Using cell phone in Europe

We will be staying in Rome pre cruise and will then be taking shuttle/ car service to Civitavecchia. I have also booked a tour or two. The tour and shuttle companies ask for my cell phone number in case of any problems that may arise. Since I've only been to Europe once before and didn't have need of a phone before, does anyone have any suggestions for me?

I use No contract Virgin Mobile here in the states..

Thanks for any suggestions...:o

We will be staying in Rome pre cruise and will then be taking shuttle/ car service to Civitavecchia. I have also booked a tour or two. The tour and shuttle companies ask for my cell phone number in case of any problems that may arise. Since I've only been to Europe once before and didn't have need of a phone before, does anyone have any suggestions for me?

 

I use No contract Virgin Mobile here in the states..

 

Thanks for any suggestions...:o

Since I did not have my cell phone activated in Europe, I either put a line through the box or wrote "none". If they insist, just make one up.

DON

Since I did not have my cell phone activated in Europe, I either put a line through the box or wrote "none". If they insist, just make one up.

 

DON

Hi

This could be an option but it wouldn't help you if they needed to contact you to say the car was late (or something like that).

Have you called Virgin Mobile to ask them what your options might be with your phone? Otherwise you could google prepaid phones for Europe and see what might work for you.

have a great cruise

We will be staying in Rome pre cruise and will then be taking shuttle/ car service to Civitavecchia. I have also booked a tour or two. The tour and shuttle companies ask for my cell phone number in case of any problems that may arise. Since I've only been to Europe once before and didn't have need of a phone before, does anyone have any suggestions for me?

 

I use No contract Virgin Mobile here in the states..

 

Thanks for any suggestions...:o

If your cell phone is unlocked, you can buy a local SIM card with some included minutes (and text, and data)......that will not only give you a local phone number, it will allow you to be able to use your phone to make calls locally, use text messaging, and even use Google Maps or look up webpages.

Or, you can buy a cheap, disposable cell phone there with included minutes (and usually some included data too). I personally like having cell phone service when I'm traveling, not just for checking local services but also for emergencies.

Virgin Mobile might be able to activate a global plan for you. That's what I do through Verizon when I travel. That way I have the same phone number and contact list, which makes it easy for family to get a hold of me and for me to get a hold of people. With the global roaming, everything works normally on my phone - texts, emails, google maps, QR codes for plane tickets... It makes the land part of the trip much easier.

Also check Mobal. I will be in Europe and cruising for over 30 days in Oct. and have read good things about these phones.

I have AT&T and they had an international plan that I could use just for a month -- my sister lived in England.

I had it where I could have unlimited texting and calls were $1/minute (I think).

It worked great. Just have the company text you and that way you won't have any outrageous phone charges.

Hi Deb

I posted this on the other thread about World phones too!

If you decide to get a Mobal phone, will you allow me to use you as a referral? If so, we can both get credit to our accounts. Just send me your name at my email and I can put you in, then you will get a link to use to order the phone. the $5 credit will show up in your account once you register and set it up.

If you already ordered, no worries!

Thx

ML

no-whiners at msn dot com, sub in the symbols for at and dot, no spaces.

Thank you everyone for your responses! I talked to a rep at Virgin Mobile this morning and I was told they don't have what I'm looking for.

No whiners, where would I find the other thread about World phones? Crzndeb, thank you for suggesting Mobal, I will have to look into this...if I go for that, I will get in touch with you, ML! :)

LOL, ML, I just saw the thread right under my own thread! :D

Thank you all again!

Our Verizon store activated a new feature called Verizon international last month. The cost was reasonable. Works with our iPhones. This new in that you don't have to activate the feature, just pay as you go.

Margee

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

We will be staying in Rome pre cruise and will then be taking shuttle/ car service to Civitavecchia. I have also booked a tour or two. The tour and shuttle companies ask for my cell phone number in case of any problems that may arise. Since I've only been to Europe once before and didn't have need of a phone before, does anyone have any suggestions for me?

