europe uses GSM technology. They're incompatible. AT&T and T-Mobile, in the USA, also use GSM. AT&T and T-Mobile customers can use their phones in Europe.

 

Get a prepaid phone for the trip.

[Cubechick]

VonChap is correct. You can now purchase GSM phones through Verizon (I just purchased a BlackBerry "world edition" phone myself).

 

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Global_Phone/plans_coverage.html

[Kerry's Girls]

Verizon has a program where they will loan customers a world phone and you keep your own number while using it. The rates looked reasonable when I checked.

 

Best,

Mia

[amy417]

Verizon has a program where they will loan customers a world phone and you keep your own number while using it. The rates looked reasonable when I checked.

 

Best' date='

Mia[/quote']

 

I looove that picture :p Thanks for the tips everyone!

[sjnyc323]

Mia I love your picture of your twins. So sweet.

 

 

Verizon has a program where they will loan customers a world phone and you keep your own number while using it. The rates looked reasonable when I checked.

 

Best' date='

Mia[/quote']

[S&S Cruisers 1983]

Verizon has a program where they will loan customers a world phone and you keep your own number while using it. The rates looked reasonable when I checked.

 

Best' date='

Mia[/quote']

 

That's what we did. Just go online at verizon and rent it. They deliver it to your door on the date you want it. You can set it up that when someone calls your regular cell number, it rings the rental phone. We used ours (we got 2) to call each other if we got seperated and to call home if we needed to. It was not expensive at all.

 

When went from England to France, etc., we got an automatic text message from verizon stating that it was changing the phone over to use in that country.

[Sherette7769]

I just got back from Scotland and used my Verizon phone while there. It was a little over a dollar extra a day and $0.99 a min. to anywhere there or in the US. You can rent a phone from them for $10 a month.

 

If you don't want to mess with that ... Voda Phone, O2 and T-Mobile sells prepaid phones all over Europe ... most are less than 20 Euros and you can purchase as much time that you think you'll need. You can also reload the phone by using a credit card. I lived in Germany for 3 years and always used a prepaid for traveling. Hope this helps!

[socalwifeandmom]

Verizon has a program where they will loan customers a world phone and you keep your own number while using it. The rates looked reasonable when I checked.

 

Best' date='

Mia[/quote']

 

My daughter and I traveled to Greece in June and we rented a world phone as we have Verizon too, I think it said Voda phone and it worked perfectly, I activated it, very easy just before we left and it was the same number, etc. We used it to call and txt. They made the whole process very easy. Good luck.

[tentseller]

Best phone deal cost wise is the buy a pay as you go SIM card while in Europe for your UNLOCKED GSM phone. There is a price plan where you can call anywhere within EU for a flat rate per minute.

 

If you have time is to buy one after you land which end up a lot cheaper than preordering one before you leave North America.

[sjnyc323]

Verizon is discontinuing their global phone rental.

 

As of October 1st, 2009, the Global Rental program (offered by Vodafone) will no longer be accepting new Global Rental orders. If you currently have a Global Rental device, you will be fully supported through 10/31/09.

[CTCruisers]

I have a Verizon cell phone that is capable of international calling.

 

It is a Motorola MOTO Z6 World Edition. They also offer Crackleberries as weel to get international service.

 

 

I signed up for their minimum international plan. The phone did work in England, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Singapore, Brazil, and Malaysia.

 

 

When I am in th eU.S., I use the CDMA setting and switch to GSM when I leave the country.

[mj1010]

I just came back from the Gem and had nothing but problems with my Verizon world rental phone. The only time I was able to get a signal was on the ship (the first night, about 4 hours from Barcelona and the night we left Malta). I couldn't get a signal at all on land. I called Verizon when I got home and they walked me through the settings which were all configured correctly so they couldn't explain why I didn't get service. Sounds like it's just hit or miss. Good luck!

 

P.S. They did refund the cost of shipping and the monthly charge so all I have to pay for is the few calls I was able to make (unfortunately at the rate of $2.49 a minute).

[auducky2]

We have Verizon and my husband added the data plan for his blackberry. Texts were 5 cents each and the data plan was $2.15 a day or so. We didn't call anybody, just used it to email everyone and give status updates. For calls they wanted $.99/minute depending on where you were, so we stuck with email.