global rental phone

[conderost]

i rented a global phone two years ago that worked great in europe,,for the life of me i cannot remember what company i used,,,any suggestions: :confused:

[Liv4cruzin]

Does Mobal in the U.K. ring a bell?

 

Click here: GSM cell phone rental

[PA Nana]

We got ours through Verizon last year when we did a land trip to Europe.

 

Oops! Am I allowed to say who we rented through. Sorry if that's a no, no.

 

Linda

[2DesertRats!]

Try a web search for GSM unlocked Cell phone. You can buy one for a very reasonable price and when you arrive in Europe virtually every airport has a shop where you can buy a "rechargable" sim card for the phone. It will give you a local number and you simply buy time for it. Also it is usually MUCH cheaper than using a us cell company international roaming.

(Try Tiger Direct or Cnet for online outlets)

[shoshona2]

Go to http://www.mobal.com and look at their website. We bought their phone for $99 and it covers most of the World. We only use it when we travel. Most of our friends also bought it and are pleased using it. You only pay for the calls you make and the ones that are made to you -- NO SERVICE fees or contracts. The website will give how much to expect to pay each minute for service. We heard about it on the CC boards several years ago.

 

Sheila

[merryecho]

Or try skype- it is a little confusing, but they have a phone to phone program for 2 cents per minute.

[ClaudiaF]

Go to www.mobal.com and look at their website. We bought their phone for $99 and it covers most of the World. We only use it when we travel. Most of our friends also bought it and are pleased using it. You only pay for the calls you make and the ones that are made to you -- NO SERVICE fees or contracts. The website will give how much to expect to pay each minute for service. We heard about it on the CC boards several years ago.

 

Sheila

 

 

Plus you get a number that is a Great Britian number and yours forever.. ..so your family /friends etc. may reach you wherever you are in the world. Charges are billed directly to your credit card no problem with sims cards for different countries. you only need to use it once a year to keep it active. Works most everywhere in the world we have been.. That was the

best purchase I ever made for a cell phone.

[shoshona2]

Hi Claudia,

 

Your info about the Mobal phone was the reason we bought one two years ago. Now, most of our traveling friends have one.

 

Sheila

[DOJO466]

Hi Claudia,

Thanks for the heads up on the Mobal phone. My Mom was concerned about being able to reach me while I was away so I ordered one and it arrived the very next day by Fedex. And what was great, it came with $99.00 worth of free calls, so the phone was essentially FREE.:p

[shoshona2]

Hi Dojo466,

 

Wow -- $99 free calls with the phone! That's a great promotion.

 

Sheila

[shoshona2]

Hi again,

 

I forgot to tell you that we preprogramed our phone to speed dial our children from wherever we were. It saved time and worked very well.

 

Sheila

[DOJO466]

Hey thanks for the tip..we are still figuring it out. I am still figuring out my domestic cell phone:rolleyes:

[Paulchili]

If the Mobal phone sounds too good, it's even better when you compare their rates to other carriers (like AT&T).

Just checking rates for India as an example (which is where I hope to be next year) Mobal charges $ 1.95/min for national calls and $ 3.95/min to call USA/Canada.

AT&T "World traveler plan" ($ 5.95/mo fee) has a rate of $ 2.29/min (without the plan it is $ $ 2.49/min) for calls in India.

Thus it really seems to be a good deal, at least when compared to AT&T, especially given that your first $ 99 are already paid for.

[cruisefan42]

I think I am sold on the Moble cell phone, why does it come with a UK phone number? How do the SIM cards for each country work?

[DOJO466]

It's a UK company. One Sim card for 150 countries. They also send you a set of voltage converters. I was impressed

[cruisefan42]

I was just on their web site I am ordering one tonight. I am thinking about the $99 phone. Any thoughts?

[DOJO466]

Cruisefan

I would go with the $99 Phone as you get the $99 free call bonus. Also the $49 phone does not work in Canada.

[shoshona2]

Hi again Dojo466,

 

It was so easy to program -- I just took it over to my daughter's house and her wonderful husband did it for us. He even explained how to use it. We just have to have a lesson everytime we leave the country.

 

Have a great cruise!!

 

Sheila

[travelfirst]

Can you send text messages on this phone?

[Paulchili]

Can you send text messages on this phone?

 

I assume you can as they quote prices for messages (different from voice prices).

[DOJO466]

Hi everyone,

I just used my Mobal phone in the Caribbean to check it out before my Baltic trip. It worked GREAT. We called our home answering machine from Grand Turk and it sounded BETTER than the messages left from our local friends. Have not priced the calls yet (we still have the free $99 w/purchase of phone) but will research later this week and let you know. I think we made a good decision just to keep Mom happy that we can call from Russia. Also when we called our friends they said we sounded better than our home phone.

[Margate Cruiser]

or att you will have service. Verizon has a world phone as well and the service is great. But you have to have there world phone. If you have a blackberry from att or verizon you can have your e mails and browser with you as well and save the e mail charges from the ship.

[Paulchili]

Hi everyone,

I just used my Mobal phone in the Caribbean to check it out before my Baltic trip. It worked GREAT. We called our home answering machine from Grand Turk and it sounded BETTER than the messages left from our local friends. Have not priced the calls yet (we still have the free $99 w/purchase of phone) but will research later this week and let you know. I think we made a good decision just to keep Mom happy that we can call from Russia. Also when we called our friends they said we sounded better than our home phone.

 

That's good to hear as I got the same deal.

I may put it to the test in India (mostly for urgent calls to hotels, guides, etc - not chit-chat).