Cell phone use

[Giantfan13]

Maybe this is a silly question, but are you able to use your cell phones in all of the cities, to call home, USA??

 

Do you need a special phone, or a special plan??

 

We use T-Mobile as our cell phone server, with free roaming. I do believe our phones are suppose to be global ready, what ever that means??. I know I can call anywhere in the USA without any extra charges, but what about Europe??

 

What are the particulars about this???

[HeinBloed]

Maybe this is a silly question, but are you able to use your cell phones in all of the cities, to call home, USA??

 

Do you need a special phone, or a special plan??

 

We use T-Mobile as our cell phone server, with free roaming. I do believe our phones are suppose to be global ready, what ever that means??. I know I can call anywhere in the USA without any extra charges, but what about Europe??

 

What are the particulars about this???

 

As long as your phone is GSM Standard with 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 900/1800 MHz you will not have problems in Europe. Check your instruction book.

 

I would ask T-Mobile first for your rates to call from abroad.

 

Otherwise it could become a very expensive surprise when you are home.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[agabbymama]

My phone would have worked if I had gotten a chip here, but that was as much as I was able to buy a cheap cell phone for Europe. I think I paid $30 for the phone, and then most of the calls from France, Italy, Greece were $1.00 per minute, so I put $50 on it, but only used it for one call.

 

I was never sure of the time change, and whenever I thought about calling my daughter here, it was too early in the morning.

[ab0si]

If you have a "world phone," it works like this"

 

a) call T-Mobile to activate overseas roaming. The activation is free, the costs are far from free. I am fairly sure they list the prices on their website. Note that you also pay the same high rates for in-coming calls and messages.

 

and/or

 

b) call them up and ask that your phone be unlocked. They will do this if you have been a customer for x years or some such nonsense. Or, search the web for instructions on how to unlock your phone. Then buy a SIM card for the country(ies) you need. In effect your phone will be a different phone, now. Then, replace th SIM card with your T-Mobile one when you return.

 

or

 

c) buy or rent a cell phone at your destination with a pre-paid card.

 

FWIW, I use b) when I travel. But, when staying on land, I simply use Skype.

[LucyH]

We use T-Mobile as our cell phone server, with free roaming. I do believe our phones are suppose to be global ready, what ever that means.

 

Europe uses the GSM mobile phone system, so you'll need a GSM phone for starters. It also has to be "quad-band". meaning that it can use all four of the main GSM frequency bands. The GSM frequencies in Europe are not the same as in the United States.

 

I think you'll have to ask T-Mobile if its free roaming applies outside the US. I doubt it. I had a quick look at their website, where they tell travelers to add WorldClass International Roaming to their account before setting off. As a general rule, roaming costs in Europe vary greatly but are always several times as much as local call charges, and it costs to receive calls as well as to make them, though not as much.

 

In Russia roaming charges can be extremely high. (You didn't say if you were going to St Petersburg.) Unless T-Mobile tells you otherwise, I recommend you keep the phone turned off when you're there!

 

-Lucy

[Northern Light]

Also have a cell phone that is supposed to be global but have to tell the company first to unlock it before we go overseas. My daughter suggests just text messaging instead of calling since it is considerably cheaper although I don't have any other details that I can provide at the moment. Just like the security of having a phone with me at all times.

[belle907]

You need to check with your company to see what their rates are.

Mine were anywhere from 1.99-4.99 per minute. I only used my phone for a few text messages and I was not charged extra for any incoming texts but outgoing texts were 50 cents each. We have AT&T.

 

I told everyone I know not to call since we would be out of the country and I did not have any calls or awaiting messages while we were gone for 2 weeks. I did not turn my phone on at all while we were in StP since the phone rates there are 4.99/minute.

[RachelG]

This is weird, but my husband did not tell our cell phone company we were going to Europe or have anything activated. In the middle of the Baltic, between St Petersburg and Helsinki, his phone rings. He had turned it on to play one of his silly games. He answered it. It was our ranch manager. They had a nice conversation with perfect reception, and there was no outrageous charge on our bill either. But YMMV.

[mrcamp]

AT&T's system automatically adds roaming capability to all lines after 3 - 6 months. I can assure that you will be charged roaming for the received or made call. It takes a while, sometimes up to 2 - 3 billing cycles before the roaming partner sends the call charges to your carrier. So, that's probably why you have not seen the bill yet.

 

This is weird, but my husband did not tell our cell phone company we were going to Europe or have anything activated. In the middle of the Baltic, between St Petersburg and Helsinki, his phone rings. He had turned it on to play one of his silly games. He answered it. It was our ranch manager. They had a nice conversation with perfect reception, and there was no outrageous charge on our bill either. But YMMV.