 

I use No contract Virgin Mobile here in the states..

 

Thanks for any suggestions...:o

We travel in Europe without a cell phone. I have used a car service to and from the port in Rome without a cell phone without any problems several times.

These services usually give you a telephone contact number; if we had a problem I would borrow a cell phone to contact them. Taxi drivers all have cells.

Hi Deb

 

I posted this on the other thread about World phones too!

 

If you decide to get a Mobal phone, will you allow me to use you as a referral? If so, we can both get credit to our accounts. Just send me your name at my email and I can put you in, then you will get a link to use to order the phone. the $5 credit will show up in your account once you register and set it up.

 

If you already ordered, no worries!

 

Thx

ML

no-whiners at msn dot com, sub in the symbols for at and dot, no spaces.

ML,

I'm sent you an email a few days ago...did you receive?

Debbie

ML,

 

I'm sent you an email a few days ago...did you receive?

 

Debbie

Deb

No. I got one from another person but not you. Can you post yours and i can try, just so we can make contact. And, did you use a hyphen, not an underscore in mine?

no-whiners at msn dot com

weird...

ML

Deb

 

No. I got one from another person but not you. Can you post yours and i can try, just so we can make contact. And, did you use a hyphen, not an underscore in mine?

 

no-whiners at msn dot com

 

weird...

 

ML

I just resent it....looks like email address was fine and it said sent. If you don't get it, just add yahoo to my screen name

I just resent it....looks like email address was fine and it said sent. If you don't get it, just add yahoo to my screen name

OK, we're good, contact established! Keep me posted on what your plans are and I'm always here to help (such as that is)!

Thanks

ML

I am glad I found this thread.

All the information I read says that my Tracfone will not work in Europe.

My hope is to find a pre-paid phone at the airport when I get to Frankfurt, DE that will work in Germany, Italy, and Greece. Is this realistic?

If anyone can recommend a phone, thanks!

We recently spent a couple of months cruising in Europe on a HAL vessel...and became friendly with several senior crew and entertainers. They gave us an education on phones...and all of them had changed over to T-Mobile within the past 2 years. They said that T-Mobile gave them decent coverage around the world at a really good price. A few days ago we stopped at a local T-Mobile and were impressed that they do include Canada, Mexico, and most of the world in their plans. We shall leave it for others to check out the options...but for frequent world travelers,,,,T-Mobile might be the way to go. We are thinking about it.

Hank

You can buy or rent pre-paid phones for international here in the US via the internet at various websites:

http://www.statravel.com/international-cell-phone.htm

http://www.cellularabroad.com

We recently spent a couple of months cruising in Europe on a HAL vessel...and became friendly with several senior crew and entertainers. They gave us an education on phones...and all of them had changed over to T-Mobile within the past 2 years. They said that T-Mobile gave them decent coverage around the world at a really good price. A few days ago we stopped at a local T-Mobile and were impressed that they do include Canada, Mexico, and most of the world in their plans. We shall leave it for others to check out the options...but for frequent world travelers,,,,T-Mobile might be the way to go. We are thinking about it.

 

Hank

I've had T-Mo for over 10 years (before it was T-Mo here in the US). For the coverage, it was excellent for me in Italy. I had a serious accident around Montalcino back in 2007 and landed in the hospital in Siena. I was on the phone for hours for several days trying to re-arrange my flights and find a surgeon in the US. I never had any coverage hiccups and calls were made in both directions. Now, my bill was big because T-Mo didn't have the international plan back then, you could just enable international roaming. But, I still use T-Mo and take my little RAZR with me when I travel and don't worry about any other plans.

Thanks, Everyone!

I'd planned to post the same question about a cell in Europe; now I know what to ask for at AT&T. :)

You should have no troubles with At&T. My sister uses them and had no problem with service in Great Britain, The Netherlands, France, Italy, and Greece recently.