International Cell on Celebrity

[CruisingEsq]

Hi All -

 

I have to carry an international cell on my upcoming TA on Silhouette (sad, I know, but in order to travel, I need to at least be reachable!). That said, has anyone ever rented one that worked well with the ship's cell service? I know its expensive! Anyone have any recommendations for which vendor to use?

 

Thanks!

[skandls]

Your own cell phone may work. If you are worried about the different technologies you can check to see if you really need another phone. To keep costs down - we have had are ATT phones 'unlocked' so we can change the sim card to a phone company that is local to the countries we are visiting. We also have bought sim cards for multiple countries.

[Fblack]

Att phones will work on the ship and on land in Europe. Verizon work only on the ship. Verizon has an inexpensive solution (rental of a GSM phone) if you call their global department.

 

Depending on how often you travel, you can buy an inexpensive unlocked cell phone and a Global SIM card. I have one with a UK and US phone number. So friends can call you for free to they US number. And you get incoming free calls in most of Europe if they call your UK number. A friend in the US with Skype or Google phone can call your UK number very inexpensively. If the ships cell system is turned on it's expensive to call back to the US using ATT or a SIM card. But a call home from land can be very cheap using a SIM card. It's about 49 cents a minute to call home using a Passport SIM>

 

I use an EKIT (Telestial) Passport SIM with two numbers assigned. Check the following.

 

http://www.ekit.com/ekit/home

[CruisingEsq]

Att phones will work on the ship and on land in Europe. Verizon work only on the ship. Verizon has an inexpensive solution (rental of a GSM phone) if you call their global department.

 

Depending on how often you travel, you can buy an inexpensive unlocked cell phone and a Global SIM card. I have one with a UK and US phone number. So friends can call you for free to they US number. And you get incoming free calls in most of Europe if they call your UK number. A friend in the US with Skype or Google phone can call your UK number very inexpensively. If the ships cell system is turned on it's expensive to call back to the US using ATT or a SIM card. But a call home from land can be very cheap using a SIM card. It's about 49 cents a minute to call home using a Passport SIM>

 

I use an EKIT (Telestial) Passport SIM with two numbers assigned. Check the following.

 

http://www.ekit.com/ekit/home

 

Thanks! Good advice.

[CruisinNole]

I use an EKIT (Telestial) Passport SIM with two numbers assigned. Check the following.

 

http://www.ekit.com/ekit/home

 

I have the same phone and it worked great in Europe last year. So inexpensive but worked so well.

[Verona Gal]

DH and I both have Verizon global phones that work anywhere in the world. They work on both CDMA and GSM networks. They automatically use the appropriate network for the country you are visiting and also work on the ship. The cost per minute can be expensive, but for the few calls we make it has worked out well. One other advantage is that since we use the same phone at home an abroad, all our contacts are already in the phone.

[jazzydoors]

Good advice,thk

[Don P]

You buy the phone for anywhere between $29 and $99 depending upon how many bells and whistles you want. There are NO monthly charges. You pay for the minutes you use. In Europe around $1.25 a minute. If not a common market country charges per minute can go higher. I've seen them at $2.95 per minute. I'm talking Turkey, Hungary. We've owned the phone over two years and love it. No hassle dialing direct to the states and connection is unbelieveably clear. When we return from our abroad trips we simply remove the battery and put it away until the next time we go international. The name of the company is Mobal. You can google them.